Thread: GDT: 4/11 Bravos @ Nationals - let the suckage continue!

striker42 said:
I've watched videos of him before he signed as well. I didn't see anything special and saw red flags. When you add in the fact that he was going to be at least 30 (assuming his date of birth is accurate) before every playing a game it made no sense. Why give a 30 year old a big contract when you know you're going to have to rebuild his swing for him to have a chance of being average?

This is what makes it even more puzzling. It wasn't just one guy with the Braves who just screwed up. There were multiple scouts who liked this guy. I just don't see why. I don't see what they thought he was going to be a special hitter and he's done nothing since getting here to show that the scouts were remotely right.

I know scouting isn't, as you say, an exact science, but it's rare to see so many scouts blow it so badly on a guy.
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I have no answer for this, but maybe he will show us wrong. He obviously has something of excitement about his game.
 
striker42 said:
I've watched videos of him before he signed as well. I didn't see anything special and saw red flags. When you add in the fact that he was going to be at least 30 (assuming his date of birth is accurate) before every playing a game it made no sense. Why give a 30 year old a big contract when you know you're going to have to rebuild his swing for him to have a chance of being average?

This is what makes it even more puzzling. It wasn't just one guy with the Braves who just screwed up. There were multiple scouts who liked this guy. I just don't see why. I don't see what they thought he was going to be a special hitter and he's done nothing since getting here to show that the scouts were remotely right.

I know scouting isn't, as you say, an exact science, but it's rare to see so many scouts blow it so badly on a guy.
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It could be that the combination of age and inactivity had an impact that he has not been able to reverse. I suspect that his play with the Cuban national team weighed significantly in the scouting evaluations.

It seems that the range of outcomes is very wide for mature players coming from Cuba, Japan and Korea.
 
nsacpi said:
It could be that the combination of age and inactivity had an impact that he has not been able to reverse. I suspect that his play with the Cuban national team weighed significantly in the scouting evaluations.

It seems that the range of outcomes is very wide for mature players coming from Cuba, Japan and Korea.
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This is a possibility. A 26 year old Olivera could have been a very exciting player. Maybe they had reports and video from his days with the national team and when they went to his showcase they thought he was the same player. That's the danger of basing that kind of assessment on a heavily scripted showcase.

msstate7 said:
Have we done anything to maybe mess him up like changing his swing or something?
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Well, the things that are wrong with him are things he came over with. The bat wrap, a long swing that doesn't generate much power, not great plate discipline. We've been tinkering with his swing trying to fix it but with little success so far.

Right now, every time he loads up the top of his bat it pointed at the pitcher giving him a very, very long path to the ball. When you're 26 and playing against good but not great competition, your bat speed can overcome flaws like this. When you're 31 and facing Max Scherzer, you're going to end up popping the ball up or grounding out weakly a lot.
 
I would say in a year and a half or so you won't think it destroyed when Riley, Swanson and Smith are fixtures. Now is the time of suffering to be sure, but now is the time of patience as well.
 
It is pretty remarkable to go from such a bright future (or at least at the time perceived to be) to this mess. Alas, let the 0-162 dream live on. The team is just trying to make sure Fredi can't accidentally win a few meaningless games late in the year to ruin the draft position like last year.
 
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