- Thanks for Mauricio Dubón. An extra portion of thanks if AA has more up his sleeve. I am choosing to think of Dubón as an insurance policy in case we don’t get a real shortstop. He’s better than what we had (so much so that the trade is clearly one of those salary-based trades I despise) and he’s a useful addition if we eventually find some coveted shortstop.
- Thanks for not paying $210 million for 7 years of Dylan Cease. That thanks will be retracted if the “saved” $30 million per year isn’t spent somewhere.
- Thanks for upcoming Winter Meetings. Why not? Maybe they can work out a plan to head off the oncoming work stoppage locomotive.
- Thanks for the Ivy League Presidents who voted at the start of the academic year to allow the Ivy League to participate in the FCS playoffs. Thanks for the health that has allowed me to attend the last 51 Yale-Harvard games and witness this year’s great upset, sending both Yale and Harvard to the FCS playoffs.
- Thanks for the existence of split screens which will allow me to watch both Yale-Youngstown State and Ohio State-Michigan at noon on Saturday, with a glance or two at Harvard-Villanova.
- Thanks for Georgia-Georgia Tech tomorrow, although Tech’s defense has collapsed completely in the last three weeks. No thanks for the fact that it is a very long walk from The Varsity to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Having to move your game to make enough money to pay your players is a problem for college football. Though not as big a problem as Georgia Tech’s inability to compete with Georgia.
- Thanks for Claude Sonnet 4.5 which has been assisting me in writing code that will allow me next year to answer the dumb questions I answer including the current. AI may well cause the extinction of humanity, but at least I’m going to write efficient code on the way out.
- Thanks for every last one of you here at Braves Journal. Every one of you. Even the ones who find me annoying. You’ve got good company. I often find myself annoying.
Giving Thanks
I am so thankful for a family. It’s what I always wanted in life and I got it. What more could a man really want? Baseball is a silly diversion but I’m thankful to have free access to people who think deeply about my favorite team. I hope all of you had a peaceful day of gratitude.
Thank you JoanthanF and all you contributors to Braves Journal, the best place in the www!
Happy Thanksgiving guys. May AA finally give us a shortstop to be thankful for.
Well, congrats to all my UGA’s out there. In return, I ask you to root for the Bulldogs that you guys were named after tomorrow at noon.] in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
I don’t pretend to know what Kiffin is going to do (other than pray, which he promised he’ll do.) But if his only reason for taking the LSU job is to give himself a chance of winning a National Championship, then he has to be saying he can’t win one at Ole Miss, but he’s sitting here on the cusp of December already in possession of a chance at Ole Miss. And if he wants a good chance of winning one, I don’t see how moving to LSU improves his chances that much. Is it all about NILs? If so, that’s really sad.
Ole Miss deserves a Kiffen/Smart-type after all these years. LSU has had their Saban……..
BTW, Roll Tide.
Greetings from Virginia Beach…
Yale vs. Youngstown? Now that’s a Sociology class paper, if there ever was one. (And they’re the Penguins, really?) Good luck to the OG Bulldogs…
Correct. Kiffin probably knows that what he’s doing at Ole Miss may not be sustainable over time. If he’s smart, he’ll insist that LSU coughs up more dough each year for players. When you have the leverage, that’s what you do.
Not that I’m counting on it, but it sure would be strange if Auburn beats Bama tomorrow night & Kiffin’s not in ATL next wknd to coach the SEC title game.
I haven’t been saying too much about this on the internet, but this Thanksgiving may be the most joyful of my life, as my wife and I recently welcomed an event which resulted in a 50% increase in our family size. Alex Anthopoulos better sign some free agents this winter, because I’m working on raising up one more Braves fan.
Congratulations, Alex . You are blessed. Be grateful.
Congrats Alex!!
I wasn’t going to say anything until you mentioed it. Mazel tov!
Congratulations on the newborn. Or the twins (I guess you could’ve had 2 kids already thereby increasing from 4 to 6). It is the best thing in life. It goes by quickly so savor the little milestones so much.
Fan? Work on a few drills and he or she might be our shortstop next season.
But congratulations either way. You’re a lucky man, and that is a lucky child.
Congrats, Alex. Life’s about to get really interesting.
And JonF, that was one helluva comeback. Mazel tov.
OMG… it was unbelievable. Of course, now I have to go to Bozeman to (probably) watch us get destroyed. But I’ve never been to Montana… Bucket list!
Yale is now, I believe the only college team with a 1.000 record in alltime postseason play…. for at least a week. [Correction: Columbia is also 1-0, having won the 1934 Rose Bowl in their only postseason appearance.)
Congrats Alex!
Congratulations, Alex! Much happiness to you and your family!
The offseason is already long, but the Falcons always make it longer.
Congratulations, Alex, and thanks to all contributors and commenters.
Congratulations, Alex! What a wonderful blessing (and challenge!) to you and your wife. This new one comes into the world especially blessed by the gift of wonderful parents. And also the gift of Braves fandom from birth. I’m already looking forward to the wise and insightful postings to Braves Journal from this newest Remington. Actually, although I’m sure your kid will be quite precocious, I’m not likely to be around for those future postings. But it’s reassuring to know the future is in good hands.
And congratulations to JonathanF and the Yale Bulldogs. What a phenomenal victory on Saturday! If your Elis keep this up, you will have a tour of many overlooked spots for a bucket list. With an upset in Bozeman, you get either Abilene or Nacogdoches, Texas. And if the other part of that bracket works as I’d like, next stop would be Macon GA to face my Mercer Bears. That would be exciting! FCS football is a lot different than FBS, but it can be more fun.
Yale actually played Mercer seven years ago, one of the few home games I’ve missed in the last 30 years because of a wedding. (In a marriage that is long over…. Oh, well.) Yale is way uphill for a rematch, but why not? (Beacuse I’m pretty sure Yale isn’t good enough, that’s why not, but that’s why God created college football fans.)
Congratulations Alex! Thanks to you, Jonathan, Rob, Ryan, and everyone else who has worked hard to keep this place top notch.
This seems egregious given the season he just had.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47172127/devin-williams-new-york-mets-agree-3-year-deal
Uncle Steve digging into his wallet again… let’s see if he goes shopping for Bellinger or Tucker.
And here’s what happens when his 2 best players don’t really dig each other….
Angels sign Alek Manoah. Tell me, what was the point in getting Jake Fraley and Alek Manoah?
At least for Manoah it was to get him in front of our doctors so we could make an informed decision on offering arb.
A fascinating article, which I think is unpaywalled: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6856840/2025/12/03/mlb-vanishing-doubles-triples-rule-change/?campaign=15944149&source=athletic_targeted_email&userId=2238400
A few thoughts:
(a) Andruw Jones is thinking: “Just get guys who never let anything over their heads and can play shallow… and can hit homers.”
(b) The solutions seem ridiculous to me, but then again I continue to be opposed to the shift rules as well. (And this is from someone with no real problem with the Manfred Man rule.)
(c) Is the rise of singles talked about here documented? Then why haven’t batting averages risen? [Begins to think about offseason research project…. maybe when I get back from Montana.]
A) I wonder where Andruw would’ve landed on the Outfield Jump Metric.
B) As those quoted in the story essentially said, new “solutions” might make a newly marked-up ballfield look like a lacrosse field.
C) Right, no singles data offered. Aside from the OFs’ increasing athleticism, I can only imagine it may have to do with the idea that, in MLB, we’re getting fewer Steven Kwans & more Joey Gallos… everyone’s just trying to hit it over the fence all the time.
I don’t understand reliever contracts. This is one of the better closers in the NL just coming into his prime and gets 40% the total value of Devin Williams, 60% of the AAV of Iglesias. He will be paid roughly as much as Aaron Bummer in 2026.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47195871/reds-closer-emilio-pagan-returns-20-million-2-year-deal
Pagan was a streamer in my fantasy league for most of the season last season. I don’t think he was their full-time closer until later in the year, and if I remember correctly, I don’t think he’s considered to have dominant closer stuff. I think they probably see him as a late inning reliever but not necessarily a dedicated closer.
So, Jake M on the Locked On Braves podcast did mock trades for Buxton, and he suggested we’d have to give up Waldrep/Caminiti plus Ritchie and other prospects.
Wouldn’t a reasonable expectation for Buxton be, best case, around 5 WAR, and wouldn’t Waldrep’s 2026 contribution probably be 3-4 WAR just assuming he stays healthy? I’m not really seeing the point of giving up a cost-controlled starter who is already pitching as a top-of-the-rotation starter for a guy already making $15M plus Ritchie and 2 more prospects.
With that said, I’d love to get Buxton. Having Profar, Harris, Acuna, Buxton, Murphy, and Baldwin for 3 OF spots, DH, and catcher would protect against Harris’ potential ineffectiveness and the entire crew’s penchant for injury.
Thoughts?
Buxton is great but he’s a lousy bet to give you more than 90 games. The idea we would just offload our top prospect list for a guy on the wrong side of 30 who can’t stay healthy is ludicrous. But who knows with AA. He doesn’t inspire confidence.
I want nothing to do with an injury prone player. Assuming health of someone like Buxton is just not reasonable.
If they want to salary dump, fine, if they want legit high end talent, nope.
Yup, probably giving up too much & it’s hard to imagine the best-case scenario happening w/ Buxton.
And not to be too nitpicky, but do we really want another guy in the lineup who doesn’t take walks?
I’m against it.
Braves picked up 2 more random pitchers who sucked off the waiver wire for the 40 man roster. Don’t really get it.
To be fair, Obido was pretty good a couple years ago.
https://housethathankbuilt.com/analysis-braves-stock-reveals-potentially-major-long-term-problem-for-team?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=pushly_notifications&utm_campaign=89144782&page_source=pushly_notifications
I’m not financially savvy enough to understand this beyond a superficial level, but it sure seems like a bunch of commercial real estate speculation is going to be the justification for not improving the roster and that pisses me off.
No expert or inside knowledge here, but my suspicion is that most teams (aside from Toronto, the NY teams, and the Dodgers) are going to play things safe as they await the impending work stoppage. I think teams like the Braves are betting on their being a salary cap going forward and don’t want to have any contracts that they have to pay during the stoppage nor any that take much cap room after the fact. I expect the hot stove to be mostly room temperature. Hopefully, I’ll be wrong.
Nobody asked for my take on Osvaldo Bido, so with the caveat that I didn’t know he existed until last week and have never seen him pitch, here is my analytics-only take:
Bido was a dominant pitcher in 2024 who excelled at keeping the ball off the barrel (4% barrel rate). His fastball velocity (a shade under 95 mph) K rate (24%) were average, but he had elite levels of weak contact (avg exit velocity of 85.6 mph which was 99th percentile). He relied on his 4 seamer heavily, throwing it 40% of the time. It was a good pitch for him but not a dominant pitch with a xwOBA of .296 (league average is .315). His best pitches were his slider and changeup (xwOBA of .234 and .169 respectively). His slider was his second most often used pitch at 21%. He only gave up 3 HR in 63 innings.
In 2025, the wheels came off. None of his pitches worked. His fastball was a similar velocity (only 0.3 mph slower) and it had similar right side run and rise, but batters ate it up. The xwOBA on this pitch soared to .419. His slider and change to .360 and .327 respectively. Spin rates on all pitches went up slightly in 2025. His barrel rate went from elite to terrible (12%, 4th percentile). He gave up 19 HR in 79 innings with 9 coming on that awful slider, which he used 30% of the time in 2025. He was similarly bad as a starter and reliever, against RHB and LHB.
I use xwOBA here to show it’s not luck. He went from being in the top 5% of the league to the bottom 5%, one of the best to one of the worst, without significant changes in velocity, spin, or movement of his pitches. Maybe the league figured him out. Maybe his changes in pitch mix (using slider and sinker 45% of the time up from 30%), sequencing or placement were the culprit. It looks like his 4 seamers clustered high in the heart of the zone much more frequently in 2025 compared with 2024. He’s just 30 years old, so maybe there is bounce-back potential. Hefner can earn his money on this one.
Hey JonathanF
I have my yearly prospects list done but don’t seem to have access to putting content in my wordpress account like I used to
Help!
Either AAR, can do it, or I’ll take care of it tomorrow when I get back from Bozeman.
Soroka’s odyssey continues:
https://www.mlb.com/news/michael-soroka-diamondbacks-contract
JonF,
Tough luck this wknd. Those turnovers… BTW, #7’s pretty good.
Thx, ububba. The good thing about being a 26 point underdog is that you can hold your head high when you had the ball with a minute to go and a chance to tie. And the 250 or so of us who went to Bozeman had a blast… Now I can turn my focus to rooting against Notre Dame in their bowl…. wait, what?
Nice payback for your Dawgs.
And in baseball news, Ron Washington chooses the Giants, which makes a lot of sense with a manager who’s new to MLB. BUt I still would like to seem him back in Atlanta in some capacity eventually.
Pitsenberger, btw, has another year of NCAA eligibility available and will be taking his talents to the highest bidder. And he’s really, really good..
One other transfer portal observation of note. Fernando Mendoza originally committed to Yale, and then was lured away to Cal by a fistful of cash… which lasted until Indiana located a larger fistful of cash. I’m going to count his Heisman as Yale’s third Heisman, with an NIL asterisk.
https://x.com/BaseballQuotes1/status/1998050938180034631?s=20
I love how there’s a good 10 full seconds of Dave Justice celebrating after the catch. It’s not like it was just a couple of fist pumps.
Yep, that catch kept the winning streak alive… we sure used to break the Pirates’ hearts back then.
Schwarber stays with Phils (5 yr/$150M)… Edwin Diaz leaves Flushing for Chavez Ravine (3 yr/$39M).
Uncle Steve ain’t gonna like that. He’ll go shopping, I’m sure.
But it still wouldn’t bother me much if the Mets lost both Diaz & Alonso.
Good for Schwarber. He maximized his earnings by timing that career season perfectly. He’s one of the few Phillies that I don’t hate.
I think it’s 3 YR, $69M for Diaz. Loaded with deferrals, no doubt.
Schwarber even racked up 10 cheap stolen bases so he could inch up his WAR, no doubt. Truly a career year.
I can’t remember if I talked about it on here, but Schwarber has a quiet shot at 500 home runs. He needs 27 a year for the next 6 years, 32 over the next 5, or any kind of reasonable, natural decline over the next 8 years til he turns 40. It would give him an interesting case for the Hall because he would be, by far, the worst member of the 500 homer club, I would think. So if he hits 499, he’s most certainly not a Hall of Famer, but if he hangs on to hit 500, he’d be the only 500 guy to be left out (non-steroid related).
Right, a misspelling, of sorts… $69M isn’t exactly Monopoly money for a reliever.
I remember seeing Schwarber play once at Yankee Stadium when he was with the Nationals.
He hit a HR that went as high as the middle of the upper deck & landed about 2 rows deep in the RF bleachers. A Ruthian shot, if I ever saw one.
My son caught a Schwar-bomb on the fly last May. Pretty cool moment, got a big shoutout on-air by both TV broadcast teams.
For some reason, I find Schwarber interesting. We spend so much time talking about the Hall and all of the inconsistent ways we determine who is fit for the Hall, so when I saw that Schwarber could easily hit 500 and be this dumb candidate for the Hall, I locked on. Anyway, ZIPS has Schwarber declining hard (duh) and ending up with 489 home runs. So that’s interesting.
Also interesting is the Pirates supposedly offering 4 YR, $120m. Maybe the Pirates aren’t just saying they’re making a bunch of offers to make it seem like they’re trying. Maybe they’re actually trying!
Seems like the “Kim dance” might go all the way to Spring Training. I hope we do something before then.
Boras’ method generally involves being more patient than anyone he’s negotiating with, even allowing players to enter the season not yet signed. This is one of the many reasons the Braves haven’t negotiated with him — the Freddie Freeman saga shows how the Braves reach a point and then decide to go another way if they think time is running out. Miguel Rojas resigning with the Dodgers took one potential short-term solution out of play, but also eliminated the deepest pocket that needed a shortstop.
Alonso signs w/ Baltimore (5 yr/$155M)
Bye-bye Pete… welcome to the AL.
Best power-hitting first baseman they’ve had since…. (wait for it)…. Chris Davis!
We lose Rolddy Munoz in the Rule 5 draft to Houston. I suspect he will be sent back
Oops, it was his twin Roddery. We can still Roldd
We just got Mike Yastrzemski. Boring signing, though probably makes the team better. Certainly increases our depth, which we need.
Yaz produces what you think Buxton produces if you don’t think Buxton can stay healthy. And he’s the same price and you give up no prospects. I do wonder what and when his usage will be.
I think Yaz largely takes Ozuna’s PAs while playing the field so Acuña and Profar will get more time at DH.
Hopefully Weiss doesn’t start him against LHP.
.809 career OPS vs RHP (2,425 PA)
.648 career OPS vs LHP (714 PA)
Having admittedly considered it for about 1/1,000,000th as long as AA did and offering no alternative solution of my own, I feel like there must have been a better use for two years of a roster spot and $23 million than a mediocre 35-year-old platoon outfielder.
Yeah but have you considered that this means we have to sign Adam Duvall to complete the platoon?
I predicted Adam Duvall was going to crash every pre-season we had him, and one time I was right.
Here’s what I will say for Yaz. Bloodlines, folks. Bloodlines.
No seriously, this does not seem like the best use of funds at first blush, but the one thing I like is that he drew 72 walks in 2025. Yes, his OBP was still just .333 but .100 of that was due to reaching base without a hit. His walk rate and K rate both improved and his K rate (19%) improved tremendously (prior best was 24%). His BABIP was .263, so there is some room for improvement by luck. I just like having as many of these grinders in the lineup as possible to make pitchers work.
Also the fielding is good and arm is great.
It’s still hard to imagine this was the best use of funds, particularly given his age. He could easily turn into a pumpkin on day 1. But if you squint, it could be a shrewd signing that allows you to give less time in the field to Profar and Acuna.
Unless Atlanta wants to deal away Harris or Murphy when their value is at an all-time low, then the Braves are “stuck” with their position player core. And they have 3 options:
1) Sign an expensive free agent. That’s expensive, and that player will never sign with Atlanta because there’s no place for him.
2) Trade for Buxton, and have the same problem. He’s $15M per year, you’d have to give up a ton to get him, and he may not waive his no trade clause because…. there’s no room for him.
3) Hire a manager who will actually use a well-composed bench properly, sign a platoon outfielder with no expectation of full-time PAs, and have 6 guys for 5 spots (3 OF, 1 C, 1 DH).
They obviously did the latter. I would have loved to have Buxton, but you would have spent the same amount in dollars as Yaz, gave up Waldrep or somebody that either took from the 2026 roster or soon thereafter, and you wouldn’t have a spot for him. Buxton has averaged around 3 WAR per year for his career because he can’t stay heathy. Yaz gave 2.7 WAR last year.
Yaz becomes Harris insurance because you can slide Acuna to CF if Harris continues to decline. Yaz is Profar and Acuna insurance in the corners. Yaz is DH insurance if Murphy/Baldwin isn’t healthy and effective. And obviously you don’t want Yaz hitting LHP, so if he becomes a full time player, you can probably go find someone to DH against LHP in the middle of the season.
When the Dodgers saw Conforto and Edman struggle last year, they didn’t have a non-existent bench to plug holes. And more importantly, they had a manager who would use said well-constructed bench to plug holes. Miguel Rojas played 2B, 3B, and SS last year “off the bench” and produced 2.1 WAR. Kike still kinda struggled, but they had Kike playing all over the field. They don’t just go into the season saying, “Well, we have our 9 guys, our manager only likes to use our 9 guys, so we’ll just hope for the best.” They had 11 guys going into the season that all ended up accumulating at least 250 PAs. Then they called up Hyeseong Kim (not the same human as our guy), and he had another 170 PAs trying to patch the 2B hole where he accumulated 1.7 WAR. People act like the Dodgers just buy stars. No, they buy positional flexibility and plug holes when shit inevitably happens. We couldn’t even bother to try that because we had a manager who refuses to do that. Now we don’t, hopefully.
I count 9 potential options at SP, so I’d spend the rest of the remaining money and prospect capital on SS and RP and call it an offseason. Albies sucks and might be washed, so you might need Dubon at 2B, which means you still need a SS. I’m not sure how much money is out there, but I’d sign Kim and $30M in relievers, and we’d be loaded. We’d be, on paper, better than the Dodgers. We’d have a better rotation, just as good of a bullpen, and just as good of a position player core.
I think we need some support at 2B because I do not trust Albies. That’s why I wanted Gleyber Torres but that’s off the table. So at this point I would revisit my Edward Cabrera and Xavier Edward’s package with the Marlins.
Yaz will play CF in an emergency before Acuña will. I don’t think Acuña has played CF since his first ACL injury. The Braves are trying to put less stress on his legs by getting him DH plate appearances.
Yaz is definitely not a star, but it’s fair to say that he’s been a model of quiet consistency throughout his career. He’s been an above average hitter by wRC+ every year except for 2022 (barely below average with a 99 wRC+) and has been pretty good defensively for his career (+1 OAA-based run). That, combined with his 80th percentile marks in baserunning value the last couple of years, makes him a pretty solid player.
Platoon-wise, he rakes against RHP (120 wRC+ for his career), which makes me think the Braves could just let him take the strong side of a DH platoon. His ability to play the corner OF spots (and CF in a pinch) means he can let Ronald or Profar DH, if they need some time off their feet.
You could also argue that Truist Park is a really good fit for him. He pulls the ball in the air a good bit (career 44.8% pull rate and 46% fly ball rate), so he might benefit from the friendlier dimensions at Truist. Could see quite a few balls end up in the Chop House.
All in all, for $9M in ‘26 and $10M in ‘27, I think we could have done a lot worse.
How is Mike Yaz different from Eli White? On the other hand Robert Suarez is better.
Career OPS+ of 69 for White vs 113 for Yaz is a world apart. Even in something of a career year White was at 88 last season. Now, against LHP he became much more respectable at 107. Yaz was at 124 vs RHP.
Suarez wasn’t my favorite relief option but I’m just glad we finally signed someone
OK, but Yaz now becomes our oldest position player. Suarez is not exactly a spring chicken being only one year younger than Iglesias. Can’t look backward – need to look forward.
I like the Suarez signing. Seems like a very fair price for a very good bullpen arm.
Eli can’t hit righties. In a pursuit of having the best 13 position players/DH on the roster, you need both. Eli is an excellent defensive replacement, pinch-runner, and pinch-hitter against lefties, but Yaz will be much better against the few hundred PAs against RHP that we’ll likely need him for.
Here’s the problem though: what happens when Yaz is on the bench for the 4th night in a row against a RHP, and Murphy as DH is 2-16 against said RHP? How are they going to justify having Murphy’s bat in the DH spot against RHP? In the last 2 seasons, Murphy has had a .650 OPS against RHP. You can live with that with his defense and how he smashes LHP, but are you going to live with that when he’s a DH and Yaz is on the bench? That tells me Murphy gets traded if everyone is healthy and performing.
Career OPS+
Eli White – 69
Mike Yastrzemski – 113
Ronald Acuna, Jr. – 141
My brother in Christ, the difference (44 points) between Eli White and Mike Yastrzemski is greater than the difference (28 points) between Yastrzemski and Ronald Acuna, Jr. Get a grip of yourself.
I don’t care how old Suarez (or even Yaz) is. Suarez has been dealing, and it’s worth it to have him until he doesn’t. Plus, the Mets really wanted Suarez, so it also weakens them. They’re running out of options.
I love the Suarez deal. It’s expensive but they all are. Love to get some velocity out there, especially if Jimenez remains a question mark. We, on the coat tails of the Rays, seemed for a few years to be pursuing a market inefficiency by accumulating guys who got it done with variety (arm angles, spin rates, induced vertical break, guys with one elite non-fastball pitch) while the rest of the league was stacking pens with velocity. I like to have at least one guy who will blow the doors off.
Strange, though, that he seems to be signed as the “closer-in-waiting” behind Iglesias when they are only 14 months apart in age.
EDIT: I also love the Yaz deal. Would like to find a right-handed lefty-masher just like him. Could maybe come cheaper since left-handers are rarer and the lefty-masher that much less utility.
Why would Yaz be on the bench Vs righties Rob? I assume Yaz starts most games Vs righties with Baldwin or Profar at DH. Murphy only DH’s Vs lefties when it is Baldwin’s turn to catch
Then where do you put Murphy? Are you going to pay Murphy $15M to hit just against LHP or keep Baldwin on the bench against RHP?
Murphy will catch 80-odd times, DH 25-30 against lefty starters and actually give us a decent pitch hitter or be a defensive replacement the rest of the time. So, somewhere around 425 to 450 plate appearances
It took me a bot to warm up to the Yaz deal, Suarez I liked right away. The team is better now then hen the season ended, thtas the big thing.
Neither contract cost us a pick or are long term albatrosses.
They aren’t dirt cheap contracts, but like oldtimer? said, they won’t be long-term albatrosses. I like the fact that we have a possible rotation of outfielders. I hope this means that Weiss is going to sit starters occasionally and if that’ the case, Yaz should be a good pickup. I also agree that the Suarez pickup feels like a true difference maker as we now have a viable alternative to Iglesias if necessary. And if Jimenez is able to come back (no sure thing, I know), that’s a nice three-headed monster at the back of the pen. I like it.
Suarez will make $13 million in 2026, and Kinley and Johnson were going to make $12.5 combined, so it’s an incredible upgrade. The bullpen desperately needed velocity.
AA probably indeed has the rule that he’s not going to pay anyone more than Riley or Olson. I would trust that he is correct that by doing so, it would create a bad dynamic with a bunch of guys you convinced to take hometown discounts. So if he can’t do that, then he probably needs to give a bunch of contracts like Iggy, Suarez, and Yaz where it’s for much, much older guys and “significantly” less than $22M. Of course, you can get out your WAR calculator and see that they’re being paid more per WAR than our locked up guys, but the optics are at least palpable. These are older guys, they’ve been in the league forever, they’ve “earned” this, etc., and it’s a way for the Braves to get much, much better without disrupting the Feng Shui of what AA has built.
And yes, I’m really good for more velocity. The bullpens have just been blahhhh the last few years. I don’t stay up late, so I don’t get to see as much of the later inning relievers as our starters. And I feel like every time I did watch Pierce Johnson, I was unimpressed with his stuff. I’d love to get one more reliever – a real, nasty lefty (not Dylan Lee) – and go into next year’s postseason with Iggy, Suarez, Jiminez, some nasty lefty, and Lee. I’m assuming that unless Jiminez’s career is over, he’ll be available by second half of this season.
You could use the same reasoning to justify trading for Seager. It’s not going to happen (wish it would) but I think it would be better received than paying Bichette $30 million as a FA
Right. “I didn’t sign Seager and I took money back”.
There’s probably a deal out there for Seager where they send back $8M per year, get us down to our magic $22M figure, and we send a boatload of pitching prospects. I’d do that deal in a heartbeat. And Texas can sell that deal all day if they get back a Waldrep or Caminiti or whatever. And that’s a deal that can simmer in the offseason as you find out if Lopez and Holmes are truly healthy and what Kim might want to do.
I would not do Waldrep. The value of a cheap, controllable starter who has already shown dominance is higher than a 31 year old all star shortstop who will be paid $22-32 million per year over those same 6 years. Opportunity cost, replacement cost, etc. we have to then pay for some other starter to replace Waldrep in the 2026 rotation.
Richie and Caminiti I would do because they are unknowns and trading tomorrow for today makes sense in a contention window
Ya know, I said above that I’d love a lefty reliever that throws gas, but man, if we just added Kim and ran everybody back hoping for health and rebound, this is an absolutely stacked roster:
Lineup
Acuna
Profar
Riley
Olson
Yaz
Baldwin
Kim
Albies
Harris
Bench
Murphy
White
Dubon
Somebody
Rotation
Sale
Schwellenbach
Strider
Waldrep
Lopez
Elder (6-man rotation)
Bullpen
Iggy
Suarez
Jimenez
Lee
Bummer
Daysbel
Payamps
Holmes
Harris
And then you have JR Ritchie, Wentz, Bido, Rolddy Munoz, Dodd, Fuentes, Stratton, etc etc etc out there.
I’m sorry, people can say what they want, but that roster is better than the Dodgers’ roster. It needs to stay healthy and be effective.
Hoping Suarez isnt the final bullpen move…I’d love to sign Fairbanks too but I realize that’s not going to happen.
And the rotation still needs work. Elder is AAAA and Holmes, Lopez and Schwellenbach coming off major injuries. Plus we’re just assuming Strider won’t suck like he did when he came back last year.
it was last year too but injuries and ineffectiveness diminished it. I think the league is trending younger and younger (except maybe in the bullpen). Even Yaz could fall off a cliff at some point. I think we need a stop-gap in SP and SS. I like Tate and Alex and Cam and JR. They are the future. Too many people here are stuck on high priced options that had good years last year (how’d that work out for Profar). Bringing in old guys except as a stop-gap is not a sustainable plan.
Profar was fine last year, except for the suspension. Second best season of his career, by OPS+ That’s not exactly an age issue.
I think the old guy stop-gaps are exactly that: stop-gaps. They aren’t supposed to be sustainable. They’re supposed to be serviceable alternatives to trading the few prospects we actually have, while we hope those prospects develop into sustainable solutions.
As I see it, there are 2 structural issues with the club: 1) almost every position player got locked in to “team-friendly” long-term deals, and due to performance (if you’re optimistic, read that as “injury”) some are looking less team-friendly but remain just as long-term. And 2) we aren’t developing prospects, specifically position players. We’re doing fine in the draft, with what we’re given due to big league success/draft position. But since we have been permitted to participate in the international market again, we have absolutely struck out. Whoever we have down there just doesn’t know “what they look like.”
You absolutely have to solve number 2. Famously, the Orioles essentially opted out of the Caribbean for years and it led to years of bad teams. What we’re doing is actually worse: we’re spending plenty of money and getting absolutely nothing for it. I don’t know why this doesn’t get talked about more.
Problem number 1, I guess you either wait and see, or you get bold and trust your evaluators and move on from some guys. Riley had his best year in 2022. Each year since has gotten worse. Injury or performance? Ozzie has been good once in the last 4 seasons. Injury or performance? Harris peaked in his rookie year and each year since has gotten worse. Injury or performance?
If you’re going to wait and see, all you can really do is grab some old guy stop-gaps. It’s not like there’s anyone in the minor leagues to push Riley, Albies or Harris off their positions the way Baldwin has with Murphy.
Yeah, Profar had a 121 OPS+ and would have been a 2 WAR player if he played the full season. That’s perfectly fine for $12M. This year he’s making $15M so we need a legitimate good season from him.
I have neither access to the WordPress site nor anyone’s email.
Someone help this man out. These prospect reviews are the high point of the offseason.
Check your email.
nothing in the email
And…now it shows up
Y’all, this roster is loaded. Pray to whomever you pray to for the health of the boys in Cobb County.
I guess no one has commented about it yet, therefore my post lacks context, but the Atlanta Braves signed Ha-seong Kim to a 1YR, $20M deal.
After slowly and painstakingly getting outbid last year reliever by reliever, AA is not messing around.
The next post is posted…. take your gratitude over there.