2014 Offseason

[saddles]

I have no interest whatsoever in giving the Braves much more than some Pecan Lodge brisket for a one year rental, I'll tell ya that.

I agree. I don't care to pick up any costly rentals. I am ready to let Rua and Smolinski have a crack at it.

 

[saddles]

Not me. Way too much for a one year rental in a year where we have nothing but questions all over the diamond. And then we get a nice draft pick, which may pay off 3/4 years down the road.

I'm much more in a mode of being very conservative for 2015, and seeing if Fielder is well enough to play first and hit with power, is Chirinos really a 100+ game a year catcher, can Choo play RF and produce, will EA bounce back, is Profar healthy enough to play at the ML level? And on and on.

Agreed. Our future is with our young(and cheap) players coming up and contributing. I think Gallo, Alfaro and Mazara will be here in 2016 and so will Chi Chi and Thompson. Those guys turning into quality big league players is our best option for the greatest success. We can either trade the future for an outside shot at 2015 or we can bide our time in 2015 and prepare for several years of being much better. I will take the latter option.

 

[DT LUNA]

I agree. I don't care to pick up any costly rentals. I am ready to let Rua and Smolinski have a crack at it.

agree. Rentals are temporary and costly and rarely pay off

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I know what you mean. Although Jackson has not lived up to his expectations, it doesn't mean he won't turn a corner soon. Out of all of our top pitching prospects I'd be most willing to part with him though.

As far as Sardinas, I just don't think he's going to be anything special. I don't even see him as a piece we'll use moving forward, besides maybe a fill in

Plus there is no place for Sardinas right now especially if Profar is healthy.

 

[darrylgann]

Agreed. Our future is with our young(and cheap) players coming up and contributing. I think Gallo, Alfaro and Mazara will be here in 2016 and so will Chi Chi and Thompson. Those guys turning into quality big league players is our best option for the greatest success. We can either trade the future for an outside shot at 2015 or we can bide our time in 2015 and prepare for several years of being much better. I will take the latter option.

That's a risk either way, Bennie. We don't know how these kids will respond in the big leagues. We are still waiting for Profar.

 

[donaldson79]

stagnant is standing with your hands in your pockets while everyone else around you is doing things to improve. we have needs and we are not doing anything to fill those needs. hopefully JD is not going to be satisfied with the product we have right now and makes some quality moves.

i'm in favor of QUALITY moves even if it means trading some of our prospects to make those moves

We're not being stagnate. It' called being prudent when we don't know what we have going forward to begin with.

It's impossible IMO to address a need - other than starting pitching - when we don't know exactly what our needs are going forward.

You seem to be forgetting we've got HUNDREDS of millions sunk into Choo, EA, and Fielder alone. And all 3 of em have ?? attached to their butts.

 

[donaldson79]

If some of ya will go back to last season and think about this:

We're not sure who we have to play LF, some called for an immediate platoon in CF so we need another one of those and Choo is moving to right and we'll see how that shakes out. So our entire OF is a question mark.

On the INF we have a quickly aging 3rd baseman, an overpaid SS who needs to bounce back, a raw/young 2nd baseman who exceeded expectations for a few months and a fortunate tied to a 1st baseman who - even when younger and healthy - was a below avg player with a good bat. So our entire INF is a question mark as well.

I'm just suggesting we tap the brakes for now, and let's see the health and mental attitude come ST and make decisions then.

 

[saddles]

That's a risk either way, Bennie. We don't know how these kids will respond in the big leagues. We are still waiting for Profar.

Yes, everything is a risk. With the other option though you damage your chances in the future to a certain extent gambling on a lot to go right this year and for only this year. That just doesn't make sense to me. Even if those other guys don't come through you still have others coming up just after them. I didn't even mention Jackson, Asher, Williams, Brinson, Ortiz, and quite a few others. I also didn't mention the possibility that Rua and Smolinski are contributors for us in the future. All of those guys I mentioned in the previous post don't have to respond well in the big leagues to give us a bright future. Without them I don't know what kind of future we have anyway with our budget constraints.

After this year you will also have some more flexibility money wise. You should know about Profar by then and can either trade Elvis to free up money or one of the youngsters to bring back something in trade. After this year you will also know more about Choo and Fielder and what exactly you can expect from them. My hope is that Choo performs better and we are able to unload his salary to make room for Mazara. Beltre could very well be free after 2015 as well. All that has to happen for him to be free is for him to just miss a handful more games than he did this year and his contract doesn't vest. That makes room for Gallo and frees up a lot of money. It also allows you the possibility of trading Beltre at the deadline and then bringing him back in 2016 if you so desire.

The future is very bright if JD doesn't overspend prospect-wise on rental players. Now if they want to trade some guys that they might lose in Rule 5 anyway then that is fine with me.

 

[DT LUNA]

We're not being stagnate. It' called being prudent when we don't know what we have going forward to begin with.

It's impossible IMO to address a need - other than starting pitching - when we don't know exactly what our needs are going forward.

You seem to be forgetting we've got HUNDREDS of millions sunk into Choo, EA, and Fielder alone. And all 3 of em have ?? attached to their butts.

Had a losing cause trying to explain that.

 

[darrylgann]

This will bring Terps around:

@ChrisCotillo: Sources: #Dodgers may be willing to make Zack Greinke available in trade talks with opt-out next year looming Sources: Dodgers may shop Zack Greinke to make room for free-agent starter - MLB Daily Dish

 

[Hambombs]

This will bring Terps around:

@ChrisCotillo: Sources: #Dodgers may be willing to make Zack Greinke available in trade talks with opt-out next year looming Sources: Dodgers may shop Zack Greinke to make room for free-agent starter - MLB Daily Dish

Why would he all of a sudden come out? Lol

 

[Hambombs]

This will bring Terps around:

@ChrisCotillo: Sources: #Dodgers may be willing to make Zack Greinke available in trade talks with opt-out next year looming Sources: Dodgers may shop Zack Greinke to make room for free-agent starter - MLB Daily Dish

Why would he come out all of a sudden?

 

[Bmurph]

Why would he all of a sudden come out? Lol

It seems Terps has more than a little man crush on Greinke. If somehow JD could land him, Terps might very well give the both of them a very sloppy wet kiss on the mouth at the press conference. Yeah it's about that weird, no lie!

 

[Hambombs]

It seems Terps has more than a little man crush on Greinke. If somehow JD could land him, Terps might very well give the both of them a very sloppy wet kiss on the mouth at the press conference. Yeah it's about that weird, no lie!

I like grenkie too but he talks about him like he's a top 3 pitcher. Which he's not. But grenkie would fit great on this team

 

[Justinkm83]

The Braves have already received attractive trade proposals for outfielder Justin Upton, Joel Sherman of the New York Post [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]540315658798776320[/MEDIA]"]tweets[/ame]. With several free agents off the board, a deal could come together soon, per Sherman, possibly during the upcoming Winter Meetings. The team’s addition of free agent Nick Markakis would appear to increase the odds of the club dealing Upton and/or Evan Gattis, though its final course remains unclear.

 

[Justinkm83]

The Braves have already received attractive trade proposals for outfielder Justin Upton, Joel Sherman of the New York Post [ame="[MEDIA=twitter]540315658798776320[/MEDIA]"]tweets[/ame]. With several free agents off the board, a deal could come together soon, per Sherman, possibly during the upcoming Winter Meetings. The team’s addition of free agent Nick Markakis would appear to increase the odds of the club dealing Upton and/or Evan Gattis, though its final course remains unclear.

 

[donaldson79]

This from Kevin Sherrington:

Question: Now that Torii Hunter is gone, what are some viable/possible outfield acquisitions that the Rangers can make?

Sherrington: I haven't talked to Jon Daniels, but I have to assume that the Rangers weren't very serious if Hunter took a one-year deal with the Twins. I think the Rangers are pretty committed to Choo in RF and a platoon in left. May try a platoon at DH, too. Except for pitching, I get the feeling the Rangers are going to go pretty much with what they have on hand. They want to find out about a few players before they commit to any more expensive parts. That's probably fine as long as they add at least one legitimate starter to the rotation. If they don't, it won't be pretty this season.

This was the point I was trying to make yesterday.

 

[fordman84]

I wonder if the appetite for big trades and acquisitions is very high this year with so many coming off injuries and a whole new coaching staff. It's looking like the plan is to let the high price guys get off the board, look for contributors, and work through 2015 to see how injuries healed. Then 2016 we have young guys come up that have had late 2015 call ups to show what they have. Any holes can be addressed next offseason.

Unless something too good to pass comes along, of course. I'm also glad I haven't heard panic over the A's and Mariners moves, the sort of "we have to also make a splash" that we have heard before.

 

[romeo212000]

This from Kevin Sherrington:

Question: Now that Torii Hunter is gone, what are some viable/possible outfield acquisitions that the Rangers can make?

Sherrington: I haven't talked to Jon Daniels, but I have to assume that the Rangers weren't very serious if Hunter took a one-year deal with the Twins. I think the Rangers are pretty committed to Choo in RF and a platoon in left. May try a platoon at DH, too. Except for pitching, I get the feeling the Rangers are going to go pretty much with what they have on hand. They want to find out about a few players before they commit to any more expensive parts. That's probably fine as long as they add at least one legitimate starter to the rotation. If they don't, it won't be pretty this season.

This was the point I was trying to make yesterday.

I don't have a major problem with this.

 

[romeo212000]

I wonder if the appetite for big trades and acquisitions is very high this year with so many coming off injuries and a whole new coaching staff. It's looking like the plan is to let the high price guys get off the board, look for contributors, and work through 2015 to see how injuries healed. Then 2016 we have young guys come up that have had late 2015 call ups to show what they have. Any holes can be addressed next offseason.

Unless something too good to pass comes along, of course. I'm also glad I haven't heard panic over the A's and Mariners moves, the sort of "we have to also make a splash" that we have heard before.

That's smart business sense to me.