Some rumblings from around the NL East…
- In the latest Marlins organizational news, the team hired Adrian Lorenzo as a special assistant in scouting and baseball operations, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reports (via Twitter). Lorenzo had previously been working as assistant director of international scouting for the Red Sox. The Marlins also let go of pro scouting director Jim Cuthbert earlier this week, according to the Miami Herald’s Clark Spencer (Twitter link), ending Cuthbert’s three-year tenure with the franchise.
- These changes and the recent overhaul of the Marlins’ coaching staff are just the latest in an extensive front office reshuffle since Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman took over the team, and since Jeter hired Gary Denbo as Miami’s VP of player development and scouting. While it isn’t unusual for new owners to put their personal stamp on a team, “people in baseball are just mystified by Denbo’s actions,” according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, and “morale in that organization, I’m told, is at an all-time low.”
- Cafardo also discusses the Twins’ managerial search in his column, writing that Mets manager Mickey Callaway “would have been high on the Twins’ list if he were available.” Callaway and Minnesota chief baseball officer Derek Falvey are familiar with each other from their shared time with the Indians, when Callaway was pitching coach and Falvey was working in the front office. Of course, the chance still exists that Callaway could become available, as the next Mets GM will reportedly have the authority to make a managerial change. Since the Twins’ search for a manager is already well under way, however, one would think the club wouldn’t wait under the Mets have made a hire and decided on Callaway’s fate. Callaway’s first season with the Mets was a rocky one, though he is still under contract for two more years (plus a club option for the 2021 season).
- Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos is scheduled to meet with the media on Monday morning, with The Athletic’s David O’Brien (Twitter link) expecting that the team will announce a new contract for manager Brian Snitker and possibly some coaching changes. Snitker’s previous deal is up after the World Series is over, though the team was expected to offer him another contract and it wouldn’t be surprising if negotiations went rather quickly. After all, Snitker did just lead the Braves to a somewhat surprising NL East title, and Snitker is a Braves lifer with over 40 years of experience in Atlanta’s organization.
- Also from O’Brien (Twitter links), he thinks the Braves will probably have somewhere in the range of $30MM-$35MM to spend this winter. The team has just over $90.8MM on the books for 2019 for current contracts, projected arbitration salaries, and minimum salaries for pre-arb players, give or take a few million less if Atlanta parts ways with any players on the non-tender bubble. The Braves have never had an Opening Day payroll higher than their $122.6MM figure from 2017 since Liberty Media has owned the team, so one would figure they wouldn’t go too far beyond that number. The club could also save some cash for midseason additions or, as O’Brien notes, use some money to sign in-house players to extensions. Regardless, the Braves’ offseason promises to be a very interesting one, as the team makes it next step towards long-term contention now that the rebuild phase seems to be over.
“The Braves have never had an Opening Day payroll higher than their $122.6MM figure from 2017 since Liberty Media has owned the team, so one would figure they wouldn’t go too far beyond that number.”
I don’t understand. New stadium and all the increased revenue and attendance, but payroll seems awfully low. Will this ever change under Liberty? Now’s the time
Yeah seems like they are just pocketing the money.
Actually Liberty has to release all of their finances due to being public. Each year they put the same amount of money in as they earned the year before. Liberty makes no profit on the Braves. The only exception was the one year they signed Ervin Santana due to injury. They took a loss. If you want the Braves to have more money, go spend money at the stadium instead of using reddit to watch the games.
Bingo !
After this newest stadium, won’t the Braves be due for yet another stadium soon?
In about 6 years
Read up on the MLB rules about debt for clubs. The Braves are paying heartily for that new stadium right now.
Well you can’t forget about all the young players they have right now. They’re paying pennies to Albies, Camargo, Acuna, Swanson, the whole Bullpen, and a big part of the rotation. That’s why the payroll is so low. It didn’t need to be high in 2018. Which was the first year they were expected to compete after the lengthy rebuild.
It does get a little old hearing the carping about payroll on teams that are clean off of a rebuild and have lots of young guys on the cheap that are only going to get pricier as they rack up service time. Not that that precludes the Braves from investing some $$$ in FA, but there has to be some long term thought process here. At least a few of those guys are going to get lucrative extensions eventually.
Liberty Media is a publicly traded company. Why are you surprised they’re keeping the profits? That’s the whole point.
You have to figure in the extra costs of the stadium too. If you get out ahead of paying back the debt, the long term picture become very bright in less time. With $30-$35 M to spend this offseason, we should do well between trading some arms from our cache of minor leaguers AND free agency. Times still look very good.
With the Kemp $$ deal we were suppose to have around 50 mil available. 30 seems low.
O’Day is using 9 Million of that and Gausman probably another 7-8
I forgot about freaking O’Day
This is correct. The Braves really shot themselves in the foot with their Orioles adds. Gausman wasn’t a terrible add I just don’t think they needed him with all of their cheap pitching
ODay was certainly a mistake.
They could always look to trade Teheran for contract relief if they want to free up some more payroll though and recoup some of that. Assuming they didn’t get anything other than salary relief dumping Teheran could be possible and in my opinion they have too many starters as it is with so many younger options knocking on the door.
Folty, Newcomb, Soroka, Touki…. do they really need both Gausman and Teheran? One needs to go.
O’day could very well return to form in 2019 and be worth every penny of his last contract season. It is hard to label him a mistake already when the Braves knew ahead of time he wouldn’t pitch in a braves uniform in 2018.
I don’t know 9 mil for ODay is a bit steep even when healthy. He wasn’t an elite set up guy he was good but not 9 mil good and now he’s coming off an injury.
Gosh, you mean the “Teheran is Definitely an Ace” era is over?
I’m guessing Calloway will get canned by whoever the Wilpons bring in, but I really didn’t think he did a bad job. He was saddled with a lot of veteran baggage (Bruce, Frazier, Vargas, Ramos, Blevins) that really underperformed in the first half, and the team was a lot more energized and fundamentally sound in the second half. I also thought he and Eiland did a good job overall with the pitching staff (save for stretching Gsellman and Lugo a bit far early in the season). It’d be a shame to let a promising manager go just for the sake of cleaning house.
He’d be welcomed back in Cleveland with open arms
He will be happy to leave the Abbott and Costello Show.
By the way Game, how about adding the following to the list:
Reyes
aG
Love the Braves for the smart organization that they are,
but they have to start spending at some point right?
Get another huge bat to go along with
Freeman and Acuna Jr.
Get another top of the rotation guy to go along with
Folty and Gausy
And you have a winning team for years to come.
It’s not like the division is tough either besides the Nationals so,
take advantage of the situation and go all in.
The division will be tough next year. The Mets, Phillies and Nationals will all be better next year. Even the Fish will be stronger, although probably not a threat. I say get Pollock and Eovaldi. Try to get Ramos or Grandal, or just bring back Zuk if those 2 go elsewhere.
I’d say that division is pretty tough lol. The Mets still have their crazy good Rotation, the Marlins didn’t lose 100 games even with their AAA team, so there not as bad as we all think, they compete every damn day. The Nats are gonna hover around .500, and who knows, they could challenge the Braves for the division. And you can’t forget about the Phillies, they don’t have to make any moves this winter, everyone is a year older, they’re a young team, but they have the money to get better. This division isn’t a piece of cake like the aL central. And it isn’t top heavy like the AL east or AL west. Just look at how many NL teams were playing meaningful games in September, it was crazy, like 9 teams up until the last 2 weeks
Budget seems low…. really low
Why spend when you have a boat load of talent coming up, wait one more year get stop gap guys like Pollack etc two year max contracts see if Rooks pan out. It’s not being cheap it’s being smart thier running a business….
The smart move is to sign guys and use the rookies as depth.
Sign the Harper’s and Machado’s of this FA class.
I’m a Yankee fan, and calling it: Atl is “Dark horse”!
30-40 million. That really screws the “sid slid blog” guy’s projection of 75 million. Hah. His ideas were ludicrous anyway. Thought the Braves were supposed to be flush with Cash?
Um, that blog had a projection of 50million, not 75. and that was with certain players being non tendered. So…yeah
I’m terribly sorry I mixed up the 75 in committed with the 50 mil. My deepest apologies.
I’ve seen 2 other projections at $40-50MM including Alan Carpenter (Tomahawk Take). Note: $50MM on the high end IF they shed Teheran’s $11MM contract (and buyout). It will be interesting to see how they handle that.
i actually thought he had some seven ideas, although Im not sure about the newk trade. I think resigning Sanchez would be a smart move. Im just glad Im not in AA position.
I hope this means a non tender for Duvall and Jose Ramirez
The last time ATL was spending money was on Upton, Derek Lowe, Hector Olivera (salary dump), Kenshin Kawakami, and more. Let’s hope those writing the checks now are a little more gun shy.
In fairness to Kawakami he was at least worth the money for one of the years we paid him. The others on that list not so much
That’s a good point, but debatable that $8.3MM for a season in which he put up a 4.21 FIP was worth it, especially when they had to commit to another $14MM over 2 additional years in which he didn’t make more than 18 more starts after that.
Dan Uggla thanks you for not bringing him into this.
So the Braves are looking at something like $30-$35 million. Darren O’Day is taking a good chunk of the $50 million everyone was expecting. It’s easy to say that he was a mistake until you find out that part of the reason Gaussmen cost ALMOST nothing was because the Braves took on O’Day. On the other hand, some of my Braves faithful expect usefulness out of him too. While this may be true, I hope nobody expects anything more than that. He hasn’t been all that impressive since 2015.
I think the Braves will push their budget some, especially if they trade Teheran. Trading him makes an awful lot of since. He is a great pitcher to have on a rebuilding
team. His pitching isn’t intolerable and the contract he’s on in reasonable for his production. With that, however, I don’t like going after DeGrom. We will part with insane amounts of talent to get him for two years. Once those two years are up he will be 32. How badly are we going to want to resign a pitcher that turns 33 in the middle of the season? You almost feel like you have to once you trade away the package you you needed to get him.
And then there’s Greinke. Please..let’s not touch that. Bringing on a 35 year old pitcher even if it only costs one blue chip will still suck when we are paying even only half his salary at age 37.
Kershaw? He is still a very capable pitcher but you will be paying for his name. His best days are behind him.
Syndagaard. Can’t stay on the mound. You will probably have to pay a similar package in talent for Thor as you would DeGrom because he is younger and has one more year of control. But he has only produced ONE full season out of four.
In my opneen it’s either Corbin or nobody and even he isn’t THAT much of an upgrade. But he’s young enough and has enough upside to take a chance with.
With Markakis moving on, a lot of Braves fans love the idea of bringing on Harper. The Braves haven’t brought on a premium FA in a very long time but let’s suppose they did. That is pretty much all you will be able to do. You won’t be able to add a Corbin or the kind of bullpin help you need and have any kind of payroll flexibility come trade deadline in the 2019 season to fill in any needs you may have.
Lastly, to many fans come down on Liberty Media. Teams have had worse owners in the past. Go cry to some Marlins or Mets fans or some old school Reds fans and they will laugh in your face. LM allows the Braves to operate at cost (that’s ZERO profit). Also, in 2014, when the Braves needed a starter on the fly, management was approved to bring on the most expensive starter on the market at the time (Ervin Santana) because the Braves we’re expected to be contenders that year. I believe that added another $14 million for the year.
Great post. Agree with everything you said. Some Braves fans just don’t want to hear the truth.
I don’t think FA is going to be the way to go for the Braves this offseason. They will probably do better on the trade market and use the cash they have available to extend (or re-extend in the case of Freeman) players they have. If they are going to sign any FAs then maybe a middle inning veteran reliever.
That $30-35m figure is way too low. DoB has no clue what he is even talking about. The money coming off the books shows just how bad it is. Even after all the raises, the Braves should have at least $45m. Teheran is as good as gone so that is another $11m.
The Braves should trade Acuña and/or Albies
I’m convinced
Would the Yankees do Acuña Jr. for Clint Frazier?
As long as they throw in Stanton and his contract.
Ellsbury would have to be going back, too.
Corbin would be my choice for a starter once Teheran is gone. Then extensions for Freeman and Acuna. Look for a hitting coach who believes in starters going the distance and cultivate that mindset in the minors. Bullpens will never carry a team if they are asked to fill 4 to 5 innings most nights. That’s asking for disaster in the long term.
Die Hard Braves Fan since 1982 (I was 10 years old growing up in Arkansas when I first started following The 1982 Braves on WTBS). I’ve been ‘hooked’ ever since (through THICK and THIN, lol).
This Braves team has not only A LOT of talent on The MLB Roster (ESPECIALLY young talent) but also A LOT of MILB high upside potential prospects who will be knocking on the door in the next year or two. Our GM, AA, will have A WEALTH of talent to choose from (whether to put into The Starting Rotation, The Bullpen, on The AAA Staff (to be there, on a moment’s notice; to be summoned up to Atlanta to fill a need in our Pitching Staff…….OR, even as ‘trade bait’).
I bring all this up, because I feel that The Braves have MORE than ENOUGH young/cheap/high upside Starting Pitching Talent…to BOTH build a potentially GREAT Starting 5 that can excel in BOTH The 2019 Season…AS WELL as potentially in The 2020 Season AND beyond. In other words, I see LITTLE NEED to bring in any ‘outside’ pitching talent. The Braves have what it takes to build a VERY STRONG BULLPEN in 2019 as well! Buying bullpen parts via Free Agency..is a VERY DICEY proposition! Given how variance plays a HUGE ROLE in how effective bullpen parts are in any given year (there are obviously ‘exceptions to the rule’..however ‘the exception to the rule DOES NOT make it ‘THE RULE”, lol)….I’d rather see The Braves put prospects who are not ready to be a starter..in our bullpen (as other teams have done with high upside prospects who eventually transition to The Starting Rotation in the next year or two).
Where I want to see The Braves SPEND MONEY..is addressing the lack of power in the middle of the lineup! A team CANNOT win playoff games…when 1. Nick “NOODLE BAT” Markakis is hitting cleanup (NO HOMERS in his last 177 regular season at-bats)….2. Tyler ‘batted .227 with ONLY 5 homers’ as your #5 hitter (as happened in Games 1 & 2 of The NLDS against The Dodgers…AS WELL as throughout a big chunk of The Regular Season).
It would be A BIG TIME WASTE…to ‘go cheap’ when it came to addressing the lack of middle of the order power. I’m SICK AND TIRED of hearing ‘uh….we need to save payroll flexibility when it comes to re-signing our CHEAP young prospects in 2019 and 2020….who in 2021 and beyond become MORE EXPENSIVE’. First of all…there is NO GUARANTEE that our best young prospects…will even be receptive to signing on a potential ‘team friendly’ contact extension.
However, what I DO KNOW…is that it would be MUCH EASIER to get our young prospects to possibly ‘buy into’ signing long term contract extensions with The Braves…IF we can GO HELL DEEP in The Playoffs YEAR AFTER YEAR! The Braves NEED some serious power in our lineup…..which can ONLY be address via The Free Agency Offseason (UNLESS AA wants to overpay with prospects via The Trade Market).
Keep our prospects (especially THE PLETHORA of young pitching prospects we have…to build BOTH a Rotation AND Bullpen (not only in 2019…but also in future years…when The Braves will still have prospects working their way up to possibly replace ‘potentially pricey’ arbitration eligible pitchers who arent exactly ‘worth what they will command via arbitration’ come 2021-2020 and beyond)!
Before addressing who I feel The Braves should go after….let’s take a look at what I feel are ‘The Locks’ to be on The Braves in 2019 (and their salaries/position).
1. Freddie Freeman….1st…..($21 mil)
2. Ozzie Albies……………2nd…($600k…pre-arbittation/one more year)
3. Dansby Swanson…SS….($600k….pre-arbitration/last year)
4. Johan Camargo…..utility ($600k…pre-arbitration/one more year)
5. Tyler Flowers………..C………($4 mil.)
6. Charlie Culberson…utility….($1..5 mil….1st year arbitration estimate…possible trade chip IF AA cant get that figure a little lower).
7. Ronald Acuna……RF…..($600k…..pre-arbitration/2 more years)
8. Ender Inciarte….CF……($5 mil.)
9. Michael Reed….OF….($600k….pre-arbitration/3 more years)
10. Mike Folty…..SP…… ($6 mil….2nd year arbitration/2 more years before Free Agency)
11. Sean Newcomb….SP ($600k….pre-arbitration/1 more year)
12. Kevin Gausmann…SP ($9 mil….1 more year before Free Agency….could be traded IF he wants ‘too much’. He could sign some type of 2 year contract that pays him something like $20 mil over 2 years…kind of like how The Braves did with Jason Heyward when he was 2 years away from Free Agency).
13. #4 starter……SP………($600k….pre-arbitration/3 years away….the last 2 spots of The Rotation, will come from our PLETHORA of young pitching prospects who stand out/earn one of those 2 spots during Spring Training 2019)
14. #5 starter…….SP……..($600k…..pre-arbitration/3 years away….read #13’s prediction).
15. Darren O’Day…..RP….($9 mil. last year before becoming a Free Agent. While he’s coming back from a hamstring injury…at least it isnt arm related. Prior to his injury, he’s a VERY EFFECTIVE late inning option. If AA didnt have to absorb his 2019 salary in order to get Gausmann WITHOUT having to sacrifice any of our top pitching prospects…I would LOVE to see AA go after Craig Kimbrel. However, I dont see ANY MLB team taking a flyer on O’Day WITHOUT seeing him pitch meaningful games first. So The Braves are pretty much stuck with O’Day for 2019…meaning that he’s our ‘defacto closer’ for 2019).
16. Adrodys Vizcaino…..RP……..($5 mil….last year before Free Agency. Vizcaino will help form a ‘bullpen-by-committee’ likely approach by Braves Management for 2019).
17. AJ Minter……RP……..($600k……pre-arbitration/2 more years. He’ll be the main lefty come closing time…part of what I believe will be a 3-headed-bullpen-by-committee-closer).
18. Dan Winkler….RP…..($1.5 mil…..arbitration/1 more year before Free Agency. Great bullpen arm. Need to not overuse him in 2019).
19. Johnny Venters….RP…..($1.5 mil…..arbitration/1 more year before Free Agency. Another good BP arm. Also need to not overuse him in 2019).
20. Max Fried….RP……($600k….pre-arbitration/2 more years. A lefty who can BOTH pitch multiple innings out of the bullpen/get tough lefties out in high leverage situations).
21. Chad Sobotka…..RP…..($600k…..pre-arbitration/3 more years. Tough on righties who can throw gas. Hopefully he’ll continue to develop).
22. Bullpen piece….RP….($600k….pre-arbitration/3 more years. The Braves have A PLEHTORA of options to fill the long relief role/spot starter-type to pitch on short notice/if one of our starters gets knocked out in the first couple of innings. Also, if any of our above relief pitchers OR starters get hurt….AAA will have A PLETHORA of options to turn to who can come up and fill those roles)!
I understand that BOTH Julio Teheran (at $11 mil for 2019 with a $1 mil 2020 buyout/$12 mil 2020 salary) and Adam Duval (arbitration eligible/$3 mil salary estimate) are on The Books for 2019. However I feel that there is NO WAY that Teheran doesnt get traded in the offseason (The Braves have cheaper/more talented options coming up than Teheran…..however Teheran will have value for other teams, given the contracts routinely signed by BUMS who are worse than Teheran, lol. I dont expect The Braves to get much in return for Teheran….what’s important…is that his $11 mil 2019 salary is REMOVED from the books). Also, Duval is an obvious DFA candidate. He simply LOST IT (reminds me of what happened to Austin Kearns years ago).
Assuming that AA takes my advice on trading Teheran/DFAing Duval…that would leave The 2019 Braves needing 1. a starting catcher (Flowers is the backup)…2. A starting Left Fielder (bye-bye Nick ‘NOODLE/CUCKOLD BAT” Markakis)…3. A 3rd baseman (Camargo should be our ‘super-sub/Ben Zobrist-type’ bench player for 2019).
My contention is that The Braves should have NO PROBLEM with a $150 mil Opening Day Payroll (with the option of increasing it by another $10-$15 mil SHOULD a need arise by The July 2019 Trade Deadline). I’m SICK AND TIRED of hearing how ‘the max’ Opening Day Payroll was $122 mil a year ago (implying that The Braves ‘only’ have around $30-$35 mil available to add to the current payroll)!
According to my math….The 5 Starting pitchers of Folty/Newcomb/Gausmann/4th/5th starters coming from our PLETHORA of high upside pitching prospects…will total $16.9 mil in 2019.
The 8 man bullpen of O’Day/Vizcaino/Minter/Winkler/Venters/Sobotka/Fried/Long-Relief-Type from our PLETHORA of high upside young pitching talent….will total $19.4 mil in 2019.
The 4 man Bench of Camargo/Flowers/Culberson/Reed…..will total $6.7 mil in 2019.
The current 5 man Starting Lineup of Freeman/Albies/Swanson/Inciarte/Acuna……will total $27.8 mil.
Those 22 postions….will total $70.8 mil….leaving $79.2 mil to fill the holes that Left Field/3rd base/Catcher presents.
If AA feels that Austin Riley is THE FUTURE…then The Braves should pencil him in as our Opening Day 3rd baseman/#5 or #6 hitter. His power from the right side would be HELLA WELCOME in our lineup.
However, if AA has ‘question marks’ concerning Riley…then AA should package Riley (along with one or two of our ‘2nd tier’ starting pitching prospects…Realmuto is only 2 years away from Free Agency….The Marlins ARE NOT going to get ‘a king’s ransom’ for Realmuto, lol. Riley has a lot of power…and is HELLA CHEAP for the next 3 years).
So either The Braves trade for Realmuto by sacrificing Riley/a couple of others (he’s in line to get a raise to around $6 mil in 2019)…..which would leave The Braves with around $73.1 mil to fill Left Field/3rd base…..OR…..The Braves keep Riley as our 2019 Opening Day 3rd Baseman (he’ll only be paid $600k)…which would leave The Braves with $78.6 mil to fill Left Field/Catcher.
If we trade for Realmuto….I would LOVE to see The Braves use that $73.1 mil…to make DUAL OFFERS to BOTH Manny Machado AND Bryce Harper (offering $35-$40 mil type deals to EACH of them)! If each were to agree to a $35 mil a year type deals with The Braves…that would only put The 2019 Opening Day Payroll at $146.9 mil (look,
Sun Trust Field/the surrounding Battery Properties are A PRINTING PRESS OF DOLLARS for The Braves Organization (with even more development in 2019 and beyond). Also, REGULARLY HOSTING Playoff Games at Sun Trust…for MULTIPLE ROUNDS….will also SIGNIFICANTLY add to team revenue. Also, with the added STAR ATTRACTION of Machado and Harper to The Braves….The Braves can charge more for THE RICH PEOPLE”s seats/suites at Sun Trust. If it were to take $40 mil a year to sign BOTH Machado and Harper…then The Braves should DO IT IN A HEARTBEAT. That would give The Braves a 2019 Opening Day Payroll of $156.9 mil (with $ left over to add at The July Trade Deadline should a need arise).
Depending on how much it would take to sign Machado and Harper (2019 Opening Day Payroll of between $146.9 mil-$156.9 mil)….just look at what this 2019 Starting Lineup would look like:
1. Acuna……RF
2. Albies……2nd
3. Freeman….1st
4. Machado….3rd
5. Harper…..LF
6. Realmuto…C
7. Inciarte…..CF
8. Swanson….SS
Johan Camargo would be The Super Sub to give a number of our players a day off each week (he would be fresher as well). Also, if Albies were to struggle in 2019….Snitker could put Realmuto in the #2 hole and Albies in the #6 hole. Regardless…that would be A POWERFUL Lineup….with NO ONE over 28 years old!
Not only is that a powerful offense…but also very good defensive lineup! This lineup could stay together for a number of years!
A good offense/defense….would give our Pitching Staff time to develop! I would rather AA stay away from acquiring an ‘Ace’ like deGroom…because their salaries would rise significantly (also because he’s only 2 years away from Free Agency). The Braves have LOADS of high upside starting pitching talent….why not give the likes of Mike Soroka, Touki Tousiant, Kyle Wright, Bryce Wilson, Joey Wentz and Ian Anderson (among others) a chance to be Long Term Aces for The Braves (especially at cheap prices while The Braves are paying the likes of Machado, Harper and Freeman lots of money)?
I’m sure that Machado and Harper would only sign with opt outs after years #3-#4 (which would be IDEAL for The Braves…ESPECIALLY if both were to really HIT during those years)…..giving both players another chance for a big payday before they are 30 years old (which again, would be ideal for The Braves…because hopefully by then we’ll have players like Christian Pache and other hitters that we drafted in 2018 and hopefully in 2019…who will be ready to play/fill in for those players….AS players like Albies and Acuna get ready for ‘big payday extension offers’ by The Braves.
OR…..if The Braves were to keep Riley at 3rd…..then we’d have $78.6 mil to address left field/catcher….which 1. offering $35-$40 mil a year offer to Bryce Harper….and 2. Sign Yasmani Grandal to a $18-$20 mil a year type deal. That would leave The Braves with a 2019 Opening Day Payroll of between $124.4 mil and $131.4 mil.
Our 2019 Opening Day Lineup would be the following:
1. Acuna….RF
2. Albies….2nd
3. Freeman….1st
4. Riley……3rd
5. Harper….LF
6. Grandal…C
7. Inciarte….CF
8. Swanson….SS
I would bat Riley 4th (even though he’s a rookie)….because he has power AND because it would split up Freddie and Harper (both left handed hitters). In other words, having Riley hitting in between Freddie and Harper….would eliminate opposing managers from bringing in a tough lefty to face BOTH Freddie AND Harper…WITHOUT having to face a power righty bat like Riley.
Personally…..I like the first option (trading for Realmuto….going ALL-IN by signing BOTH Harper AND Machado). The Braves would be SERIOUS CONTENDERS for years to come with that lineup! If a team is making The Playoffs EVERY YEAR…..the payroll CANNOT stay the same. It HAS to go up! The young talent that The Braves have……would keep our pitching costs low (prime example….there’s a chance that Gausmann, no matter how good he pitches in 2019…..will be a trade candidate next offseason…because The Braves have A PLETHORA of young, high upside Starting Pitching talent coming up The System! Heck, Gausmann may end up being traded by The July 2019 Trade Deadline….IF some of our AAA pitching studs ‘force the issue’. Why give Gausmann a raise on his already $9 mil 2019 Salary…IF a young prospect has the potential to pitch BETTER? That move there…is how money can be trimmed from The 2020 Payroll!
Other moves (whether after 2019 or 2020) would be to eventually trade Folty and Newcomb. By Opening Day 2021…I feel that the following will be our Opening Day Starting 5:
1. Mike Soroka…….($600k…could be a Super 2 IF he makes The 2019 Opening Day Roster. Regardless, he could very well be our ACE by then)
2. Touki Tousiant….($600k…..he’ll be in his last pre-arbitration year)
3. Kyle Wright……….($600k……same as Touki)
4. Ian Anderson……($600k…..he may not come up until sometime in late in 2019 or 2020..meaning that he’ll still be several years away from arbitration. Regardless, he has Ace-like potential)
5. Joey Wentz……($600k……same as Anderson. While not quite the upside as Anderson/Soroka…he’ll be a TOUGH lefty for opponents to face).
I know that it sounds CRAZY…however it is not impossible to imagine that THE ABOVE/Potential 2021 Starting Rotation…..leading The Braves to The 2021 Playoffs (in addition to being HELLA CHEAP)! That’s why AA SHOULD NOT trade any of our talented pitching prospects! That’s not even including the likes of Bryce Wilson, Patrick Weigel, Kyle Muller and Luis Gohara (2019 will be important for him….he has A TERRIBLE 2018…due to family deaths/issues..as well as injury issues. If he can live up to his potential….The Braves will have SICK depth).
It would be A SHAME…if The Braves decided to ‘nickel and dime’ the next few years……we have TOO MUCH CHEAP high upside talent….to NOT GO FOR IT during The 2018 Free Agent Offseason!