The Braves Roster: Where It Stands Now. Where Does It Go From Here

I know I'm in the minority, but Riley can still develop. He's working I'm sure and he did get better from back end of year 1 to the end of year 2.

Also, the payoff is worth the patience if it does.
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
Why is Duvall a given when you consider Riley a liability? Other than the HR difference the stats are virtually the same, money lot less for Riley and enables AA to spend somewhere else. Not to mention ages.
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I don’t consider him a liability, but rather just need more production there with no Ozuna. Duvall can platoon and is outfield so there is just a little less importance there.
 
SP: I don't see a big investment being made. Fried and Soroka have proven they can be TOR guys. Anderson's first turn through the league was extremely impressive. Wright showed enough in the last few starts to give him a slot next year. With Wilson and Muller in the wings and sufficient depth in the event of disaster (Davidson, Ynoa, and De La Cruz) you have to think the best you see is a Vet of the 4-5 variety to add additional depth.

Pen: Smith and Martin at the backend give you some flexibility in the offseason. Minter and Matzek seem to make it a solid 4 that are definitely in the pen. Then there are some head scratchers out here: Luke Jackson, Sean Newcomb, Touki Toussaint, Chad Sobotka, Pat Weigel all have good stuff, but just haven't been dependable. I assume Newcomb and Jackson will get an opportunity in the pen next year. That'd be six in the pen... so 2 spots remaining?

C: One of Contreras or Jackson should be able to hold down the back-up role next year. The question I have is whether that's best for Contreras' development and whether the Braves are comfortable enough with Jackson being an everyday option if the injury bug visits d'Arnaud again next year. Long term you have to think one of Langeliers or Contreras will work out, but for next year, I think it will be very tempting to sign a vet to a 2 year deal to be the caddy for one of those two when they break in full time in 2022. Perhaps a Jason Castro?

IF: Pretty well set. I said I was all in on Riley this year. Numbers don't scream for me to put that kind of trust in him again, but his k rate this year (25.5%) is way better than last year (39.4%) so there is reason to be cautiously optimistic. He is sort of a perfect swing in that he fits at 3B and LF so once the braves find out where this years big bat fits, he can hold down the other until there is a better option. Camargo needs a change of scenery... or maybe I just need him to not be an option. I'd prefer they spend some money on someone that can play 2b/3b with a decent stick. Maybe Jurickson Profar? Ozzie can be the backup SS.

OF: Pache era in CF likely starts a few weeks into the season. No one is going to take on Ender's salary, so I assume they will try to save a year of control by putting Ender (or Acuna) in CF to start the season. Then Ender becomes a 5th OF and likely a midseason roster casualty. I am going to assume no deals so Duval goes through arbitration and is available to play LF or RF. That leaves a spot in the OF and a spot for a DH.

FA: Who the Braves are after might tell you a lot about what they think of Waters and Shewmake. If the Braves give out long term contracts to someone like Profar and an OF, those two might be trade bait. With the potential for use at DH it might not be an absolute.
 
Going to be interesting to see what the team does with Freddie. That will be extremely telling on what the financial situation of the club is. If we are indeed going to move down the payroll ladder back into the lower middle class section, there won’t be an extension for Freddie this offseason, he’ll play out the coming season on the last year of his deal, and he’ll walk. But if we are truly going to be given the money by Liberty to stay competitive, I think we’ll see an extension this offseason.

Now, I’ve been on the bandwagon of letting Freddie walk at the end of this deal for a long time. But if he can be had on a 2 year extension, I say sign him. Anything longer than that and he needs to go.
 
Starting pitching:

I could see a trade for a player with limited control.

I could see short deal for veteran.

I could see just see signing a reclamation project and rolling with the existing group.

I think they probably have to add at least one guy, but obviously there could be a huge range of what that one guy could look like.

I think I'd rather spend what money there is on the batting order and pen. If there is money after that, then adding a quality good would help a lot.
 
Skeeter31 said:
Going to be interesting to see what the team does with Freddie. That will be extremely telling on what the financial situation of the club is. If we are indeed going to move down the payroll ladder back into the lower middle class section, there won’t be an extension for Freddie this offseason, he’ll play out the coming season on the last year of his deal, and he’ll walk. But if we are truly going to be given the money by Liberty to stay competitive, I think we’ll see an extension this offseason.

Now, I’ve been on the bandwagon of letting Freddie walk at the end of this deal for a long time. But if he can be had on a 2 year extension, I say sign him. Anything longer than that and he needs to go.
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Seems like doing a three year extension would be about right. Freddie seems like a guy who like Chipper might pass on the long term security so long as he is paid fairly in the medium term.
 
Catcher: I think this perhaps is the year where you would want to get one of the prospects an opportunity, but I think re-signing Flowers or another veteran who adds defense and framing also makes sense.

This is another place where not knowing what the rules are yet kind of matters. If there is a DH and the roster size remains at 26 or 27, then carrying three catchers might make some sense depending on what else you do.

That opens up D'Arnaud as a pinch hitter/DH. Assuming that is still a thing that looks like a good idea next year.

I guess they could use Alex Jackson for this also.
 
3B is pretty interesting decision point.

I personally would like to see an upgrade or at least an augmentation there if they can find a lefty.

Justin Turner would be fine.

Trading for the lesser Seagar would be fine.
 
Flowers couldn't get in a game because it would have pushed Ozuna to LF or d'Arnaud to the bench. Maybe that should have happened in Game 5 anyways. I tend to agree that we would have been better off punting that game and preparing for 6 & 7.

He'd be fine to bring back.
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
Why is Duvall a given when you consider Riley a liability? Other than the HR difference the stats are virtually the same, money lot less for Riley and enables AA to spend somewhere else. Not to mention ages.
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Duvall is an asset when used correctly against LHP only. The idea is to pair him with a lefty (like Joc Pederson for example) that can mash righties.

Riley just doesn't have it I don't think.
 
OF -

I think Pache has probably demonstrated that he is ready to play, but I'm sure they could figure out some reasoning for why he needs some more AAA at bats. That was a very short sample and you could see that beyond his surprising walk rate that isn't quite fully formed.

Signing another corner OF and shifting Acuna to center with the intention of getting back a year of service time from Pache probably is not the worst process. Pache clearly will be up at some point though.

If they could turn Ender into a useful reliever or even 3-4 million bucks that would be a worthy offseason move.

Starting caliber guys that make sense are Pederson, Brantley, Springer.


Jay Bruce? Puig? Eaton?
 
I think in the outfield, my preference is to roll with Pache as the starting center fielder. You're taking a risk that his bat is so bad it just swallows the other aspects of his game, but if he can OPS, say, .650 while playing magnificent defense, contributing positively on the bases and making league minimum that's a win for roster construction. Considering how tight the budget is likely to be, any starting position you can fill with a minimum salary is valuable.

If you can get out from under Inciarte's contract, that would be wonderful -- I think he's toast. But I doubt other teams are going to be more optimistic about Ender than I am, so you're probably stuck with him. That being the case, it's not the worst thing in the world to keep him around as Pache's caddy, especially early in the season. If Pache is ready and Ender is toast, you just cut Ender a couple months into the season. If Pache isn't ready and Ender has some rebound in him, you can send Pache back to AAA and let Ender handle center for the rest of 2021. If Pache isn't ready and Ender is toast, well, you go looking for an outfielder. Not an ideal arrangement, but you make do with what you have. Maybe Waters surges and makes a case for a spot at some point in 2021.

I'd like to find a left-handed bat to pair with Duvall in left. The obvious choice is Joc Pederson, assuming we can get him on the Alex Anthopolous One-Year Special. Platoon Pederson and Duvall in left and you have a pretty productive platoon. Plus, you have a fair bit of positional flexibility in the outfield, as Acuna can play all three positions and Pederson and Duvall can play both corner spots.

The other area of interest for me is finding some kind of bench presence. We're never going to have Dodger depth, but we need some kind of reasonable endgame option. In 2018, we had Ryan Flaherty pinch hitting in a one-run LDS elimination game and everyone agreed that sort of nonsense just wasn't acceptable for a contending team. Two years later, we had Charlie Culberson and the corpse of Pablo Sandoval pinch hitting with the pennant on the line. Still not acceptable.
 
In the rotation, there's nothing wrong with going into spring training with a Fried-Soroka-Anderson-Wright core and letting a bunch of guys battle it out for the fifth spot. Of course, you take the risk of the same set of outcomes you just experienced this year: if Soroka isn't ready to start the season (a real possibility, obviously), if Wright's strong close to the season was a mirage, if hitters catch up to Anderson, then you're right back where you started.

Again, though, with the budget tight you have to take some sub-optimal risks.
 
I know we may not be in the range of 140 mill or anything, but we should have money to spend and I'd think most teams are in that boat. The prices for FA could be much lower
 
NinersSBChamps said:
I’d love to somehow get Michael Brantley on a 3 year deal. Markakis is gone and the team will need to fill the void he leaves behind. Brantley is a professional hitter.
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Age is a limiting factor with Brantley but OTOH I can see that his career might extend another year as DH.
 
MadduxFanII said:
I think in the outfield, my preference is to roll with Pache as the starting center fielder. You're taking a risk that his bat is so bad it just swallows the other aspects of his game, but if he can OPS, say, .650 while playing magnificent defense, contributing positively on the bases and making league minimum that's a win for roster construction. Considering how tight the budget is likely to be, any starting position you can fill with a minimum salary is valuable.

If you can get out from under Inciarte's contract, that would be wonderful -- I think he's toast. But I doubt other teams are going to be more optimistic about Ender than I am, so you're probably stuck with him. That being the case, it's not the worst thing in the world to keep him around as Pache's caddy, especially early in the season. If Pache is ready and Ender is toast, you just cut Ender a couple months into the season. If Pache isn't ready and Ender has some rebound in him, you can send Pache back to AAA and let Ender handle center for the rest of 2021. If Pache isn't ready and Ender is toast, well, you go looking for an outfielder. Not an ideal arrangement, but you make do with what you have. Maybe Waters surges and makes a case for a spot at some point in 2021.

I'd like to find a left-handed bat to pair with Duvall in left. The obvious choice is Joc Pederson, assuming we can get him on the Alex Anthopolous One-Year Special. Platoon Pederson and Duvall in left and you have a pretty productive platoon. Plus, you have a fair bit of positional flexibility in the outfield, as Acuna can play all three positions and Pederson and Duvall can play both corner spots.

The other area of interest for me is finding some kind of bench presence. We're never going to have Dodger depth, but we need some kind of reasonable endgame option. In 2018, we had Ryan Flaherty pinch hitting in a one-run LDS elimination game and everyone agreed that sort of nonsense just wasn't acceptable for a contending team. Two years later, we had Charlie Culberson and the corpse of Pablo Sandoval pinch hitting with the pennant on the line. Still not acceptable.
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I like the Pederson idea but how about platooning him with Riley in LF until Waters is ready. Trade or (gasp) non tender Duvall if you have to keep Ender. That would at least help pay Pederson. Is La Stella cheap enough or interesting enough til Riley catches up?
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
I like the Pederson idea but how about platooning him with Riley in LF until Waters is ready. Trade or (gasp) non tender Duvall if you have to keep Ender. That would at least help pay Pederson. Is La Stella cheap enough or interesting enough til Riley catches up?
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I love La Stella's bat and it would be great to have him on the roster. I don't know that he's a viable third baseman in anything but an emergency role at this point.
 
MadduxFanII said:
I love La Stella's bat and it would be great to have him on the roster. I don't know that he's a viable third baseman in anything but an emergency role at this point.
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I was thinking of him as backup to Ozzie and in case Ozzie has to play SS if Swanson goes down. Riley would only play LF when facing LH starters which should put Pederson on the bench.
 
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