Official 2024 Off-Season Thread!

100+ mph fastball with a slider that could bite the dick off a Rhino....sign me up! This is exactly what our bullpen needs...heavy arms that can come out and get immediate outs. Sick of the "contact pitchers" we had.
 
Now that’s a team that desperately needs to shop at the premium section of the pitching grocery store

I'm really curious about what the Cardinals' off-season will look like. A pretty good core of offensive players featuring some promising younger guys, but no pitching at all in 2023.
 
Enscheff what you think about Reynaldo Lopez?

Cursory FA comparison between this guy and the other setup guys the Braves just resigned to very similar deals:

Jimenez 95.3 MPH, 2431 RPM, 9.6" rise
Johnson 95.9MPH, 2306 RPM, 9.6" rise
Lopez 98.2 MPH, 2189 RPM, 8.8" rise

And their SL/CU:

Jimenez 2177 RPM, 3.1" glove-side, -0.9" vertical
Johnson 2943 RPM, 5.0" glove-side, -3.2" vertical (this is more of a slurve)
Lopez 2364 RPM, 3.3" glove-side, -0.2" vertical

So Lopez is essentially Johnson/Jimenez with a couple extra ticks on the FA. He has recently saw his stuff tick up upon moving to the BP, and we all know how AA loves to be a buyer on sudden upticks in stuff. Moving back to the rotation seems like nothing more than leverage against the remaining FA SPs.

This reads to me like AA finally taking away Snit's ability to use lower end arms in high leverage spots because Snit "trusts" him. If there are no bad options, Snit can't make a mistake. Just another example of the organization having to overcome the strategic shortcomings of the manager.

EDIT TO ADD: It's easy to see why they like Johnson so much. His measurables are remarkable.
 
Cursory FA comparison between this guy and the other setup guys the Braves just resigned to very similar deals:

Jimenez 95.3 MPH, 2431 RPM, 9.6" rise
Johnson 95.9MPH, 2306 RPM, 9.6" rise
Lopez 98.2 MPH, 2189 RPM, 8.8" rise

And their SL/CU:

Jimenez 2177 RPM, 3.1" glove-side, -0.9" vertical
Johnson 2943 RPM, 5.0" glove-side, -3.2" vertical (this is more of a slurve)
Lopez 2364 RPM, 3.3" glove-side, -0.2" vertical

So Lopez is essentially Johnson/Jimenez with a couple extra ticks on the FA. He has recently saw his stuff tick up upon moving to the BP, and we all know how AA loves to be a buyer on sudden upticks in stuff. Moving back to the rotation seems like nothing more than leverage against the remaining FA SPs.

This reads to me like AA finally taking away Snit's ability to use lower end arms in high leverage spots because Snit "trusts" him. If there are no bad options, Snit can't make a mistake. Just another example of the organization having to overcome the strategic shortcomings of the manager.

EDIT TO ADD: It's easy to see why they like Johnson so much. His measurables are remarkable.

Johnson really does measure up.
 
From MLBtraderumors:

"Lopez’s $4MM salary for the 2024 season pushes the Braves’ payroll up to around $207MM, per Roster Resource’s projections. However, while its backloaded nature spares Atlanta some bottom-line payroll in the upcoming season, the contract still comes with a much heftier $10MM luxury-tax hit, as all luxury calculations are based on a deal’s average annual value.

The $10MM AAV on Lopez’s contract pushes the Braves squarely into luxury-tax territory, as they’re now at about $241.6MM of luxury considerations — comfortably north of this year’s $237MM luxury barrier. They also paid the luxury tax last season, meaning their penalty levels will rise. Rather than a 20% dollar-for-dollar tax, they’ll now pay a 30% tax (with increasing penalties if they surpass the threshold by more than $20MM total). They’re also in line for even harsher penalties come 2025, as third-time payors face even steeper rates of taxation."


Don't like the sound of that
 
From MLBtraderumors:

"Lopez’s $4MM salary for the 2024 season pushes the Braves’ payroll up to around $207MM, per Roster Resource’s projections. However, while its backloaded nature spares Atlanta some bottom-line payroll in the upcoming season, the contract still comes with a much heftier $10MM luxury-tax hit, as all luxury calculations are based on a deal’s average annual value.

The $10MM AAV on Lopez’s contract pushes the Braves squarely into luxury-tax territory, as they’re now at about $241.6MM of luxury considerations — comfortably north of this year’s $237MM luxury barrier. They also paid the luxury tax last season, meaning their penalty levels will rise. Rather than a 20% dollar-for-dollar tax, they’ll now pay a 30% tax (with increasing penalties if they surpass the threshold by more than $20MM total). They’re also in line for even harsher penalties come 2025, as third-time payors face even steeper rates of taxation."


Don't like the sound of that

AA is either ****ing up or we are one of the big boys in payroll now
 
From MLBtraderumors:

"Lopez’s $4MM salary for the 2024 season pushes the Braves’ payroll up to around $207MM, per Roster Resource’s projections. However, while its backloaded nature spares Atlanta some bottom-line payroll in the upcoming season, the contract still comes with a much heftier $10MM luxury-tax hit, as all luxury calculations are based on a deal’s average annual value.

The $10MM AAV on Lopez’s contract pushes the Braves squarely into luxury-tax territory, as they’re now at about $241.6MM of luxury considerations — comfortably north of this year’s $237MM luxury barrier. They also paid the luxury tax last season, meaning their penalty levels will rise. Rather than a 20% dollar-for-dollar tax, they’ll now pay a 30% tax (with increasing penalties if they surpass the threshold by more than $20MM total). They’re also in line for even harsher penalties come 2025, as third-time payors face even steeper rates of taxation."


Don't like the sound of that

Makes me wonder if Iglesias and Ozuna won't also be on the move.
 
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