The Offseason Lounge

[wamco]

Ya that was some reaching

[mike_noodles]

Yeah I don’t think it’s that he can’t or won’t sign a long term deal. I think he’s waiting for the right player. It’s awfully early in the off season at this point too. Lots can still happen.

[R. Johnson#3]

Yeah I don’t think it’s that he can’t or won’t sign a long term deal. I think he’s waiting for the right player. It’s awfully early in the off season at this point too. Lots can still happen.

All of his signings have been 1 year deals for vets who were looking to have bounce back years. He's done the same thing every off-season for 3 years in a row. Aside from 3 years 45 million to Will Smith lol. I'm confident that he won't be handing out any long term deals. I'm just hoping he trades some young talent because we all know how bad he is at assessing the youth.

Next year he's going to have to shell out somewhere around 150 mil to his all star first baseman if he wants to retain him. One could assume he won't have much money left to play with after making that deal, if he even can re-sign him.

Imagine if Atkins just sat on the stockpile of prospects he has for the next 3 years while the MLB team makes the playoffs in all 3 of those seasons. Then when FA rolls around he doesn't get ANY of the big names in any of those 3 off-seasons but instead hands out 1 year deals to aging vets looking for a bounce back year. Then instead of re-signing the ones who do bounce back, he continues handing out 1 year deals to other aging vets. I think it's safe to say that a couple of posters on this forum would be calling for his job, don't you?

EDIT: Remember how AA disappointed the fan base in multiple off-seasons and TDL's by not making any moves? So much that Jose Bautista even called him out in the media. He's doing it again and he's probably a year or two away from hitting the panic button and selling the farm just to save his scruff. I just wish we still had Edwin so we could deal him for one of the Braves top prospects.

[Raps18-19 Champ]

Should he have given Morton a 3 year deal then?

[bartron_44]

Did this thread really get dragged back into talking about a guy who was our GM 5 years ago?

Anyway....Even if they had signed Gausman too they would have had room to go for Bauer if they wanted. I think we see Pearson stretched out in AAA in the first half and come up as a reliever in the second half. I also think ideally they want Stripling as the long/swing man.

I think we see at least 2 more starters signed to get through 162 games. So if they went in thinking they needed 3, I have no problem with them trying to lock up 2 low cost options early on before they go swinging for the fences.

[Raps18-19 Champ]

Did this thread really get dragged back into talking about a guy who was our GM 5 years ago?

Anyway....Even if they had signed Gausman too they would have had room to go for Bauer if they wanted. I think we see Pearson stretched out in AAA in the first half and come up as a reliever in the second half. I also think ideally they want Stripling as the long/swing man.

I think we see at least 2 more starters signed to get through 162 games. So if they went in thinking they needed 3, I have no problem with them trying to lock up 2 low cost options early on before they go swinging for the fences.

I doubt we would spend $50 mil on FA starting pitching between Ray, Gausman and Bauer.

[R. Johnson#3]

Should he have given Morton a 3 year deal then?

No. He should've signed someone like Strasburg, Cole, Wheeler, MadBum or Ryu. Instead he struck out on all those big names so he was forced to do patchwork. He could've retained Keuchel after his year in ATL but he screwed that up too. Please don't think the words that Chong puts in my mouth are what I'm actually saying. The reason he always gets so mad at me is because he always tells me what I'm saying instead of actually reading my posts. He's king of the strawman fallacy.

[R. Johnson#3]

Did this thread really get dragged back into talking about a guy who was our GM 5 years ago?

Anyway....Even if they had signed Gausman too they would have had room to go for Bauer if they wanted. I think we see Pearson stretched out in AAA in the first half and come up as a reliever in the second half. I also think ideally they want Stripling as the long/swing man.

I think we see at least 2 more starters signed to get through 162 games. So if they went in thinking they needed 3, I have no problem with them trying to lock up 2 low cost options early on before they go swinging for the fences.

I know, it's crazy how far people will go to defend the guy lol.

I wouldn't be opposed to Pearson starting in AAA. I think it'll come down to ST for Pearson. If he shows confidence in his curve or change then he might be able to grab the 5th spot.

What's the final day for arb deals to be picked up or non tendered? It has to be coming up.

[R. Johnson#3]

I doubt we would spend $50 mil on FA starting pitching between Ray, Gausman and Bauer.

Payroll is 66 million. Highest it's ever been was 177 million back in 2017 with the same ownership. Over this off-season and next I expect an excess of 50 mil to be spent on starting pitching.

[Raps18-19 Champ]

No. He should've signed someone like Strasburg, Cole, Wheeler, MadBum or Ryu. Instead he struck out on all those big names so he was forced to do patchwork. He could've retained Keuchel after his year in ATL but he screwed that up too. Please don't think the words that Chong puts in my mouth are what I'm actually saying. The reason he always gets so mad at me is because he always tells me what I'm saying instead of actually reading my posts. He's king of the strawman fallacy.

I think even that pool of candidates ended up being a hit and miss in hindsight.

MadBum to a 5 year deal (6.50 ERA this year) and Stras to a 7 year deal (10.80 ERA this year) may handicap their future spending.

Ryu would have been good for them though this year.

Wheeler and Keuchel's 2019 season were actually similar to Cole's 2019 season so it wasnt necessarily bad to pick 1 over the other.

Cole probably wasnt in their budget to begin with.

If he signed Donaldson/Keuchel to long term deals and they were on the Braves in 2020 would the Braves be better or worse off than if they had Ozuna/Hamels?

[Raps18-19 Champ]

Payroll is 66 million. Highest it's ever been was 177 million back in 2017 with the same ownership. Over this off-season and next I expect an excess of 50 mil to be spent on starting pitching.

I'd be surprised if they do it over 1 season though.

[R. Johnson#3]

I think even that pool of candidates ended up being a hit and miss in hindsight.

MadBum to a 5 year deal (6.50 ERA this year) and Stras to a 7 year deal (10.80 ERA this year) may handicap their future spending.

Ryu would have been good for them though this year.

Wheeler and Keuchel's 2019 season were actually similar to Cole's 2019 season so it wasnt necessarily bad to pick 1 over the other.

Cole probably wasnt in their budget to begin with.

If he signed Donaldson/Keuchel to long term deals and they were on the Braves in 2020 would the Braves be better or worse off than if they had Ozuna/Hamels?

No, but if he gave a LTD to Keuchel then the need to acquire Hamels wouldn't have been there. The hole would've been filled. This is the point I'm getting at. He needs to give out multi year deals otherwise he's just going to be patching up the same holes he was trying to patch in the previous off-season while his awesome core just gets older and closer to being expensive. The core isn't good enough to win a WS and needs to be supplemented. If the players you supplement the core with disappear after 1 year then you're just on a treadmill. He's not a good GM.

[R. Johnson#3]

I'd be surprised if they do it over 1 season though.

I think he'll spend north of 50 mil total this off-season, just not all on pitching. If anything a big name arm should be acquired through trade. Much like the Astros did on 3 separate occasions.

[Raps18-19 Champ]

No, but if he gave a LTD to Keuchel then the need to acquire Hamels wouldn't have been there.

But that works both ways. If he signed JD to a long term deal, he couldnt reap the rewards of Ozuna.

I mean I just asked you if JD/Keuchel would be better than Ozuna/Hamels and you said no. So they were better off in this instance doing a 1 year deal.

Its not ideal to always do 1 year deals but its circumstantial and so far its worked for the Braves.

The hole would've been filled. This is the point I'm getting at. He needs to give out multi year deals otherwise he's just going to be patching up the same holes he was trying to patch in the previous off-season while his awesome core just gets older and closer to being expensive.

Thats only half true. If you commit a LT deal and they are a bist, you actually need to fill that hole but with less resources since you need to replace that pitchers production but you already committed money.

I agree thats its a concern but you can also commit to a long term deal and take a step back.

The core isn't good enough to win a WS and needs to be supplemented. If the players you supplement the core with disappear after 1 year then you're just on a treadmill. He's not a good GM.

To be fair, that team was 3-1 lead and 1 game away from the WS. Some timely hits coulda got them there.

[Raps18-19 Champ]

I think he'll spend north of 50 mil total this off-season, just not all on pitching. If anything a big name arm should be acquired through trade. Much like the Astros did on 3 separate occasions.

I do want to clarify I mean $50 mil AAV for year one (ie $8 for Ray, $14 for Gaus, $28 for Bauer). If they did that for pitching, thats stretching your leftover money on getting decent hitting.

I can see it overall for both hitting and pitching though to add $50ish mil in AAV for year 1.