zbhargrove
Well-known member
He's been out of his slump for a couple of games
MONDAY FINAL THREAD 7/3 ... Blair Get Shortened CG Win
- Thread starter rico43
- Start date
He's been out of his slump for a couple of games
Oklahomabrave
Anytime Now Frankie...
Yeah Wren did some good things. That being said, and I'm not sure of his level of involvement, I despised his drafts. 2008-2014, even with not great draft position, were rough. I'm still angry we took Gilmartin. His best picks were Simmons , Kimbrel and Wood. After that it's just really Nick Ahmed. I just really hated our draft philosophy.
With Flowers' pitch framing, he should be valuable for the next 2-3 years if we can extend him. I know he doesn't fit in that group, but it's still an answer there for the time being.
Am I wrong?
Lol listing them out doesn't make them any better.
Swanson and Inciarte were a gift, and Maitan was locked up under Wren.
Nor does it prove the Braves didn't make a concerted effort to acquire pitching prospects.
Why do you guys dispute that simple fact all the time?
There has clearly been a concerted effort to get pitching. But you act as though it's been an effort to get ONLY pitching. I listed them because the amount of position player talent that has been brought in is significant. It only looks lesser at times in relation to the pitching. And it cracks me up that you constantly wipe away the Swanson deal...when it was clearly an example of giving up pitching to get hitting. Pretty convenient.
List for me the franchises who have brought in more young position player talent in the last 2 years than Atlanta.
You mean other teams that have been rebuilding over the last 3 years like the Braves have been? Have there been any other than maybe the Phils?
What a stupid comparison to suggest.
Padres and Brewers and Yankees have brought in a boat load of positional talent lately. Bet they compare pretty well.
ETA - never said only pitching. Weak straw man, even for you haha
ETA2 - poll any number of non Braves homers and I bet you any amount of money the vast majority say the Swanson trade was a result of Stewart's incompetence rather than Coppys brilliance.
What changes have been made to the international scouting department in the last 5+ years?
Maitan's agreement with the Braves was the worst kept secret in baseball. It was common knowledge I would expect a Braves expert to know. Here is an article dated Feb 2016 that says the agreement was in place "last July", meaning July 2015.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vi...in-maitan-handshake-agreement-with-the-braves
And another
https://www.google.com/amp/s/rowlan...e-agreement-with-the-next-elite-prospect/amp/
Coppy was named GM Oct 2015. So either Maitan would be credited to Wren or Hart while he was interim GM.
I have no doubt pozzies will still figure a way to suggest Maitan was coppy's doing since he was in the FO at the time though.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vi...in-maitan-handshake-agreement-with-the-braves
And another
https://www.google.com/amp/s/rowlan...e-agreement-with-the-next-elite-prospect/amp/
Coppy was named GM Oct 2015. So either Maitan would be credited to Wren or Hart while he was interim GM.
I have no doubt pozzies will still figure a way to suggest Maitan was coppy's doing since he was in the FO at the time though.
An agreement was in place July 15 and you credit that to the guy who was fired in 2014? No one credited Coppy specifically. You're the one who credited Wren. So you seem to be owning yourself here.
As to the above post, your constant stance has been that we are 'building around pitching,' and the clear insinuation is that we are building almost entirely around pitching, at the expense of position players. Unless you believe it is dumb to add any pitching at all during a rebuild?
If we have added as much or more position talent than basically any team in baseball the last 2 years, then what exactly are you so upset about? Sure, we've been rebuilding, of course you would expect us to add a lot of talent. But if you remove all of our pitching, which is admittedly a lot, clearly, and we are still ahead on just position talent, then how can you continue to say or insinuate that we're just building around pitching?
Southcack77
Well-known member
Wren was fired in September 2014 when Maitan was 13.
No one is going to hire you to make baseball decisions or write about them.
chopdrew
Lynchburg Prospect
He doesn't get any attention at home. Or from members of the opposite sex.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Johnny Almaraz was the key international guy when Wren was GM. Not sure what involvement if any he had with Maitan. But he had some significant signings before leaving: Teheran, Delgado, Bethancourt, Peraza, Albies, Acuna, Camargo, Cabrera.
I believe he left in the second half of 2014.
An observation about the pitching/hitting balance in our system. The draft has been pitcher heavy over the years. And international signings have been hitter heavy. There is a logic to that. The decisions on the international market are being made at a younger age. I think it is easier to identify who has hitting talent at ages 14-16 than to identify pitching talent. When you move to scouting college players, the players have reached an age where they have filled out physically and it is easier to identify who has the frame and stuff to be a major league pitcher. Of course there are a few exceptions (like Teheran and Felix Hernandez). But generally it makes sense to sign lot of hitters on the international market and go more for pitchers in the draft.
Overall, you want a balance. One area where I would criticize Braves drafting (and this covers different GM regimes) is the tendency to take too many HS pitchers in the early rounds (outside the first round). This would be the supplemental first round, and second and third rounds. Over the years we've taken a lot of pitchers in those rounds with relatively poor yields. Per draft pick, we've done better picking HS hitters in those rounds (Freeman, McCann), college pitchers (Wood, Kimbrel) and even college hitters (Simmons, Ahmed, Caratini). Simmons of course is a special case because he might have been taken as a pitcher. HS pitchers (outside the obviously outstanding ones taken in the first round) are a pretty risky proposition in the draft, and we have not shown any special ability to identify the ones likely to succeed.
Wasn't almarez with the organization for a while?
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Yes he was international scounting director 2008-2014 and a scout before that.
rico43
<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
DO NOT GET PERSONAL. You could have gone all day without posting crap like this. I have no problem pushing the ban hammer if people can't stay out of the gutter -- not just you. But we got to start somewhere. So, go ahead, make my day. Post more childish name-calling.
rico43
<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
Almaraz was a star in the organization. One of the best as what he does.
Good old Wiki says this:
"(Almaraz) is currently the Philadelphia Phillies director of amateur scouting. He is considered by some as "one of the most prolific talent evaluators in baseball."
Before joining the Phillies system in October of 2014, he served as the Atlanta Braves director of Latin American operations for three years and the team's director of international scouting and operations for four. Prior to that, he was the Cincinnati Reds director of player personnel and director of player development. He also pitched for a year in the Reds system."
His biggest blunder was, lest we forget, was Edward Salcedo.
His biggest move was the signing of shortstop prospect Edward Salcedo to a $1.6 million bonus in 2010. Salcedo struggled at the plate as a pro and was forced to move to third base, then the outfield in the middle of this past season.
Playing for Triple-A Gwinnett in 2014, he batted only .212 with 10 homers in 110 games and committed 16 errors in 47 games at third before being sent to right field, where he made eight more errors in 48 games. In early February 2015, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Bryton Trepagnier, who was waiver early in the 2016 season.
Almaraz could be bailed out of that clunker by a lower-profile signing he made that year, Jose Peraza. Peraza, a 20-year-old second baseman, got $350,000 from the Braves in 2010. He batted .339 with 60 stolen bases in 110 games between High-A Lynchburg and Double-A Mississippi in 2014 and was included in the Alex Wood trade to the Dodgers for Hector Olivera.
Players he signed include Adam Dunn, Johnny Cueto, Julio Teheran, B.J. Ryan, Paul Bako, Jason LaRue and Jose Peraza.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
I thought he did well, especially considering we never spent the kind of money on international signings that we did last year. It will be interesting to see how our yield from last year per dollar spent compares.