Offseason Hot Stove 2024-25 Thread

I’m probably just trying to find a silver lining but I’m warming up to how the off-season has played out. It does suck that AA didn’t make a big offseason move but I do like having prospects and money under the cap available at the trade deadline. Every year teams fall out of contention and look to shed players. Saving your chips to address areas of need during the season may be the next smart move.
 
Enscheff said:
It’s pretty funny to read people question AA as an elite GM exactly 1 year after pulling Sale and Lopez out of thin air. Now that it’s time to dump on him let’s conveniently stop giving the GM credit for developing guys like Harris, Schwelly, Strider and hopefully Baldwin.

AA has made one bad trade with Contreras, and signed 3 questionable contracts in Ozuna, Olson and Murphy. He had a single undeniably bad offseason while likely being handcuffed by getting under the tax.

Oh, and let’s not forget that despite this bad offseason he still has the 2nd best roster in the sport.

Literally everything else has been top notch.
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Well Sale and Lopez don’t count as good moves because they were easy and obvious.
 
50PoundHead said:
I agree with Matt. Anthopoulos is in charge of baseball operations. If he wanted to have a sit-down with Snitker and tell him he wants to see better utilization of the bench, that would happen and likely be employed and Anthopoulos would then likely improve the bench.
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Genuine question: how many GMs do this? I am certain it’s not common for GMs to dictate things like this to managers. But maybe some do?
 
MadduxFanII said:
I've always really liked Diekman, though I recognize that's more about vibes and how dominant he can look in any given appearance than a true reflection of his overall effectiveness (he's got 3.2 WAR for his career and an ERA+ of 108). I think you have to assume this signing isn't going to be anything, but it's probably worth a shot.
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I don't hold out much hope. A career BB rate over 5, even for a reliever, is truly awful.
 
Super said:
Genuine question: how many GMs do this? I am certain it’s not common for GMs to dictate things like this to managers. But maybe some do?
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Billy Beane did something like this and it caused a lot of tension between him and Art Howe. I think it depends on the GM and how much the organization relies on deep stats. In Anthopoulos' case, I think it boils down to he signed a lot of the Braves' players to lucrative and long contract extensions and he's bound and determined to prove himself right.
 
DirkPiggler said:
The Ozuna contract was a bad decision that ended up working out better than it probably should have...at least at the back end.

As recently as May 2023 anyone suggesting that Ozuna would be a Brave in 2025 would have been justifiably laughed off the board.
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I'm not sure 16m for a (to that point) baseline 2 win player who also had 148 and 178 wRC+ seasons going through Age 33 was all that bad an expectation deal.

The first two years were painful and uncharacteristic, the last two were big club wins more in line with what you might reasonably expect.
 
50PoundHead said:
I agree with Matt. Anthopoulos is in charge of baseball operations. If he wanted to have a sit-down with Snitker and tell him he wants to see better utilization of the bench, that would happen and likely be employed and Anthopoulos would then likely improve the bench.
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I agree that it seems to be an organization philosophy. And while AA has the power to change that, there still seems to be too much of the old guard involved with the team. Perhaps AA believes that shaking the boat isn't in the best interest at this time.

The players may have some say in those sort of decisions as well and it could be a reason that we have such a good relationship between the players and the front office. Perhaps those good relationships are what has allowed us to sign so many of our young stars to below market contracts.

Things aren't always as black and white as they seem.
 
I don't care if AA and Twit flipped a coin, asked the players, arm wrestled for it or even disagree on it.. The Braves had a horrible bench last year and it got exposed, so going into a season with even more injury concerns, AA follows up '24 with an even worse bench in '25.. You guys can justify that any way you want, but that is 100% on AA as the GM of the team.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
I don't care if AA and Twit flipped a coin, asked the players, arm wrestled for it or even disagree on it.. The Braves had a horrible bench last year and it got exposed, so going into a season with even more injury concerns, AA follows up '24 with an even worse bench in '25.. You guys can justify that any way you want, but that is 100% on AA as the GM of the team.
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It really is funny that last season this board complained all season about the bench, and now they justify AA downgrading the bench.
 
Super said:
Genuine question: how many GMs do this? I am certain it’s not common for GMs to dictate things like this to managers. But maybe some do?
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It's increasingly common and a source of some angst and frustration. There are times where the manager is on board and it's more of a collaborative back-and-forth than the executive handing down "Thou shalt not" dictates from on-high -- by every account Dave Roberts in LA has this relationship with Friedman. But in-game tactical decisions and broader playing time patterns are more and more the product of front office strategizing and less about individual managerial hunches.
 
msstate7 said:
It really is funny that last season this board complained all season about the bench, and now they justify AA downgrading the bench.
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Who is justifying it? By saying that AA is a top GM in the game which he is? I've said this whole time that the offseason has been a failure so far.
 
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