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By charliewilmoth | at
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bravos4evr
Braves look good for the future, might need to trade an arm or two for one big power bat to put behind Freeman by 2018, but they should have enough OBP and speed to last them for years.
dylanp5030
Braves and Phillies look to be set up for future. NL East should be a lot of fun from 2017-2020.
brandons-3
Another positive for Atlanta is even though the contracts given were fair and not crippling, in 2 years you get a league minimum Swanson instead of a 10 million Simmons plus a league minimum Newcomb. It’ll free up money if the Braves choose to use it on the market. With guys like McKinney and Almora coming up you expect the Cubs to eventually trade a bat or two to shift 30 year olds Lester and Arrieta away from TOR expectations.
Salionski
With 2018 in mind then it would depend on the progression of a few positional prospects. Austin Riley has an outside shot of being major league ready by that point. Rio Ruiz made strides towards the end of the season. And Braxton Davidson has the potential to be a significant power threat as well. Then we’ll have to see how much the Braves splurge in this offseason with the international market.
seamaholic 2
Disagree. I think the Braves look awful, frankly, for being this far into a rebuild. They’ve got a metric ton of B-level pitching prospects and very little on the hitting side. Besides Swanson and Newcomb, their prospects look decent but not great. Yeah, they could hit on a bunch of them and luck out, but I think they could just as easily be struggling mightily even in 2018. And that division will be good in a couple years.
Thegreatandpowerfulsimba
You are mistaken- b level makes me think backend starters. Aces probably not. Frontline starters definitely… Lots of them with a pipeline feeding more and more of them for the next 7-10 years. Bullpen will be lights out by 2018. Offense- inciarte smith albies swanson freeman davidson Olivera Riley Ruiz- we wont be the blue jays . But our line up looks decent with a few all stars. Plus a frontline starter could be traded yearly to supplement out farm and most of our payroll can be spent on offense. Teheran Wisler Manban Folty Newcomb Jenkins Blair Allard Touki Fried Sims Ellis Sanchez Barker Whalen Thurman Janas Gant Winkler Chacin… That is an insane amount of mlb depth.
JT19
Outside of Freeman, who do you honestly see from that hypothetical lineup being an all star? Not saying they can’t make be all stars but the second best hitter currently of that group is Inciarte and he isn’t an all star. To say that the lineup will be all stars without most of them having even logged significant time at the major league level is a bold statement.
Salionski
He is talking about 2018 and not next season. It’s too early to give that prediction to Ruiz or Smith at this point (and Braxton is closer to bust than boom at the moment), but I definitely wouldn’t bet against Albies and Swanson. Especially since they’re likely going to play alongside each other which would boost their visibility.
And we still don’t know how the Braves are going to fare in this upcoming international splurge that they’ve hinted at. It’s not incredibly far fetched to think that they could have 3 all-stars in the lineup by 2018.
NL_East_Rivalry
Two quick points:
1. Braves have been in rebuild mode for a total of 15 months
2. Braves system is not flashy, but it gets points for having quantity over quality of high end boom or busts prospects (mostly due to tommy John or other injuries.
WisBrave 2
Jose Peraza, the key to the Frazier deal, could collect plenty of at-bats for the Reds in 2015.
You mean 2016.
charliewilmoth
Yep, thanks. I’ll fix.
thebare54
The White Sox should trade for DH Matt Kemp for LaRoach and Garcia both team will benfit and cash wise Sox don’t lose nothing the first year. Adam get to play some 1B again and Garcia ain’t that bad lots of upside.
Priggs89
Why would the White Sox do that?
A) Matt Kemp isn’t very good anymore
B) He makes a ridiculous amount of money for way too long
That would be a horrible, horrible move. As much as I’d like to move on from LaRoche as soon as possible, I’d much rather wait his contract out than trade for someone like Kemp with that contract.
joebermudez36
I agree. Even though Kemp is 6 years younger than LaRoche, he’s still 31.. .265 is better than .207 but can you get .265 from kemp consistently:? No.
It’s a good idea but an idea only, something that shouldn’t happen.
That’s why I can’t wait for Tim Anderson. Think about it:
Abreu; Lawrie: Frazier: Anderson and Saladino DH if his hitting comes around, which I do see happening.
cxcx
Or they could just keep LaRoche and let him have a pretty good year like he usually does. No reason he shouldn’t provide solid value on his contract going forward and no, a down year last year isn’t reason to expect him to be bad again this year.
HalosFan
Did 2015 not happen in your world? LaRoche is a joke and the White Sox can’t give him away.
HalosFan
Seriously that’s the most ignorant logic I’ve ever heard. A down year last year isn’t reason to think he’ll be bad again? What the f are you talking about?
hanks1hammer
A down year could be a symptom of regression if the player is older. Pretty sure LaRoche falls in that category. Also, 2011 and 2013 certainly demonstrate some signs toward that end as well.
thebare54
Padres might have to give up some cash in this deal
sigurd 2
I think Schebler is going to surprise a lot of people next year.
seamaholic 2
Me too. I don’t hate the Frazier deal nearly as much as many do.
misterb71
Why would the Dodgers trade for LaRoche? They’ve got Gonzalez at 1B for the next three years and he’s been pretty durable and fairly consistent in production. They’ve got nowhere to put LaRoche.
jromo18
Matt Kemp is on the Padres, the discussed deal was with them, not the Dodgers
GoRav114
Lol, is this 2014? Kemp plays for the Padres now
cardfan2011
Cardinals didnt have a very good offense themselves
GoRav114
Amazing how steady they are. To score only 647 runs and still win 100 games. Good pitching, defense, and management is just as important which is very evident with the Cards.
cardfan2011
True true. However, one cant expect their pitching staff to be as good in 2016. But I do believe theyll find ways to win
nrd1138
When one or two guys fail in a year it is the players. When there is a systematic breakdown of being unable to drive in runs all season it is the manager and coaching staff. The White Sox in particular have inept management (which is back this year) and specifically the inability to teach players how to bunt. If the White Sox knew how to bunt they likely would have won more games than they did. This is also not a new issue, it is a reoccurring one from season to season and I have no doubt the Sox would have been better had Eaton, Sanchez, Saladino, and Ramirez (heck even LaRoche) knew how to bunt consistently.
ASapsFables
Bunting? Really?
The White Sox problem over the past few seasons has been their inability to hit the long ball consistently in a park where it is imperative to have success. The White Sox generally have good pitching, especially from their starting rotation. That and big time power are the two biggest keys to their past success.
The White Sox are taking the correct approach right now in addressing this issue. The trade for Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie will significantly improve their power output at 3B and 2B. Adding another bopper at a corner outfield position, as has been speculated, would be the icing on the cake, along with a short term upgrade at SS and another right-handed starting pitcher.
I don’t dismiss the notion of bunting as not being important, It is, especially with the “grunts” in their lineup. But increased power, along with better OBP numbers from their batting order are more essential. Good pitching and HR’s with men on base will do more to negate other team deficiencies than simply bunting better.
ryanw-2
Not being able to drive in runs all season is mainly the product of poor roster construction. You can’t force players to play out of their abilities. If you build a lineup that can’t run, you’ll get an offense that can’t run. The key to driving in runs all season is power and speed. Look at the Astros and Cubs. Most of the time, those two teams would not be where they are. Way too young and inexperienced. But they just happen to have young cores that have a lot of power and speed. Both teams had poor team BA and OBP. But they bypassed it with power and speed. One of the honorable mentions among the lowest scoring offenses in 2015 was the Angels. They had just as much power and similar percentages as the Astros and Cubs. But the big difference was lack of speed. Who woulda thought that? If LAA had the rabbits they had in years past they would’ve scored enough to pass the Astros and perhaps the Rangers. So whether your team hits .270 or .240, if they have power and speed they can get around it. Of course higher percentages are always nice. It comes down to how a GM constructs their roster. And it especially helps if the GM and coaching staff are on the same page with their organizational philosophy.
Joe McMahon
Yeeeeeeah, absolutely none of that is true. Power and speed are not more important than getting on base. In fact most of the evidence suggests that it’s less important, especially speed.
nrd1138
Agreed, consistency and clutch hitting in key situations (like RISP with 0/1/2 outs) is needed more than anything. Cubs and Houston did a lot of bashing and made it to the playoffs, then got royally exposed to good pitching.
GoRav114
Not to make excuses for them but I think they expected much more from Shark, Laroche, Bonaficio, and Melky. They were lacking some serious punch. Frazier should help and if they can get one of the remaining four big free agents I think they can compete for the division.
GoRav114
I was surprised by the lack of offense from the White Sox. As a baseball fan, not a CWS fan, looking at them from the outside I felt they had some talent on the roster that would lead to more runs. I would expect bounce back from Laroche and Melky then with Abreau plus the new additions of Frazier and Lawrie I expect them to get closer to 700 runs. That coupled with a rotation including Sale, Quintana, and Rodon I expect the 2016 team to be more like what the 2015 team was expected to be.
nrd1138
Not worried about Melky as he was one of the few bright spots in the second half and started to pull his weight, but I have a feeling he will be much suited for DH if they can get another OF or two. Poor fundamentals really killed the Sox in being unable to put bunts down when needed and when they could not even move a runner in or hit sac flies, all of which are fundamental issues and have been around since Robin took over.
thepapacy
Isn’t Theos contract up after this year? You think we can convince jerry to throw a piece of the team at Theo to come run the white sox.
HalosFan
Epstein and Jed are at Wrigley for the foreseeable future.
Jonas Salk
Theo and Jed haven’t won anything in Chicago yet. Does the future look bright? Of course it does, but nothing is promised to them or that team. Plus, the way how Theo operated with signing all of those young foreign superstar talents is not possible anymore. The rules have changed. They could NOT go to any other team and use the same plan like they did with Boston and early on with the Cubs. Theo’s ability to put together a winning team without that loophole he used in the past is not proven.
joebermudez36
How about Avi on the White Sox. Can his hitting come around? Or should he get traded while he’s still relatively valuable. Same question for Saladino.