Here’s the latest from out of Atlanta, via a highly informative column from Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
- The Braves are “believed to be leaning toward” keeping Brian Snitker to manage in 2018, Bradley writes. Snitker met with Braves brass yesterday. While the team hasn’t made a final decision, and while it seems likely the team will make coaching changes even if it doesn’t dismiss its manager, GM John Coppolella characterizes the meeting as a “productive” one. Snitker’s status has been a subject of speculation over the last week, as it has looked at various points like the Braves could aim to replace Snitker with special assistant Bo Porter or third base coach Ron Washington, both of whom have MLB managerial experience. The Braves have an option on Snitker’s services for 2018.
- Looking forward to 2018, Coppolella believes the Braves will get younger. “We’ve got arguably the best prospect in the game (Ronald Acuna) pushing his way up to Atlanta. He’s going to be given every opportunity in Spring Training,” Coppolella says. “When he’s ready, nobody’s going to stand in his way. I said the same thing about Ozzie Albies this spring, and it’s the same way.” Elsewhere, Coppolella notes that it’s possible the team could trade Matt Kemp or Nick Markakis to clear space, although that acknowledgement seems to have come in response to a direct question from Bradley.
- Coppolella says the team “needs to make a decision” on R.A. Dickey’s club option for 2018. Other than that, the team “won’t be playing in big free-agent pitching waters,” preferring instead to give opportunities to younger pitchers. Dickey’s option is worth $8MM or a $500K buyout. He’s posted a 4.32 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 while eating 183 1/3 innings this season and would seem to be an asset at that price, although he’ll turn 43 next month. Dickey’s option is a team option, although Coppolella notes that Dickey too “needs to make a decision on whether he’s coming back,” perhaps referring to the possibility Dickey could retire. (About 70% of MLBTR readers believe the Braves should exercise Dickey’s option, via a recent poll by Jeff Todd.)
- The Braves’ biggest priority this winter will be relief pitching Coppolella says. The team will look for one reliever or “preferably two.” The Braves’ bullpen’s 4.62 ERA this season has ranked fourth worst in the Majors.
- The Braves have already extended Kurt Suzuki, and Coppolella repeats they’re likely to exercise fellow catcher Tyler Flowers’ $4MM option as well (rather than paying him a $300K buyout). That the Braves would plan to exercise such a cheap option comes as little surprise after Flowers’ strong .286/.378/.445 season. Also unsurprisingly, Coppolella indicates that he’s happy about the Braves’ catcher position for 2018.
- The Braves, of course, haven’t contended in 2017, although with 70 wins, they’re already topped their 2016 total. “We’re going from 67 wins to 68 wins to 70-something wins,” says Coppolella, who emphasizes the contributions of young players (including, one assumes, rookies like Albies, Johan Camargo and Sean Newcomb, along with even newer arrivals like September callup Luiz Gohara). “We’re seeing us do it with young players. A big point for me is that you’re not seeing starts go to Joel De La Cruz. You’re not seeing innings go to Jake Brigham or Ryan Kelly. We’re doing it with kids.”
I just have a feeling we aren’t trying to make any kind of splash in free agency and it frustrates me. Our outfield should be Acuna, inciarte, and McCutchen
McCutchen?? Seriously??
What is your infatuation with McCutchen? I’m not saying he wouldn’t be an asset to the team he is on, but saying why should the Braves pay the cost to acquire him (talent wise since it very possible that the Pirates pick up his option). I’d be shocked to see Atlanta pursue him.
McCutchen looked very human at the beginning of the year. Don’t make the same mistake the Dodgers made with Kemp. Once an athletic outfielders legs start to go, it’s the beginning of a quick decline. Sure his bat will still be there, but the NL doesn’t have the luxury of a DH. Outfielders in their 30s are not cornerstones of a freshly rebuilt team. It’d be better to trade from strength and offer some young pitching prospects for a good outfielder you feel might break out. They’re out there, just gotta do some homework.
I love Copolella’s honesty. His favorite thing about this season is that he didn’t have to pitch “castoffs” like Joel de la Cruz and Jake Brigham. Can’t imagine many GMs would be willing to say something like that.
I can’t really tell if you’re joking. Our bullpen was actually worse this year than last, FYI. Only difference was we didn’t kick the guys who stunk out for new stinkers this time.
I’m not joking. In the article, he throws those guys under the bus by name. I do honestly appreciate his honesty, and he seems to be more forthright with the media and fans than other executives, but I don’t think I’d much appreciate it if I were, say, Joel de la Cruz. I’m just saying that I, as a general baseball fan, appreciate his candor
He was SOOO honest about international signings wasn’t he?
Coppy kinda threw De La Cruz, Brigham, and Kelly under the Adios Bus.
Yeah he did. Kind of a douche thing to say
Why? Seemed to be point blank and honest. I appreciate that in public comments because it appears to be getting rarer.
It strikes me as being particularly unkind to mention specific names. You can be more generic about it and people, including those players, will know whom you’re talking about.
Why? Their play has given them the bad name, and Coppy is held responsible for their play. If they don’t perform, eventually he will be held responsible, where in many cases those same underperforming players will still be employed via bad contracts. If you’re worried about his remarks affecting those players’ job prospects — I’m sure every MLB executive is looking more into their stats than they are into Coppy’s opinion of their play. If there was any wrongdoing – the MLBPA would be all over it in a second.
He does this too much for my taste. Not that he cares or anyone else should, I guess. It’s just real easy to be “honest” when all you’re doing is blaming other people.
“Blaming other people”? He’s the GM of a pro team – his job is to judge others’ performance to put together the best team possible. If there’s a bad bullpen where guys aren’t performing, the GM is responsible. If they have a bad roster with poor performance, that’s his fault. That’s why he’s paid the big bucks. Being honest in an interview and speaking candidly about player performance and how the team needs to get better going into the offseason is what he was doing. I appreciate he didn’t mince words. The bullpen was awful. I just wish Ian Krol was a part of that statement.
He is responsible, and I feel like I never see him take responsibility. “Yeah our bullpen sucked again this year and it’s all these guys’ faults. Never mind that I’m the one who hand selected all of them.” “Yeah we’re in a bad spot and now that I’m taking over and it’s all that Frank Wren guy’s fault. Please give me more time to fix his huge mistakes because he was just awful.” Every time he’s “honest” with the media it just comes off to me as trying to buy himself more time. Even if I agree with what he’s saying (which I typically do), I rarely appreciate the way he says it.
I’d appreciate a little more responsibility. Like “Our bullpen will get better next season when we’re not using Jim Johnson, who I inexplicably signed for 2 years.”
“The Braves, of course, haven’t contended in 2017, although with 70 wins, they’re already topped their 2016 total. “We’re going from 67 wins to 68 wins to 70-something wins,” says Coppolella”
Wow, that is amazing!
The point is that they’ve done it while elevating their farm system in each season, and they’ve done it while graduating talent each season. That, believe it or not, actually is impressive.
Braves are targeting move to their *next* new stadium to be contenders.
Yea. Probably.
Hey, are the dodgers targeting 2055 to stop choking in the playoffs?
Zing
Until we start winning then braves won’t attract big time free agents but only past their prime vets. We’ll have to continue to rush our farm like acuna, newcomb, Swanson, etc. and hope most of them stick…tricky game to play
I’m fine with that. Most of recent big contracts have been bad if not franchise-altering terrible. Don’t want to sound like a parrot, but we still are figuring out our long term pieces and shouldn’t be throwing millions of dollars at positions that we think will be filled by a star on the verge of being ready.
The Astros made a play for Andrew Miller who opted to take less money to play for the Yankees. If the Astros had been more competitive, maybe he would have taken their deal and then they wouldn’t have had to pony up the prospects for Giles, or they could have acquired him and had a better bullpen. They also may have beat the Royals in 2015. Either way, it hurt the Astros that they weren’t able to sign their big name FA target before they entered their competitive phase
Agreed with Run and disagree with Homer. I think if Braves were in spending mode a lot of big names would have no problem playing there. Beautiful facilities, lots of tradition, thanks to tbs a country wide fan base, and obvious direction of where the club is heading. And with a superstar like FF who has no problem with sharing the spotlight there’s no battle for attention.
Charlie….you gotta tag the Braves on this so it comes up on my phone when you post it.
Anybody who wants us to sign big free agents obviously doesn’t know how teams win in this league
They need to make a big move for a 3B. Read an interesting post from “When Sid Slid” about a trade for Suarez from the Reds. While I don’t agree with the proposed players in the deal, I do like the idea of adding a young proven player the Pop to the hot corner. We could use the pop.
once you pop, the fun don’t stop.
I saw that article. I don’t think Suarez is a good option for 3B. I honestly don’t. Yes he has some pop, but he’s the same type of player that caused the braves to tank in the first place. Pop, with a low avg and an extremely high strikeout rate. He’s 29th in the entire league in K’s and 12th in the NL. That’s Uggla, BJ upton like numbers right now. and lets be honest, the pop isn’t anything to freak out about. People will overreact to his WAR, but I don’t like him. I’d rather see if one of our players develops into that role. 3b is not the biggest need as much as people want to make out that it is. Our bullpen is brutal bad.
I think if the Braves are rebuilding with young players then they have to unload Kemp and Markakis. And, they need a third baseman …. maybe Camargo is the answer there.
I personally think Camargo is the answer. Wish there was more pop… but he’s good enough in my opinion. I think you are right about Kemp and Markakis… I think they both have to go. Question is where and how do you get rid of them. I would like to see Kemp go first, no doubt needs to be an AL team, but you know the braves will have to eat a lot of that contract. Markakis should be more likely to go, but we aren’t gonna get anything great for him. Tough decisions.
The Braves need an entire lineup after and around Freddie Freeman.
The Phillie Phanatic could shut down that “lineup”
Wow they could shut down inciarte, camargo, Albies, and guys like Swanson who are starting to break out?
Yea I don’t agree. our hitting is actually not that bad. It’s a tough enough line up that has a lot of youth and still improving. Pitching is the biggest issue.
The braves will have a difficult time moving Kemp. The number of AL looking for DH’s is going to be slim. Markakias may be moved but he’s doing exactly what the Braves signed him for. This team isn’t that far from competing. Sign Moustaskaus trade Markakias, Tehran and Folty, trade for Hand and sign another relief pitcher the team would like pretty solid. A lineup that could look like this would be nice.
C – Flowers/Suzuki
1B – Freddie
2B – Swanson
SS – Albies
3B – Moustakaus
LF – Kemp/ Matt Adams
CF – Inciarte
RF – Acuna
Starters – Newcomb, Gorhara, Sims, Fried, Cobb
Bullpen – Vizcaino, Hand, Ramirez, Freeman, FA, Minter and the return of Cabrera
Matt Adams is worse than Kemp in LF. Braves will move him this offseason and use that spot on a FA. No way do they have 2 terrible defensive players.
If i’m not mistaking, Hand is a free agent once the 2018 season is complete right? Why trade for a bullpen reliever that will require a decent return and is only a 1 year deal? Also, unless the braves trade jim johnson, you better believe he will be in that bullpen. Also, I don’t fully understanding going out to get Cobb then trading Tehran. Here’s a real question, why aren’t the braves making a move to go get someone like J.D. Martinez on a mutil year deal this offseason? Isn’t he a FA soon? That would be a huge pickup. I’m still on board that Kemp and NM need to be move, but lock up an elite player like J.D. and just hold Carmargo at 3rd for now.
On a more down to earth type of talk, I think if there is one focus the braves can and should spend money on, it’s that bullpen. It’s brutal. and there are actually a lot of decent names that will be on the market that would be strong upgrades.
Every name in the above title, sound like a high school prom check list.
Trade with Bosox,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Kemp,M.Adams and Sims for Chavis,R.Castillo,Swihart, and Houck.