Horsehide Harry
<B>Mr. Free Trade</B>
So...watching MLB network and they were talking about the Marlins situation with their sale and the fact that they really needed to move Giancarlo Stanton and his contract but no one in baseball would take it even though he's having a good season. If the Marlins aren't desperate to move payroll, none of this works.
With that in mind, I got to thinking. I've always said that one way to find talent bargains is to be in position to benefit from the needs of other clubs. So, assuming the Braves are really serious about being competitive quickly, putting fans in the seats and are willing to spend more money to do it (raise the yearly payroll into the $140-$150M range), then it may be possible to swing a deal with the Marlins where the Braves take some of their payroll problems without giving up serious talent in return.
So my pitch: Marlins send Braves - RF Stanton (huge contract exposure and injury concerns by unquestioned talent), 3B Prado (again $15M per year and injury questions but still a pretty good player) and Edison Volquez ($13M in 2018) for ....not much. Send them maybe Wisler, Blair, Ruiz, Tyler Pike and Drew Harrington. Obviously not much at all but the idea is that they move the payroll and sell the team because of it. Under the premise the most important thing is moving the money and making the sale not what they get back.
Sure it would be a big gamble because you could have a mid 30's Stanton eating up a 5th of your payroll and not playing or playing badly. The Prado and Volquez risk is actually pretty minimal overall. So, it's really all about Stanton.
You could see the 2018 Braves start the season with something like:
CF Inciarte
2B Albies
1B Freeman
RF Stanton
LF Kemp/Markakis (I would move Kemp if at all possible, Markakis too, but wouldn't let it stop me assuming payroll space) (Acuna plays here ASAP)
3B Prado (Demeritte, Riley, Maitan here ASAP)
SS Swanson
C Flowers/Suzuki (Jackson?)
Bench: Markakis, Rodriguez, Suzuki, Adams, Camargo
Before Freeman and Stanton get their most expensive, you get an opportunity to divest of Markakis and Kemp and Prado.
The Rotation would be: Teheran, Folty, Volquez, then 2 of Sims, Nek, Allard, Fried, Soroka
Pen: Johnson, Viz, Krol, Motte, Ramirez, Jackson,
Obviously 2018 would still see holes with pitching. But, you have to be able to count on the minor arms to come through. The line-up, assuming you can stomach the long term Stanton risk, sets up potentially for years of good offenses (and defenses when Acuna plays LF) with two of the best power/production bats right in the middle to build around every year.
With that in mind, I got to thinking. I've always said that one way to find talent bargains is to be in position to benefit from the needs of other clubs. So, assuming the Braves are really serious about being competitive quickly, putting fans in the seats and are willing to spend more money to do it (raise the yearly payroll into the $140-$150M range), then it may be possible to swing a deal with the Marlins where the Braves take some of their payroll problems without giving up serious talent in return.
So my pitch: Marlins send Braves - RF Stanton (huge contract exposure and injury concerns by unquestioned talent), 3B Prado (again $15M per year and injury questions but still a pretty good player) and Edison Volquez ($13M in 2018) for ....not much. Send them maybe Wisler, Blair, Ruiz, Tyler Pike and Drew Harrington. Obviously not much at all but the idea is that they move the payroll and sell the team because of it. Under the premise the most important thing is moving the money and making the sale not what they get back.
Sure it would be a big gamble because you could have a mid 30's Stanton eating up a 5th of your payroll and not playing or playing badly. The Prado and Volquez risk is actually pretty minimal overall. So, it's really all about Stanton.
You could see the 2018 Braves start the season with something like:
CF Inciarte
2B Albies
1B Freeman
RF Stanton
LF Kemp/Markakis (I would move Kemp if at all possible, Markakis too, but wouldn't let it stop me assuming payroll space) (Acuna plays here ASAP)
3B Prado (Demeritte, Riley, Maitan here ASAP)
SS Swanson
C Flowers/Suzuki (Jackson?)
Bench: Markakis, Rodriguez, Suzuki, Adams, Camargo
Before Freeman and Stanton get their most expensive, you get an opportunity to divest of Markakis and Kemp and Prado.
The Rotation would be: Teheran, Folty, Volquez, then 2 of Sims, Nek, Allard, Fried, Soroka
Pen: Johnson, Viz, Krol, Motte, Ramirez, Jackson,
Obviously 2018 would still see holes with pitching. But, you have to be able to count on the minor arms to come through. The line-up, assuming you can stomach the long term Stanton risk, sets up potentially for years of good offenses (and defenses when Acuna plays LF) with two of the best power/production bats right in the middle to build around every year.
