Official 2024 Off-Season Thread!

https://www.sportstalkatl.com/braves-potential-trade-packages-for-three-other-brewers/


Looking at some speculation of what some trade packages could look like I think would like a deal with the Brewers for Corbin Burnes where we take the overpaid Christian Yelich to lessen what we have to give up. Yelich has 5 years 130 million left on his contract plus a 6.5 million buyout. Thats obviously way to much. Burnes is projected to make 16 million in 2024 as well. If Yelich was a FA I think he could or would get around 5/75. Burnes is good but he aint worth that extra 55 million for one year. With his own salary that would be like paying him 70+ million for 1 year. 4 million of Yelich's salary is deferred so lets assume we could get the Brewers to eat that plus the buyout. That gets Yelich down to 5/110. Thats probably still negative value for a Corbin/Yelich package. I do really like Yelich's fit for our team. I know many people are tired of not having a long term LF. Yelich has had some down years but he has maintained an OBP over .350 every year. His power has dwindled but he still has decent enough power. He has been fairly durable although I am sure some of his struggles have been due to injuries he played through. I think he would slot in real well in the #2 spot in the batting order. He might even benefit from having a strong lineup around him and not needing to be the central force driving the offense. We have so much power on the team we just need to fill in spots with guys who get on base and turn the lineup over. What I would propose is Burnes/Yelich/Devin Williams/Brewers pay Yelich's deferred money and buyout for a package starting with Grissom. The Brewers are terrible at 2B so I think they should value him. That gets them out from under Yelich's contract. Devin Williams has only 2 years left of team control and has had a significant injury history so maybe better to trade him while they can. This would give the Braves 3 Cy Young candidates in the rotation to go with the best offense and best bullpen in the game. I dont know how the luxury tax works but we could possibly get the Brewers to pay a large chunk of the 2024 salary instead of a little every year if that helps us with the tax this year. We could shed a lot of salary next year with Fried/Burnes/Morton free agents, Ozuna's option, and maybe even trade Iglesias in the last year of his contract. I am sure we would want to sign atleast 1 SP for 2025 but we could shed almost 90 million from the moves I mentioned.

That Yelich contract is pretty ugly. Would really need them to eat some of that salary to make it palatable. I get that we don't have a ton of prospect capital so taking on the contract lessens what we give up, but that contract is a good way to shorten our competitive window fast.

I would rather throw 200 million at Yamamato than to take on Yelich for around half the cost. Especially since Burnes is a 1 year rental.
 
The Cardinals badly needed a front-line starter to round out the rotation, the Braves have two front-line starters, and don’t need to overpay for a number three option. I would love to grab one like Yamamoto or Snell (and Yama SHOULD be at the top of our wish list given age), but Atlanta isn’t in that position where it's a huge need. I still think they end up with Stroman or someone of that caliber in 2023. Next season, they absolutely need to find someone to replace Max, but that isn’t an issue right now.

AA's in a weird spot, b/c we need another starter. But i'm not sure any are worth signing for the years/money other than Yama. And our farm is already pretty thin, so i dont know if he'd trade the pieces for a rental like Glasnow, Burnes, or Bieber. Cease is Boras, and only has 2 years of control and would probably cost alot. I do think he knows we need another starter, b/c he didnt unload the 40 man, and SP depth for ****s and giggles.
 
AA's in a weird spot, b/c we need another starter. But i'm not sure any are worth signing for the years/money other than Yama. And our farm is already pretty thin, so i dont know if he'd trade the pieces for a rental like Glasnow, Burnes, or Bieber. Cease is Boras, and only has 2 years of control and would probably cost alot. I do think he knows we need another starter, b/c he didnt unload the 40 man, and SP depth for ****s and giggles.

That's why it's weird to me that he was comfortable dishing out so much money (plus picks and international money) for Nola. I'm guessing because he's younger and extremely durable, but Sonny's numbers are terrific.
 
That's why it's weird to me that he was comfortable dishing out so much money (plus picks and international money) for Nola. I'm guessing because he's younger and extremely durable, but Sonny's numbers are terrific.

Sonny is 4 years older than Nola. He's 34, so a 4 year deal takes him to his age 37 season. 5 years would be 38, need to see what the Cards paid for him before you can say anything. Maybe AA really valued Nola's durability and playoff acumen. He has the money if he offered Nola that kinda deal.
 
Sonny is 4 years older than Nola. He's 34, so a 4 year deal takes him to his age 37 season. 5 years would be 38, need to see what the Cards paid for him before you can say anything. Maybe AA really valued Nola's durability and playoff acumen. He has the money if he offered Nola that kinda deal.

This is in line with all of my thoughts as well. Regardless, as long as Heyman is accurate, Gray is a good get for the Cards. Lynn and Gibson aren't amazing, but they're solid innings eaters. Gray, Mikolas, Gibson, Lynn, Matz. But man, they're all 32 or over lol.
 
I lean Verdugo over Santander if they go that direction.

Gray grew up in Tennessee and was probably a Braves' fan, so I'm surprised he didn't sign with the Braves for 1 year/$5 million.

All things being equal, I would rather have Santander, since he is a significantly better player than Verdugo, imo. But because of that, the cost for Santander should be considerably higher as well. For that reason, I lean Verdugo.

Honestly, Verdugo shouldn't cost too much to acquire. May be not even anyone in our current Top 5 prospects. He's a league average hitter and a good defender. Those guys don't typically bring much in return in trades. The other good attribute about him is that he's only 27, so he could be due for a breakout year going into free agency the next off-season. Certainly I feel better about him repeating his 2023 season than someone like Kepler or Rosario repeating their 2023 seasons.
 
At this point, I am fully expecting no Braves news until Jan/Feb. AA tends to not get much done in terms of singings or trades at the meetings.

Always seem to get my hopes up and be disappointed at the end. Perhaps the Lopez signing is him hoping that he can fill in as the 5th starter along with AJSS/Vines/ Wianen/ Waldrep
 
At this point, I am fully expecting no Braves news until Jan/Feb. AA tends to not get much done in terms of singings or trades at the meetings.

Always seem to get my hopes up and be disappointed at the end. Perhaps the Lopez signing is him hoping that he can fill in as the 5th starter along with AJSS/Vines/ Wianen/ Waldrep

It's not even December. Burnes, Glasnow, Bieber, Cease are still out there to be traded for. Still have Monty, ERod, Stroman, Snell, Yama as FA's. There's plenty of options out there for AA to add. I highly doubt we go into the season with the rotation, we have.
 
3/75 for Gray. I might have done that but the picks/international money probably lead AA to not do it.
 
With the starting pitching chase, it’s very much a question of what you’re trying to achieve. Are you trying to add a top of the rotation starter? Because we already have two of those in Strider and Fried. Or are you trying to beef up the depth of the rotation so you never have to start Elder in a playoff game again? If it’s the latter, maybe you’ve already achieved that goal with Morton’s return and the Lopez signing, though that doesn’t give you much of a buffer.
 
With the starting pitching chase, it’s very much a question of what you’re trying to achieve. Are you trying to add a top of the rotation starter? Because we already have two of those in Strider and Fried. Or are you trying to beef up the depth of the rotation so you never have to start Elder in a playoff game again? If it’s the latter, maybe you’ve already achieved that goal with Morton’s return and the Lopez signing, though that doesn’t give you much of a buffer.

I think the goal is to not have to start Elder. And Morton is 40 years old, you never know if he'll just break down. You at least need someone more reliable as a #3 than that. Our top 2 is fine next year but for a playoff series, you need better.
 
My top targets haven't changed since FA started.

1. Yamamato
2. Stroman or E-Rod
3. (Last ditch effort) Giolito or Manaea for 1-2 year type of deals as they try and rebuild value.
 
The picks and international money probably was too much when signing somebody for 3 years. I never thought that Gray was really an option given his age and the penalties combined. Nola is 4 years younger and super durable so that’s why they went over for him.
 
All things being equal, I would rather have Santander, since he is a significantly better player than Verdugo, imo. But because of that, the cost for Santander should be considerably higher as well. For that reason, I lean Verdugo.

Honestly, Verdugo shouldn't cost too much to acquire. May be not even anyone in our current Top 5 prospects. He's a league average hitter and a good defender. Those guys don't typically bring much in return in trades. The other good attribute about him is that he's only 27, so he could be due for a breakout year going into free agency the next off-season. Certainly I feel better about him repeating his 2023 season than someone like Kepler or Rosario repeating their 2023 seasons.

I mean Santander is a 2-2.5 fWAR player and Verdugo is a 1.5-2 fWAR player... Verdugo is also a MUCH better defender. Calling Santander a significantly better player is a bit overboard.
 
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