Life as in power. Young power. But not Heyward power. Uninhibited power. Happy power. Self confident power. What we have none, none, of. But we’ve been seeing a lot of it lately, passing by, every night. We are a kid at a candy store with empty pockets.
It was good to finally get to the end of our miserable season. A minimal wait and the play offs started and we sat back and watched teams that could actually play the game, in all its facets. Like power. You were immediately aware of this dimension we had missed all season – young guys slamming the ball, all over the place. Often there were three or four of them on view, in the same game. And we would have killed for one. And they were all so young, so inexperienced. One (Corey Seager ) had been called up to the Dodgers for the first time on September 1 and hit .327 with 4 HR for the month, they couldn’t leave him out. He looked cool out there (too cool maybe, 1st to 3rd on a walk?! ).
So I went through the various playoff rosters and listed all those young guys with power I found myself lusting after for the Braves, based on watching every playoff game. There are 10 – one is not a power hitter per se but is a spark plug supreme and they are precious, you will soon identify him on the list . (Then he hit a home run, then he was eliminated in the crazy, wonderful game in Toronto where he came into score a run nobody, nobody, had seen the like of before.)
Here’s my 10, somehow I had felt there might be more,-you looked up, there was another one. Very happy to report there were NONE from any of these establishments:Â Pirates/Cards/Yankees.
CUBSÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Baez/Soler/Bryant/Schwarber
DODGERSÂ Seager
METSÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Conforto
ASTROSÂ Â Â Â Â Â Springer/Correa
ROYALSÂ Â Â Â Â Â Perez
RANGERSÂ Â Â Odor
How would your list be different? Shorter/longer? Young, confident power hitters.
Now, say the gods granted us a Christmas present – we could sign them this winter, our terms(yes, it’s Christmas)..they weren’t sure how many, no more than 5 though, we had to place the 5 in the order we preferred, 5 being the lowest. We might only get one so the order is important…Here’s my 5, in order, let’s hear yours…..
1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Perez (2 for 1, desperate for a catcher also)
2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Odor (spark plug, see above, can play 3rd?)
3.       Schwarber (every club needs one – KB too pretty)
4        Soler (power, real young power)
5        Conforto (something about him)
1) CORREA
2) Seager
3) Bryant
4) Schwarber
5) Perez
Reasoning: The top 2 can play any infield or corner outfield position and are awesome. Bryant is going to be one of the top power hitters for a long time and can play corners. Schwarber and Perez can play catcher.
It’s crazy not to have Correa or Bryant at the top of this list.
There’s speculation that the Cubs may start Bryant in CF next season. Drool.
Braves Journal loves sluggers who can’t play defense. No to Schwarber. Addison Russell has plenty of power that he’ll tap into soon. Joc Pederson will probably figure it all out again before long as well.
These guys are/were actual prospects. Bryant was a future 70 if everything went right. Rio Ruiz is a future 50 if everything goes right. See the difference?
Look, it’s got to be Carlos Correa.
But my next guy is Schwarber. I think he’ll be slugging .460 until he’s 45 years old.
Starting my contest over at Tomahawk Take. Please participate if you’re feeling froggy!
http://tomahawktake.com/2015/10/19/atlanta-braves-offseason-speculation-part-1-the-layout/
@3,,
spot on on Schwarber..he’ll end up with bigger power numbers than Bryant..
why ‘waste’ Correa with Simmons?
@2
did you see Schwarber’s throw to the plate from LF the other night?
Because Correa would be the best 2B or 3B in baseball and a better outfielder than Soler or Conforto. It’s not like we’re “set” at any of those positions, so he’s not wasted.
If we had Correa I’d pretend I’d never heard of Andrelton Simmons. But yeah, he doesn’t have to play SS.
@2
who said anything about Ruiz?
I don’t drool over Bryant, yet. He looks ‘fragile’ to me, taking the longer term view. We’re talking sluggers here. The only tall thin slugger that endured that i can think of at the moment is Kingman…and he had eyesight problems.
@6
John, you’re ‘bending’ the rules, in as much as there are any. Moving Bryant around all over the place. I know they’ve done it a bit this season with him and he’s certainly competent but the best 2B and 3B in baseball? c’mon.
Andres Gallaraga,
he was sent to North Dakota, Farga,
to play winter ball
hit a chopper near Chipper, not seen since at all.
@3 totally agree. My 5:
1. Correa
2. Schwarber
3. Bryant
4. Seager
5. Springer
Dave Kingman
Rarely hit a thing, man
But when he connected
Multiple bases could be expected.
@11
Yes!
Schwarber’s gonna need a great arm to throw all the balls he can’t get to back to the infield.
If anything at all hampers Bryant, it’ll be his contact rate. Whereas Schwarber also strikes out a ton and is also substantially less athletic. Over time, Bryant’ll fill out and become more the one-dimensional slugger you covet. By that time, Schwarber will be DHing elsewhere, maybe hitting 5 more HR a year than Bryant and still managing to be significantly less productive.
I bring up Ruiz to reinforce your point: we just don’t have what the good teams have.
Correa very well might be the best 2B or 3B in baseball next year if he played at either position. Since everyone loves to evaluate players based on HR, Correa hit more of them than any other SS this year — without even getting enough ABs to qualify for the official lead.
Good game by Medlen last night.
Range >>>> Arm
…most interesting to see the wide enthusiasm Correa evokes here…in the abstract then, yes, filling a vacuum, certainly I will bow to the collective wisdom but this is the Braves in their current misery so common sense dictates you keep your best player…now, if you all say this guy is so versatile he can play world class 2nd or 3rd well, banzai, but to allay my disbelief please quote a couple of examples from the present or past that have met this daunting criterion.
Slugger – that term to me is not exclusively or maybe even primarily HR…it’s the smashed line drive, aimed for the gap, thudding against the base of the wall, that sets the senses reeling. HR numbers on a stats site do not do that and, in real terms, there are a lot more of one than the other.
Schwarber – it’s fun to talk/argue about this guy. First, if Bryant can ‘fill out’ then he might ‘fill in’. I suspect this is not your typical Juan Francisco. The guy looks bright and i might wager a bob or two that right now he’s thinking hey, it works for me at this level, i belong here,what should i be doing to get better but more important stay around those extra years at the end to keep those massive paychecks coming. What do you think his agent’s saying to him right now outside a Waffle House in Ames? Lose some f’ing weight!
The limited views of his defense we’ve seen in the post season surprised me. First, in the WC game the talking heads were apologizing for him before the game started, how brave Joe was starting him in RF etc ..don’t recall any botches, do remember him going back to the wall on one play and grabbing it fine. But what really struck me, but apparently no one else, was at Citi
Field the other night when he ended up in LF and came in on a ball and made a throw that was low, hard and straight enough to create a close call at the plate.
Or was there a relay involved, ha!? who remembers? Fun.
@ 14
Yes, good to see, mixed reactions of course but still.
@ 15
too early in the morning for this level of abbreviation and the inference required, sorry…
are you saying –
a defensive player’s range is more important than his arm? INF and/or OF?
in general or in the particular?
or the distance a ball has to be thrown will always exceed the power of the arm that has to throw it?
or something completely different?
Ha! and don’t forget to take that book off the shelf you promised yourself you would a few weeks back. Cheers.
@13, Bryant definitely had a great season and while I’m skeptical he’ll be a good fielder in his career, there’s no question in my mind that he’s plenty good enough to play out there every day. And you’re right, Schwarber’s probably a DH waiting to happen.
And they might both turn out great? We’re all doing our best to play Nostradamus.
But I’m not picking Schwarber because I think he might be a little bit better of a hitter than Bryant. I’m picking Schwarber because right now he’s the one who looks like a can’t-miss, surefire Miguel Cabrera-lite. I think he’s the guy who, whatever else he does, hits like an all-star every year from now until 2030.
With Bryant, I think there’s too big a chance that he’s a below-average hitter often over the next 15 years, and as soon as next year. I look at Schwarber and I see a hitter. I look at Bryant and, despite his good year, I still see a prospect.
@19
yes, yes, yes.
The thing that makes Bryant risky is the same thing that makes Schwarber risky: contact skills. Last season MLB walk rate for both is over 10%, strikeout is terrifyingly around 30%, ISO is over .200 in both cases. Schwarber is a bit better in all these regards, but not strikingly so. Bryant does slightly better at hitting the ball in the air and hitting line drives.
Schwarber is fine for now, taking his bat into account, at the corners. The Cubs seem to think Bryant could be above-average in CF. He’ll obviously decline defensively and as a baserunner too, but for now, that’s significant.
Kris Bryant
with what goals are his skills now compliant?
he’s lacking in fat
a hurdle that makes one question, can he handle a bat?
Carlos Correa
have you noticed the support he receives hea?
from Olympian heights
he has deigned to illuminate our stovetoppian nights.
Part 2 of the Armchair GM contest!
http://tomahawktake.com/2015/10/20/atlanta-braves-offseason-speculation-part-2-offense-to-target/
ububba…
re Mets last game…
forgive me, couldn’t resist…
‘if you have tears prepare to shed them..soon’
Blazon, I’m placing this thread under protest. I submit that you added Odor to your list simply because you like his name.
1. Correa — not many guys have A-rod as their top comp at age 20. Could be one of the best ever
2. Seager — like Correa, he compares favorably with an inner circle HOF’er, in this case George Brett
Those 2 (and Lindor in Cleveland) are the ones you build a franchise around. The others are excellent players who will likely contend for a few MVP’s. My order for them goes something like:
3. Bryant — I think George Foster is the perfect comp here
4.Springer — Ken Griffey Sr comes to mind here
5.Baez/Soler– Hard to know what your getting thanks to the contact issues. Hope for Sammy Sosa, expect Cesar Cedano
7.Comforto — nice range of above average skills without any standout strength, Von Hayes seems an apt comparison
8. Schwarber — El Oso Blanco without the hiatus from baseball
9. Odor — would like to become Craig Biggio but likely settles for Quilvio Veres with a little more pop
10. Perez already has a ton of wear on his body. love the player, would not build around!
The prospect of spending an offseason contending that Kris Bryant and Carlos Correa — of all players! — are likely to remain elite seems like such a drag.
But if the alternative is Braves-related rosterbation…
It’s a commentary on how sad it is to talk about whether we’re going to make a play for Gerardo Parra or Scott Kasmir, knowing that neither is very good, neither is worth what they’ll cost, and neither is going to make us compete with any of the juggernauts we’re watching.
The Blue Jays were only 408 runs better than we were in differential. Parra in LF would’ve trimmed that down to 395 or so.
#25
They still have plenty of time to fall on their sword.
At least that’s what half the Mets fans around me are saying, and they would certainly know…
@26
coop, how could you! but you’re likely half right, the other half is i love the way he plays.
who can we say that about with our guys, i’m honestly not sure.
Does this mean that all of you guys are giving up on trading Bourn, Swisher, and Maybin for Giancarlo Stanton?
If we trade three outfielders for one, we’ll need a lot more outfielders.
Maybe the Marlins would give us some salary relief, so we could get one of the guys that have already been listed.
@28, Using Braves players for rosterbation would be like using pictures of Patty and Selma Bouvier.
For rosterbation purposes, motion to nickname Bourn and Swisher “Patty and Selma”
You may remember them from such films as Dig Your Own Grave And Save! and Get Confident, Stupid!
Royals quickly hang 3 on the Blue Jays. RA Dickey has yet to record an out.
2nd inning, 1 out, Royals up 5 nothing.
Break up the Royals.
New thread.