Triple Digits

zitothebrave

zitothebrave

Connoisseur of Minors
Just the 9th time in Franchise history the Braves had hit 100+ wins.

1 More win ties them for 6th most wins with 02, 03, and 97.

2 More wins ties them for 1898 and 1892 tied for 4th

If we sweep the Marlins for 3 more wins, we tie 1999 for 3rd.

Fun season. I was a little down on it with the injuries we piled up and the lead the Mets were building, but what's great about this team right now is someone picks the slack up. Ozzie is hurt, Dansby has the best year of his career. Acuna is having some issues, MH3 is balling. Starting pitcher woes? Spencer Strider is lighting up the league.

Got to give this team their credit. They earned these wins. Now lets win the whole thing.
 
This team is barely a WC team without our rookies. MH2/Strider and even Grissom and Billy Contreas lit a fuse on this team that made it explode into first. We are blessed to hit on young guns like we did.
 
Things I'm thankful for on this division that make it so meaningful. Of course need to handle our business still but getting ahead of it:

--One of the best divisional come backs you'll ever see. This was no collapse. This was straight up the defending champs taking over the division by playing at an unbelievable pace. 10.5 games back - just unreal. The amount of times my Dad references the come back over the Giants is actually multiples of how often he references 1995. There are division titles and then there is THIS. THIS was legendary

--Sweeping the Mets at home, against their aces. Read an article that in many ways, these were statistically the biggest regular season games in decades. The stakes of an entire post-season round in the air, and going head to head against the very team we were competing with. I'm pretty sure mathematically, yesterdays game might have a higher impact on our world series odds than literally any non elimination game in the post season.

--Matty Ice welcome to Atlanta moment. Goes without saying it hasn't quite been the year he was hoping for, but the dude showed out this series, finished the year strong and showed us why he is a stud. Gotta feel good

--On a similar note, I was not looking forward to seeing the posts that the delta in WAR between Olson and Freeman cost us the division. I've been a huge Olson supporter all year, but that had been on the back of my mind that it would be a shame if we did lose the division by an amount where that move felt like it was technically the difference (not to get into the Olson / freeman thing here, but winning divisions eliminate a lot of what ifs...)

--Of course forward looking, excited that assuming we handle our business quickly vs. Florida, we can get some much needed rest - rest for the pen, rest for several starters and most importantly, extra rest for Strider as we need that dude healthy. game 2 of NLDS would be Wednesday October 12th. Could even be October 14th if need be, heck in a worst case October 15th, he goes game 4 . He hasn't pitched since September 18th, so at this point we are talking about almost an entire month off

--Side note but props to Arcia. Dude really stepped-up (again). I can't help but love his approach at the plate. Guy just goes up looking to mash. Hope we get Albies back, but honestly, Arcia is more than capable. Seems to have at least one barrel every game

--Props to Jansen. Since the Seattle game - 10 innings, one run, 7 saves. He may not be great, but he is certainly a professional.

--On a related note, we can now officially just forget about the brutal blown saves to Seattle, the Cardinals, plus the brutal two losses to the Nationals. In fact - we can actually be thankful for them, because they set things up for the greatest 3 game regular season stretch perhaps in Braves history. I know I wasn't the only one who kept being eaten away at those losses

--Entire team is like a video game. We as fans expect things to just fall into place, but crazy how they literally do their job. We get 1-2 bombs seemingly every night, the pen does EXACTLY what we hope they can, its just crazy. its easy to have the vision of how the plan should go - but the braves truly an example of executing it. Look across the dugout at the Mets, they spent $300mm bucks to have the plan of their 123 punch closing out a division and they didn't execute. This game is crazy hard, its not supposed to go exactly according to a "script" and yet this team literally executed the exact script

--Am I crazy for saying surviving while having Ozuna and Rosario stink up the joint is arguably the best medicine we could have asked for? For the love of dear god, please put Contreras at DH in every playoff game. I don't have a strong view on left field given our options, but Contreras needs to be in the game

--Dynasty. I know it sounds crazy - but this team is building something so special and adding another division and keeping the new streak alive does mean something. 5 divisions, 2 NLCS's, a WS... Lets keep the list going
 
I know raises are coming, but the Braves have pitching depth that could allow them to ditch Ozuna/Rosario in the offseason. That would result in $67 million of this years payroll being unallocated (unless you consider raises).

They need:
1. Dansby
2. LF
3. ????

What a great position to be in.
 
OcalaBrave said:
I know raises are coming, but the Braves have pitching depth that could allow them to ditch Ozuna/Rosario in the offseason. That would result in $67 million of this years payroll being unallocated (unless you consider raises).

They need:
1. Dansby
2. LF
3. ????

What a great position to be in.
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We probably have enough SP depth to punt on 5th starter. DeGrom talk be damned. There's some options for the outfield, granted not the best ones. Joc, bring back Duvall, David Peralta, Tommy Pham, Haniger, Conforto, Benitendi, Brantley, Joey Gallo.

That Rosario contract looks so bad right now, one of the few bad AA mistakes. He'd be fine as a bench option, just cant run him out next year if we have the money to add there. I'm more interested if AA tries to get rid of Ozuna, i dont even know who would we could swap him with for a bad contract swap deal.

I would say bullpen but right now, we're set to have: McHugh, Iggy, Yates, Matzek, Minter, Lee. Not sure we have the funds to add an outfield bat, keep Dansby and add a key bullpen arm too.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
This team is barely a WC team without our rookies. MH2/Strider and even Grissom and Billy Contreas lit a fuse on this team that made it explode into first. We are blessed to hit on young guns like we did.
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Let's not forget Wright suddenly turning into a very good starter for the whole season. We had an absurd amount of things go right this year.
 
zbhargrove said:
Let's not forget Wright suddenly turning into a very good starter for the whole season. We had an absurd amount of things go right this year.
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Kyle Wright going from 2 career wins to a 21 win starter and turning into a very good #2-3 SP was unexpected to say the least.
 
Heyward said:
Kyle Wright going from 2 career wins to a 21 win starter and turning into a very good #2-3 SP was unexpected to say the least.
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I mean, you have Wright as the first 20 game winner for us in forever and then you have Strider breaking Smoltz records and Fried doing his best to be a poor man's Maddox... special rotation year.
 
UNCBlue012 said:
I know it’s extremely probable but let’s hold off on division talk until it’s official lol I’ve seen crazier
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Still gotta play the games but, no Alcantara, and Mets are throwing Carrasco, Walker, and probably wouldnt have the balls to throw DeGrom in game 162 if we were somehow tied because he'd be out of the WC.
 
I wasn’t throwing shade on Fried/wright/Swanson/Riley or any other of our vets. Just those rookies were not expected to contribute and they did. By a lot. Most didn’t expect to here those names this year sans billy and strider. But both in limited roles.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
I wasn’t throwing shade on Fried/wright/Swanson/Riley or any other of our vets. Just those rookies were not expected to contribute and they did. By a lot. Most didn’t expect to here those names this year sans billy and strider. But both in limited roles.
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I don't think anyone took your comments as throwing shade on anyone. I was just adding Wright into the "huge surprise" category because I didn't think he'd contribute that much this year, let alone being a key part.
 
Heyward said:
We probably have enough SP depth to punt on 5th starter. DeGrom talk be damned. There's some options for the outfield, granted not the best ones. Joc, bring back Duvall, David Peralta, Tommy Pham, Haniger, Conforto, Benitendi, Brantley, Joey Gallo.

That Rosario contract looks so bad right now, one of the few bad AA mistakes. He'd be fine as a bench option, just cant run him out next year if we have the money to add there. I'm more interested if AA tries to get rid of Ozuna, i dont even know who would we could swap him with for a bad contract swap deal.

I would say bullpen but right now, we're set to have: McHugh, Iggy, Yates, Matzek, Minter, Lee. Not sure we have the funds to add an outfield bat, keep Dansby and add a key bullpen arm too.
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I was more thinking: Anderson and Ozuna get combined in a salary dump. Control of a 24 year old starter for 4 years with a career ERA under 4.00 costs taking on a $37 million contract for the age 32 and 33 seasons of a 10 year vet at DH/LF where he can hit you 20+ HR.

I see the 2023 rotation as:

1. Fried
2. Strider
3. Wright
4. Morton
5. Muller, Elder, Soroka, Shuster and Tarnok.

If you aren't a believer in Morton and anyone in that 5th spot being consistently effective next year, you could make a run at deGrom. I think the Mets will probably be willing to pay more, but it is an interesting situation. He's 34. He hasn't made more than 15 starts the last 2 years. That doesn't scream I'm getting a monster 5 year deal. If he opts out it will be because he is only guaranteed $30.5 million on the existing deal. If he doesn't stay healthy, the Mets don't pick up the option and he's now a 35 year old with 3 years of health concerns. If he does stay healthy and the Mets exercise the option, he will be 35 and have the same kind of market Morton has had. This seems to be a classic AA show me type contract OR a longer deal to provide guaranteed money and incentives for health/performance.
 
Slow starts were kind of our thing during the division streak. Every year you would hear "lets wait till June before we start panicking". IMO I like it better getting off to a slow start and going HAM to finish the year rather than a strong start and limping to the finish line. The team has been playing with a sense of urgency for a long time. I think that primes them well for a playoff run. This essentially was a playoff series and they aced it.
 
OcalaBrave said:
I was more thinking: Anderson and Ozuna get combined in a salary dump. Control of a 24 year old starter for 4 years with a career ERA under 4.00 costs taking on a $37 million contract for the age 32 and 33 seasons of a 10 year vet at DH/LF where he can hit you 20+ HR.

I see the 2023 rotation as:

1. Fried
2. Strider
3. Wright
4. Morton
5. Muller, Elder, Soroka, Shuster and Tarnok.

If you aren't a believer in Morton and anyone in that 5th spot being consistently effective next year, you could make a run at deGrom. I think the Mets will probably be willing to pay more, but it is an interesting situation. He's 34. He hasn't made more than 15 starts the last 2 years. That doesn't scream I'm getting a monster 5 year deal. If he opts out it will be because he is only guaranteed $30.5 million on the existing deal. If he doesn't stay healthy, the Mets don't pick up the option and he's now a 35 year old with 3 years of health concerns. If he does stay healthy and the Mets exercise the option, he will be 35 and have the same kind of market Morton has had. This seems to be a classic AA show me type contract OR a longer deal to provide guaranteed money and incentives for health/performance.
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I'm not selling low on Anderson. Ozuna is owed 2/36. i don't think that is bad. If we can pay charlie 20 million we can eat that.

I would sell high on Elder. I was saying early in the year I really liked him as a 5th starter. I think that is all he is. If Elder plus Ozuna gets you off of him, I'd do it. It's more about the roster spot than the money. I keep thinking a team like the Orioles could take a flier on Ozuna. He still hits the ball hard, they need power and they do not have any money on the books. Elder provides a super cheap innings eater.

Anderson, Soroka,, Tarnok and even Muller have upside. Maybe Shuster does, but he looks like a soft tossing lefty to me.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
This team is barely a WC team without our rookies. MH2/Strider and even Grissom and Billy Contreas lit a fuse on this team that made it explode into first. We are blessed to hit on young guns like we did.
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Came into the year with a farm system everyone considered bottom 5 after the Olson trade (some even before the trade). We proceed to graduate 3 players who post at least 2.5 bWAR and Grissom posts .8 bWAR in 40 games. Pretty amazing.
 
Not necessarily because he's pitching well tonight, but I'd pick up Odorizzi's option. If the numbers I just looked at are right, we pay $3.25 mil if we let him go, then another $3.25 to keep him. In effect, resigning him for $3.25 mil is worth the insurance to me. Trade him etc if we don't need him.
 
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