The trade deadline came and past like any other year. But unlike any other year this decade, the Braves made some key moves to strength almost all units of the roster.
It began with the smallest deal, Jonny Venters from the Rays for $250K in international bonus pool allotment. We know about Venters, and we know about his durability issues, but he will replace the mediocre-to-terrible innings thrown by Sam Freeman. And considering the Braves can’t use the allotment, it was well-spent.
A very similar deal saw us grab another reliever, Brad Brach, for the same price: $250K in international allotment. Brach is a more impactful pickup — though owed more — than Venters, and was an All-Star just two years ago. He will most likely take a mixture of Peter Moylan’s outings and relieve some stress off the late-inning relievers in a high leverage role.
Last night, they packaged up a few players who probably didn’t have a future role — Matt Wisler, Lucas Sims, and Preston Tucker — to get Adam Duvall from the Reds. Duvall will play LF against lefties, shifting Ronald Acuna Jr. to center field and Ender Inciarte to the bench on those days. Duvall grabs out well defensively, so the Braves will suffer minimally on defensive while upgrading that spot in the lineup significantly. This also may open up some opportunities to deploy Ender from the bench strategically against righties and on the bases. So in that way, two areas are improved with one move.
The big deal today was getting Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day for Jean Carlos Encarnacion, Brett Cumberland, Evan Phillips, and Bruce Zimmerman. Gausman and Brach could see improvement by the better Atlanta defense. Atlanta is 3rd in baseball in defensive runs saved with 43 vs. Baltimore’s last place standing with -81. If you don’t follow DRS closely, just know that is a very big swing. O’Day is injured for the rest of the year, but with only a hamstring injury, he should be back in time for next year. When healthy, he’s an excellent reliever.
The best prospect going back in terms of raw talent is probably Encarnacion with Cumberland not far behind. It’s a heaping amount of prospects to send in return, but to improve the roster to this scale, there are no tears shed. These are exactly the kind of prospects you trade to get established major league pitchers back.
The Phillies improved significantly by landing Asdrubal Cabrera and Wilson Ramos, but the Braves matched the improvements — if not exceeded — and could be looking at a dog fight for the rest of the year.
Thanks, Rob.
Kolby’s aware he’s not throwing BP, right?
Well done, kid.
Ronald! Woohoo!
Kolby is really… animated.
From prior thread………
@245 If he finishes the year strong, my first trade in the offseason is Teheran. OK, even if he doesn’t finish the year strong. We are at a point where we no longer need to sell high on Teheran, just sell.
After aggressively promoting Wright and Touki and Wilson, there will be no possibility of a shortage of SP candidates next year. Trade Teheran; let McCarthy and Sanchez go. Release Flaherty.
After that sign Harper and trade for Realmuto. Promote Riley. Bench is Duvall, Culberson, Camargo, and backup C (sign Flowers). Let Minter close. O’Day/Brach/Winkler/Biddle/Venters/Viz/Carle in the pen. If Brach is too expensive; use that slot to rotate fresh arms through. Rotation is Folty/Newk/Gausman/Fried/Soroka. Allard/Touki/Wright/Wilson would be first up for injury (two of those arms would be used in a Realmuto trade). We will come in under budget with a championship roster.
I wish Ender would start stealing bases again.
Kolby! Get that ball…. Rivals Biddle as our best hitting pitcher.
Really cool to see players you’ve followed for a while now coming up and having success.
Kolby Allard is weird though. Can’t quite put my finger on it.
Kolby can’t hardly throw 90. He’s going to need to do better than that.
A grown man named “KOLBY”
Come on, Kolby. There’s no defense against the base on balls. Throw strikes. If they hit it, they hit it.
Well done, but enough with the walks already.
Nick!
Kakes! Love the home run streak.
Nick. A homer machine.
Frenchy is really good. His energy would probably mix well with just Chip consistently. I think I’ve found the first Braves announcer I don’t like: Joseph Simpson.
HBPs are hard to defend too, but they leave bruises.
Boot.
Don’t look now, but our fielding is back in the crapper.
Will the real muto please stand up?
Can’t get a break on replay.
Allard misses his AAA defense.
It could have been worse, but it could have been better too.
They say you can’t assume a double play, but I just did and will continue to do so.
Allard… I can tell he is very marginal prospect…he has to stay out of middle of plate…he doesn’t throw hard enough .. glad he is not out top prospect …..
fielding conditions are not ideal…need to miss a few bats every now and then
Did I just see a score scroll by that said the Nats are leading the Mets 24-1??? Is that accurate???
Clearly fair
If they don’t have an angle, this is going to suck.
Finally get a call our way.
@21
Well, your egregious negativity lately ought not be indulged, but no, Allard is not considered a prospect with an elite, #1 ceiling. He’s a pitchability type that has a middle of the rotation ceiling. Still nothing to sneeze at.
@21: I was told Allard was a premier prospect.
I remember when it was Dansby’s glove I worried about. Keep hitting like that, and I’ll stop pining for Andrelton.
Marlins can play clown baseball too.
Holy shit! That score is accurate! It’s now 25-1, the Nats scored at least three runs in all but one inning. Twenty-six hits.
Also, lol Marlins.
I think Kolby is charmed.
@30 Disclaimer – Jose Reyes pitched the 8th….
The Mets are a joke. An absolute joke.
Jose Reyes pitched the 9th and gave up 6. Steven Matz gave up 7 and didn’t get out of the 1st.
Kolby Allard is completely unable to stop grinning, and I love him for it.
@32
It was still 19-1 through seven before Reyes pitched. He gave up six runs on five hits and two walks over an inning.
At least the Mets made it respectable at the end. It finished 25-4.
Zuuk! Everybody’s having fun.
Reyes > Sam Freeman
We need to get that Realmuto guy on our team.
Reyes also hit a batter, and apparently got through his inning in a crisp 48 pitches.
@40: yes, sir.
Whatever the ceiling, I really like what Allard is showing us. I wouldn’t call him a marginal prospect.
@40 Harper feels the same way.
Let’s make it happen.
One last thing on the Mets, because that tire fire of a game is fascinating me more than it should: How many pitches do you figure Reyes would’ve had to throw in that inning for the Mets to lift him?
Yes, Allard is quite welcome regardless of his prospect designation.
@45
Obviously there HAS to be a number, but gosh, how high? 70? 80? Sheesh.
Oh God…Chip just made the same joke as I did. I think it’s time to reevaluate my life chocies.
Aw shoot. I was hoping he’d go six.
Kolby may be just about cooked. Good job, Snit. The kid did fine.
Y’all bring it home. It’s bedtime.
Not a bad debut from Allard. He’s young. Let him develop at AAA. Maybe he picks up some velo on his fastball as he gets bigger and stronger.
@51 So he can last only 5 innings with 9 k’s 4 bb’s and miss every other season with arm injuries? :)
@52 so he can have some swing and miss potential for better hitters. Some teams would have really lit him up tonight – the Braves would have. Straily pitched an eerily similar game to Kolby. He did well for a debut and the Braves’ hitters picked him up with 9 runs but I would not call it a screaming success.
This reliever for the Marlins is throwing 102.
Johan Camargo, power hitter. It’s probably time to move him up to 5th in the order.
Fellows, I think it is time that we began to take this R Acuna gentleman a bit more seriously. Yes, he may only be a rookie, but he shows veteran poise. I predict big things for the youngster.
@53 Is throwing harder the only way to achieve better results in today’s game? I think those ground outs on 1-2 pitches are pretty sexy.
I’ve been hearing good things regarding R Acuna. Could be a contributor.
You know, he does the little things right. Moves runners over, doesn’t try to do too much.
The good thing about mid season additions is that the fringe players are noticing that they need to do well to stay. Example #1: Luke Jackson.
@59. I still think he will end up getting the Andruw/Frenchy/Heyward treatment from us.
I hope to hell that Braves fans are able to do the right thing and just appreciate the guy for being great, instead of endlessly carping that he isn’t Henry Aaron. I love this team, but the way that Braves fans never forgave Andruw Jones for not being Willie Mays was disgraceful.
I know AAR. I love Andruw to death.
I hope we don’t beat up on Albies and Acuna whenever they made mistakes. They are our future.
allard’s lack of velocity has been noticed by the prospect communities since the start of last season. I think he is another prospect I don’t mind trading away when he still has not been over-exposed.
Really Snit? You waste Winkler in a game like this? He must be really enjoying his new bullpen depth.
The Nats appear to have been shaken out of their slumber by Rizzo’s move to put most of the team on the trade block. Time to go back to sleep guys.
That might have been more about the Mets players rebelling after they realized they were still stuck there for the rest of the season.
Recap courtesy of Sam up.
I’d like to see some Braves pitching prospects with actual command over their stuff.
Allard, in spite of having his 88-89 mph four-seamer tee’d off on, was a refreshing sight. He was working the strike zone with more consistency than we normally see from Folty or Newcomb, and he was into the 6th inning on fewer than 70 pitches. You know, minus all the hits and runs he allowed, it’s not hard to see why some people really like this guy. He was getting some really nice ground outs. Eventually, he’ll own both corners of the plate. You’d like to see him bump that four-seamer to at least 91 mph, sure, but guys who really know how to pitch may become a new (old) thing in MLB. Quite a few WAR-leading starting pitchers are actually down a tick in velocity (in spite of Statcast’s bump to velocities), which is at least a sign that velocity isn’t everything.