WaitingFor2017
Well-known member
With Trout out, now Ohtani walks out of the game with a trainer.
Official Around Baseball 2023 Thread
- Thread starter Heyward
- Start date
UNCBlue012
Well-known member
Crazy stat: The Braves have been blown out (or lost by 5 or more runs) a total of FOUR times through their first 85 games in 2023. When this team loses, the games are extremely competitive.
Tapate50
Well-known member
Gave up two rocket hrs, then a WILD pitch.
Something about broken finger nail they mentioned
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I have to figure Preller is on his way out. I can't fault him for building what looked to be a very good team on paper even though I thought he did it fairly recklessly. But they appear to have hit their ceiling. Soto would be coveted because he's under team control for one more reason beyond 2023. There's value with some of the other guys, but I didn't realize that most of the hitters are tied up contractually until the 2030s.
Snell and Hader would be rentals. Snell is having a nice bounceback season and Hader is Hader, so I would expect those guys would be sought after fairly aggressively.
Hader would be an incredible get
Pads are an odd team to figure out. They have a strong offense and solid pitching. Their pythag is the opposite of their record and they are 9th in run differential. This all suggests they have had a good bit of bad luck, but at some point you are what your record says you are. Obviously, you can always get hot and make a WS run, like we did, but they don't have the luxury of playing in a weak division and they're 7.5 back of the 2nd wild card.
NYCBrave
Well-known member
That makes sense, because it really feels like the Braves have been in just about every game this year with a chance to win it. Can't remember very many games where it felt like they had no shot.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
Yordan Alvarez as well.
Braves have been pretty good about deciding who to keep and who to let go and going back years they've been able to find talent. They remind me a bit of the Red Sox in the era when they kept their top-tier guys from the system, but had little reluctance in trading prospects for major leaguers (Bagwell, Schilling, Anderson).
Now-for-later has been practiced for years and sometimes it works well and sometimes teams have regrets. And sometimes the prospect that is moved doesn't have to turn into a star. When the Braves traded Butler, Jacoby, and Behenna for Len Barker, Butler turned into a star and Jacoby turned into a solid major league 3B who wasn't particularly spectacular, but was a steady contributor for the Indians for almost a decade. I think fan's pulses go up when a prospect is moved and there is overreaction on both sides. Fans see a Top-100 prospect coming in and they expect a budding superstar and sometimes they just get a solid major league contributor.
There would have likely been more regret over the Teixeira deal if major arm issues hadn't emerged for both Feliz and Harrison. But they did.
I think the current Braves' front office has been a bit too aggressive at times in promoting guys (some of that has sprung from necessity but I think there are several examples of pitchers who were rushed) and the farm system--while having some bright lights--is really low on depth right now. Part of that has been the willingness to trade some of the perceived top tier guys for established players and that's part of the equation for all teams when it comes to the farm system.
Curious to see how the guys the Nationals got for Soto turn out. Gore should be at least a #3 and Abrams has the makings of a decent major league shortstop. OF James Wood could be the best of the bunch, but he's still in AA (at age 20).
Getting back to Curt Schilling. He was traded three times before establishing himself in Philadelphia.
UNCBlue012
Well-known member
Absolutely! There's almost always a two or three-run variance. Those "blow-out losses" were San Diego on April 9 (10-2); Baltimore on May 5 (9-4); Oakland on May 29 (7-2); and LAD on May 23 (8-1). Most of those were close until one big inning. It's pretty amazing given Fried and Wright are both injured. Everyone is doing their part, and then some.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
It never boils down to one or two guys, but Machado is having a subpar season for him. Father Time finally caught Nelson Cruz and is gaining on Matt Carpenter. Bogaerts is also not hitting. Pitching actually looks pretty good. I just see too many holes in the line-up (unless both Machado and Bogaerts go on absolute tears) for them to go on a big run.
The big difference is the Braves just had to catch and pass the leader in a weak division. The Padres have 4 teams in front of them (and 3 of them are 6 games ahead of them) who are fighting for 1 playoff spot. That's just a ton of teams you'd have to pass at this point. Certainly doable and the Phillies had a great month to put them tied for the last WC spot currently. But a lot has to go right for your team and a lot wrong for all the teams in front of you.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I could see a big-time bidding war that results in an overpay for him. Curious what the Padres' asking price will be.
The space between the All-Star break and the trade deadline will likely make some teams sellers and some teams buyers. The extra wild card probably keeps a few more teams thinking about buying (or at least standing pat) as opposed to selling. LIke you said in another entry on the thread, the hill is especially steep for the Padres with them having to catch so many teams. They just can't expect that all of them will collapse. Still and all, I have a hard time thinking Preller is going to be a big-time seller given the risks he's taken in assembling the team. That said, with Snell and Hader heading to free agency, he would almost have to be crazy to not shop them.
Padres essentially gave up 2 45 FV players for Hader. With a only a half season remaining I can't see it being anymore than that.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
All depends on what the other team is looking for, but right now, the Braves' only healthy guy above a 45 at Fangraphs is Smith-Shawver and he's probably not going anywhere. Ritchie's also a 45+, but he won't be on the mound again until late 2024 or early-2025. Other 45s are Dodd, Schewellenbach, Shuster, Murphy, and Guanipa. Again, difficult to know what the Padres will be looking for and settle for.l Taylor Rodgers was in the Hader deal, but he was a rental as well. Wonder if the Braves would move someone on the big-league roster at Yates-level to make it work. It's doable, but I'm guessing someone will go fairly high for Hader and Snell.
CyYoung31
Shift Leader
Lmao
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
ouch..
Grissom is no longer ranked, but considering he was a 45 when he lost eligibility, I think it's safe to say he would be 50+ if eligible now. He was No. 77 on MLB's top 100 chart before his call up. Either way, he is definitely our biggest trade chip at the moment.
This is where the team we are trading with comes into play. Grissom may be our best overall chip but the Padres should have no interest at all in him with who they have on the team.
I do expect the team to try and trade for an impact reliever but the rest of the team is honestly set.