Official 2024 Off-Season Thread!

bravesnumberone said:
So when can we start the "Welcome to Atlanta, Juan Soto" campaign?
Click to expand...

I’d love to get Soto. He’d be a great fit. However, don’t really think the Braves have what it takes to get him. I do think the Padres will look to deal him. Have seen that they will try to cut payroll in the offseason.
 
cajunrevenge said:
I don't want to trade AJSS so what would people think about offering Grissom/Elder as a combo to upgrade the rotation? I think we would probably still need to add one of the fairly recently drafted high round high school pitchers to get a deal done but I think that's a good and fair offer to work with.
Click to expand...

2 problems I see.

1. If we're looking to get rid of him, that likely means other teams don't value him that highly either. No. 4 type of pitchers are valuable to a team while they are cheap but don't seem to hold a ton of trade value.

2. We currently only have 3 pitchers who are likely to be on our opening day rotation. Trading Elder in an attempt to upgrade our rotation still leaves us needing to fill 2 spots. I like AJSS, but he's still so young that growing pains should be expected. 2024 rotation depth is a big concern going into this off-season
 
I agree with your points but some of these teams are perennial losers for a reason. A lot of them want MLB ready players in return and while Grissom/Elder are high floor/low ceiling guys they would atleast contribute to the MLB team right away. What you said is why I think we would still need to give one of our high ceiling arms we got in the draft out of high school in recent years like Murphy. I am not overly concerned about the rotation depth as we need to be building a playoff roster not a regular season roster. With out high powered offense we should be able to win a lot of games without having good starters in the back end of the rotation. We might actually benefit from not running away with the division title. I would like to see AJSS get more time at AAA or spend atleast half a year in the pen but I would be fine with AJSS/Vines as the 4th and 5th starter going into the season. We could probably pick up a rental SP at the deadline if need be.
 
I see AA targeting a SP in trade that he can extend right after like he’s done with several players the past few years. Dylan Cease is 27 years old and from Georgia and the White Sox are going nowhere. AA isn’t the bidding war type when it comes to FA but I could see him making a trade early on and then waiting one more FA starter out till the end to get him on a short deal. I think he’ll get another high end arm for the bullpen also.
 
AA said in radio interview in Atlanta the other day that we almost traded for a middle-of-the-order, right-handed bat at the deadline (who we weren't publicly linked to) that, he thought, might have a made a difference. Maybe he didn't like the price, but I wonder if this experience will lead to him being a little more aggressive in pulling the trigger.
 
Rough series, not sure what AA will do this offseason. Offense was a big letdown again vs Philly. Other than the late rally in Game 2, they scored 0/1/2 runs in the other 3 games/losses. Gotta hit better. In two of the losses, they gave up 3 runs. Not really sure what they need to do, but i do think they'll try to make a splash of some sort. Is that a big time pitching add, a trade for a bat, going after Hader, who the hell knows.
 
That actually makes sense… the pitching market was basically nonexistent so why not double down on offense if the price was more palatable
 
bravesnumberone said:
AA said in radio interview in Atlanta the other day that we almost traded for a middle-of-the-order, right-handed bat at the deadline (who we weren't publicly linked to) that, he thought, might have a made a difference. Maybe he didn't like the price, but I wonder if this experience will lead to him being a little more aggressive in pulling the trigger.
Click to expand...

Luis Robert is on the White Sox and they were selling everybody at the deadline so I could see it being him. He definitely fits that criteria.
 
Hudson2 said:
Luis Robert is on the White Sox and they were selling everybody at the deadline so I could see it being him. He definitely fits that criteria.
Click to expand...

Yeah there aren't many candidates so he's as good a guess as any. He did deny it being Adam Duvall. There weren't many straight-up sellers so I'll go with Robert or someone on the White Sox.
 
Seems to me AA's contract extensions were premised upon being able to keep the rotation stocked with kids and one affordable vet presence. We pretty much saw the pipeline of the kids implode this season when Wright, Anderson and Soroka all fell out of the 2024 plan due to injury. Unless the braves plan to depend upon Vines, Winans, Dodd and/or Shuster in the rotation this coming year, the rotation needs a complete rebuild with the exception of Strider at the top. That rebuild isn't as easy as just signing to FA. The SP class is pretty weak.

Decisions to be made:

Max Fried: He has only pitched more than 166 IP in his career one time. He turns 30 before next season, his last under control. Do you pay him like a top end starter when you essentially get 3/4 of an expected season from a top end starter (200 IP)? If you don't do you watch him walk away for just the comp pick? Or do you shop him?

Charlie Morton: AA should be on a recruiting trip right now begging Charlie not to retire. That might seem strange since his production has trended down over the last 3 years and he is turning 40, but having a guy with a track record of making 30 plus starts and keeping you in ball games is exactly what the rotation needs. Moreover, if the Braves aren't going to blow up the budget they will continue to need a vet influence to mentor Smith-Sharver and others. My guess is Morton is done, but the Braves have $20 million reasons why he should play another year and try to go out with a title.

Eddie Rosario: I've heard the argument that he can't be replaced for less. Sure he can. And he should be.

Marcel Ozuna: Huge rebound year. Is there any market now? Ideally you use his salary to fill holes in the rotation and fill the DH with the catcher not behind the plate that day. That is a downgrade in the offense, so if the right trade isn't there, he plays out his contract.


Looking like a tough offseason for AA. Ideally he'd bring in some controllable pitching that is somewhat established. But there isn't much in the minors to get that done. What talent there is in the minors, is the next wave of controllable pitching that he must develop to make the contract extensions work.
 
My thoughts on those:

•If you trade Fried, you sharply diminish your chances at winning another World Series in the middle of the prime contention window if you don't replace him with a significant Major League piece or two. It would take a game-changing LF and the assurance that you would sign a frontline starter for me to endorse that trade. If not a top LF, then a significantly better SS where Arcia would then slide to the super-sub guy.

•I'm thinking Morton may wait to see what the Braves decide on that option. If they decide they want to pick it up, he'll come back and announce it's his last season. Still, I'd rather him be the No. 4 innings eater than count on him being the No. 3.

•Ready to move on from Rosario.

•Would probably lean toward keeping Ozuna unless we're getting a strong starting pitcher or a shortstop upgrade out of it.
 
I'd keep Fried/keep Morton but as the #4/try to upgrade over Eddie/and keep Ozuna, just not sure what you're getting back thats worth replacing him. He had a rough playoff series vs Philly but everyone did seemingly, again smh.
 
Heyward said:
I'd keep Fried/keep Morton but as the #4/try to upgrade over Eddie/and keep Ozuna, just not sure what you're getting back thats worth replacing him. He had a rough playoff series vs Philly but everyone did seemingly, again smh.
Click to expand...

I don't think we'd get a dancing partner with Ozuna. I'd be down to trade him if someone wanted to take him, he's owed at least 17M with the club option, it's a risky gamble for someone to take.

I'd mainly be down to trade him because I"d love for Murphy to be like catcher for 3 games DH for 2 games type of thing. We were great but having murphy more would be better than what we did this year for sure. If we could get somoene else who's a good hitter but meh fielder someone like a Joc Pederson, Justin Turner, Max Muncy, etc. to split time between DH an LF or 1B or another position to potentially give guys like RIley or Olsen DH time too.
 
Just put Ozuna in LF and get 2 super subs that can cover every position and then every starter can DH on a rotating basis. Make Murph your starting catcher.

Ozuna defense in LF won’t cost more than 2-4 games a year. Maybe get the wild card instead of the 30 day bye for actually winning.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
Just put Ozuna in LF and get 2 super subs that can cover every position and then every starter can DH on a rotating basis. Make Murph your starting catcher.

Ozuna defense in LF won’t cost more than 2-4 games a year. Maybe get the wild card instead of the 30 day bye for actually winning.
Click to expand...

If the Phillies can get respectable defensive play from that group of softball players surely we can too
 
AJonesATL said:
With a good offseason, we should be primed to once again win around 100. Crazy - we won 104 with 14 starts from Fried. Our rotation most of year was basically Strider, Morton, Elder and a revolving door of minor leaguers.

Be interesting to see how Grissom is handled. We all know that unfortunately Snitker might be the worst manager in baseball when it comes to utilizing a bench, getting guys rest and being creative. All the guy knows how to do is write in his favorite 8 and then bench his starting catcher. If he shows signs of improvement on defense, in theory would say get him a start 2x a week at short, 2x a week in left field, and occasional DH / spot start across the diamond

I'm still not writing off Soroka. No better example than Acuna - a generational talent and off a serious injury was a shell of himself. Soroka missed like 3-years and largely was healthy last year. Wouldn't bet on him, but also think he is absolutely a viable option as a 5th starter

--8 of 9 offensive positions are set.

--Rotation is the biggest variable, but arguably only upside relative to the regular season given we get a healthy Fried and frankly struggle to see how it can be worse than the revolving door we had.

--Pen is in good shape, basically bringing most of everyone back, and ideally can add 1-2 parts this offseason. Matzek obviously who knows but could also be back and Dylan Lee.

--I think the bench desperately needs an upgrade. We were pretty fortunate this year that basically our entire offense stayed healthy. Pillar is simply not fit to be a teams best righty option off the bench and we paid the price for that in these playoffs
Click to expand...


What makes me worry about Soroka is that they have changed his pitching mechanics for some odd reason. His injuries were fluke ankle injuries so obviously is it makes sense just to completely revamp his delivery......

At this point, I really don't expect anything from Soroka. Which is sad given how well he started his career.
 
Enscheff said:
Other than ohtani there isn’t a single FA the Braves can’t be serious contenders to sign. If he’s out there, he’s a legit possibility.

I just hope it isn’t Bellinger. I think he’ll be the biggest mistake signing of this cycle.
Click to expand...

Bellinger is set up for failure. His EV is still way down, HH% down, barrel% down.

What seems like happened is he was a bit unlucky in 2021 and 2022 and this year he more than made up for it. He seems like a league average hitter, and the only real change he made from when he was miserable is his launch angle got back to where it was when he was a better hitter. So I'm assuming less weak flyballs than the last 2 years.

He's young enough that someone will splash big money at him. I say let them.

I'm more interested if the Braves were to go after him in bringing Heyward home. I think he'll produce about what Bellinger would offensively but at a fraction of the cost.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top