Atlanta’s bullpen is one of the few legitimate areas of concern for the first-place club as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. The Braves, cognizant they’re in need of upgrades, have been connected to Blue Jays closer Ken Giles, Orioles right-hander Mychal Givens and multiple White Sox relievers on the rumor mill in recent days, and there are likely more late-game arms on the team’s radar.
The Braves are in search of help because they haven’t gotten nearly enough from the majority of their current options. Of their healthy arms, only Luke Jackson, Anthony Swarzak and Sean Newcomb have posted high-quality numbers over at least 20 innings of work apiece. Right-hander Jacob Webb has also been eminently productive, having notched a tremendous 1.39 ERA through 32 1/3 frames, but the 25-year-old rookie hasn’t been a factor in recent weeks. Webb has totaled a mere three innings this month and hasn’t pitched since July 12 on account of an elbow impingement, and it doesn’t appear he’ll return to the Braves’ bullpen in the immediate future. Manager Brian Snitker indicated Wednesday that Webb’s set to miss “at least a couple more weeks,” Mark Bowman of MLB.com writes.
The latest news on Webb could further galvanize the Braves to bolster their bullpen in the next week. However, they’d have likely tried to do so even had he stayed healthy. The Braves are atop the NL East East at 60-43, meaning they don’t have to pick up anyone, but their lead has dwindled to 4 1/2 over the Nationals – whom they play 10 more times. Three of those games will take place next week, but the Braves won’t have Webb available for any of them.
Depending on the stats you look at, Webb may have been either supremely lucky or just flat-out excellent prior to landing on the IL. ERA indicators FIP (4.31), xFIP (5.14) and SIERA (4.54) suggest Webb has no business sporting such a pristine ERA, and his strikeout, walk and groundball rates (7.79 K/9, 3.34 BB/9, 38.2 GB%) also paint a somewhat gloomy picture.
On the other hand, the hard-throwing Webb has been a wiz at preventing meaningful contact this season. Among 168 relievers who have thrown at least 30 innings, Webb checks in at 17th in infield fly percentage (17.5). He also ranks near the top of the league in several Statcast categories, including expected weighted on-base average against. Hitters have mustered a weak .287 wOBA off Webb, which aligns with an even better .281 xwOBA. Webb’s first among Braves relievers in the former category, while only Jackson has outdone him in the latter.
Not very informative.
Are you illiterate
Sarcasm is apparently lost on some…
The Braves are not interested. Rumors has it they are waiting for sellers to rebuild their farm system so they can compete against them at the MLB Pipeline Top farm system championship in 2020.
Rumor is you’re an idiot.
Not interested in what? Their own pitcher Webb? He is already under contract with them. No interest needed. God your a loser. If you crave attention so much that you go around saying things just to anger people at least take the time to read the article before you say it. Then you might get some of the attention you are looking for. This is likely the only attention you are used to because of morbid obesity, loserdom and being damaged emotionally because of the way people treated you in the past. Oh… Wait. You are damaged because people treated you like a morbidly obese loser. So, I guess it’s just a cycle for you, huh? So used to it that you don’t recognize any other form of communication? I get it. Just shove another 8 twinkies down your throat simultaneously and the sugar rush will raise the dopamine level in your brain enough to forget you ever typed that response or read this one. I believe in you.
It’s time RIGHT NOW to stop feeling intimidated Braves and be confident! It’s been far too damn long where you buckle down to american league teams or the supreme talents of the national league. This 2 game series against the royals just exposed you when you could and should have easily swept it..
Freddie; it’s time for you to step up and be an absolute VOCAL leader and lead this team to a championship because at this pace; your team is headed down the same exact path of the last 20 years of disappointment. This season is on a teeter totter right this minute, This is your moment “own it”!!
Trust the process ????
With the exception of Donaldson this is Coppy’s team
I was very supportive & excited when AA took over but now my Support & confidence is deteriorating quickly.
AA has done nothing by a year in a half he should have been able to at least weed out a couple prospects to move for help now
All offseason he couldn’t find the replacement he wanted for Markakis
He did not find an ACE he was looking for when multiple TOR starters were available
He totally ignored the bullpen
He got the pitching coach damn near the start of spring training
The only thing he has accomplished is the signing of 2 superstar players to absurdly ridiculously cheap contracts that IMO is gonna cause Acuna & Albies to become disgruntled eventually
This is an important trade deadline for this GM. He gat rule 5 decisions to make and he has a playoff division leader with Washington with 2 Aces & another very good SP breathing down our necks
Time to make a move
But I believe all the 2nd tier prospects have lost value
Touki, Wright,Minter, Camargo, Wilson, Allard, Gohora, & Demeritte have all lost value to the point teams I believe don’t want them in exchange for top available talent
The Wentz, Mueller, Weigel, Tarnock, Jackson etc are the talent that would be moved but none of them are capable of being the primary return for the star players we need. We need a TORSP & a real Closer and we need them fast
The same needs we had at the end of last year
AA’s sitting back and patience is going to either cost us Anderson who I am not exactly sold on myself
He walks way to many batters, Pache or Waters
IMO Donaldson should be signed to an extension or Camargo should be moved back to 3rd next year and move Riley at the deadline maybe he has not totally lost his value over the last 2-3 weeks exposure he suffered
^That.
AA made the moves in 2015 with the Blue Jays to gain an extension. Sorry Blue Jays fans, that was the motivation. It was all about securing his position as GM. The 2015 moves should have been done in 2014. And, after a decent 2011 the Jays did little to boost the 2012 squad and they took a step back.
If that’s the process you want you can have it. Otherwise, SteelerBrave pretty much laid things out.
So basically he should have traded all the guys that have now.lost value and kept the guys like Soroka. You make it sound so easy. I’m curious what moves you would have made. And what multiple TOR starters were available in the off-season?
The same guys that are available now. You heard Kluber’s name all offseason. Where there is smoke there is fire they at least gauged the interest in him.
I still go back to Greinke all it woulda took was taking on salary.
Corbin was money which we were told we had enough of to shop in any aisle.
Red Sox we’re looking to get under the luxury tax hence the departure of Kimbrel and the total destruction of their bullpen. Would have a trade of David Price after he opted back in woulda helped them accomplish that ???
If MadBum & Stroman are available now they woulda been available then.
Scherzer was hitting 10/5 rights a phone call coulda led to a conversation and coulda sold the Nats on moving him. They were supposedly listening before they went in that run earlier.
I know most things would not have happened but did anybody at all this offseason get the sense AA was doing anything ????
Point of my rant is he sat on his hands been sitting on his hands and now majority of the prospects have lost value.
My moves woulda been not to sign Donaldson. Keeping Camargo at 3rd.
Traded for Greinke eating as much of the contract it woulda took. I always said resign Markakis. But I also wanted Haniger since Seattle was having a fire sale. But he winded up not being moved. So who knows if he was really available.
I always said Grandal was my choice at catcher. And I wanted to sign 2 RP David Robertson until he said he wanted a team in the North east then I turned my attention to Kimbrel which woulda been better than the Craig Counsell clone we winded up drafting with the pick we woulda lost and the other RP I said was Britton if not Kimbrel. Point is ALOT of closers were available. And just to be clear no to Kimbrel for the price he supposedly was asking for but woulda definitely signed him for what Cubs signed him for when he finally did sign. Especially when at the time Luke friggin Jackson is the closer.
But I would take it even further back to last deadline and Britton woulda been had
AA can’t do what Liberty Media won’t allow him to do. They control the money and have the final say on any cost added. As far as prospects go, every team is asking for way too much right now so unless whoever they trade for is upper tier with a ton of team control, it’s smart to stay put until cost comes down.
See that is not true and you are misinformed. Countless articles have been written about the agreement made with Liberty Media and how they had to handle the baseball side of the acquisition. Any money made on the team has a certain percentage that has to be spent back on the team and Terry McGuirck is who has final say. But who is to say what AA has brought to his attention ???
Was anybody happy with the 2nd 1st round pick he made thru all the scouts and guys he put in place ??
The guy could become a star but he was graded as a 2nd round pick and called a Craig Counsell clone. Are you serious that’s who you draft and sign him at slot value ???
He replaced all the top scouts who Coppy brought back that actually played a part in this rebuild. The guys who scouted the Anderson’s, Riley’s, Wright’s, Waters’, Mueller’s, Wentz’s etc
Fired them all then brought in a guy who decides he doesn’t want the job and then brings in second options
He has been terrible since he got here and now slowly we will lose these prospects we accumulated to rule 5 or selling them off for pennies on the dollar in consideration to what they were worth at peak value.
Mom’s spaghetti
First post ever, I created an account to express how dumb chippahawk’s comments are.
1. Don’t think that losing a few games in a row insinuates “being intimidated”. It’s baseball. Sometimes better teams lose.
2. Freddie is a fine leader. I don’t think he needs locker room tips from you.
3. Many prognosticators had ATL as 3rd in the division preseason. Trust AA and the process. A few tweaks need to be made and they likely will.
Welcome. I’m not a Braves fan but nice first post. Watch out for the trolls.
Beautiful post. Welcome to the fray.
LoL I’m honored cupcake, now gtfoh fng!
Leave your hurt feelers at the front door and your participant ribbon should arrive in 3-5 business days..
I trusted AA to make improvements to the bullpen last December and look how that turned out
So riddle me this logicalbrave, what is logical about trusting him at the deadline?
Please change name to naivebrave
Don’t listen to impatient haters. They should go be Mets fans and see how trading the future works out for them. Or they should go complain to Cleveland fans about only having 1 World Championship since the mid 90’s. They want to trade the future to slightly raise our chances during a season that we will probably lose to the Dodgers anyway. After the season is over they would still complain about AA blowing up the future by making the moves they are saying to make now. We have Acuna and Albies locked upnfor about a decade and they won’t hit their peak for years. They would have you waste their future by making what are likely futile moves due to their impatience. You don’t sell the farm unless you are more than 50% sure it will win you a championship. Anyone that says we should trade Riley, Anderson, Pache, or Waters for anyone on Toronto (including big fat under performing DH in waiting Vlad Jr.) is an idiot. Please keep that in mind at all times. Thank you.
Forget Mets & Cleveland how bout you go ask the Astros bout how mid season acquisition Verlander turned out for them and the future of their farm ????
And offseason acquisition Garrit Cole as well ????
Or how bout Cubs fans plenty of them on here about Chapman mid season acquisition???
I do believe the Brave fan base was sold on this rebuild that they were modeling it after the Astros
And last count in my lifetime 1 WS win especially with the run of division titles we had was pretty disappointing even though I can and have made the argument we were never the better team in any of the WS we were in.
Also think back if you are old enough to agree McGriff and tell me bout being patient
This team is 2 pieces away and the pieces are there for the getting. If AA was more aggressive in the offseason we wouldn’t be looking at moving Pache, Waters or Anderson.
Hell we don’t got to move them now
Greinke can be had for just taking on salary
He is actually my first choice has been since the start of last off season
The Astros didn’t give up that much for Verlander, and they made a good move in getting Cole, but they got him fairly cheap. And Chapman blew the save in game 7 and almost.lost them the world series. What did he cost, one of the best young players in baseball Gleyber Torres.
Ok he got them to the WS and you base your argument on the fact he blew game 7 save but then don’t say how over worked he was down the stretch & in the playoffs ???
But he didn’t make that much of a difference. He wasn’t that good in the playoffs, and the team bailed him out.
15 2/3 IP struck out 21 & walked 6 in playoffs
Saved 16 games 46 k’s 10 BB & an ERA of 1.01 whip of .825
Regular season after the trade in 2 months ????
He wasn’t very good ?????
How bout how overworked he was the rest of the season as a rental ????
And if we got a SP in the offseason by trading some of these guys who value had dropped you would be saying the same thing.
Now it’s the deadline & we gotta overpay.
That was a very well thought out post. Since that is the case, it makes me wonder why you are here. Clear thinking is a rare bird in this neck of the woods
Chalk…. wouldn’t his logicalbraves first post in fact be trolling in itself? Or is that the irony that you’re trying to point out in your statement? Lol
Absolutely agreed. These morons that want to sell the farm and let it run barren for the next 4 years until we can restock after our penalties are over are the same peons who said we didn’t spend this offseason, who said Mac and JD were bad adds, who screamed Kimbrel Kimbrel Kimbrel when he hasn’t been markedly better for Chi the Luke Jackson has for Atl. They would have traded Soroka, Riley, Pache and probably Wright and Fried for Realmuto if given the opportunity. AA has led us this far. Let’s hope for what we want, but watch the man do his job. He’s earned our trust. His vision has taken us from the prediction that we would be duking it out with the Mets for third right now to dominating the division all summer.
How has he earned our trust ????
This bullpen has been smoking mirrors all year he gave Snit lemons and said go make lemonade.
Nobody that I could remember on here ever said to sign Kimbrel when he wanted 6 or 5 yrs but I am sorry for the price Chicago paid with no draft compensation going back you bring him home. And most agreed.
From the end of the season last year all we heard him talk t was we can go shopping in any aisle yet forget Kimbrel he didn’t go out and get Britton, Soria, Colome, Robertson, Ottovino, nobody for the bullpen.
I love how Snit gets no credit when Newk gets moved to bullpen. Luke Jackson has to be the closer, Minter falls on his face. Sobotka loses it. Swarzak becomes a piece like damn give the man credit for making something out of this bullpen. He has done it with smoking mirrors. There are bums out there just like my man said Webb has been lucky.
And we got Duvall in AAA paying him how much for what one guy said was a lower budget team. Shoulda nontendered him saved that money and put it to help the mlb roster in the bullpen rotation wherever
Donaldson has worked out but I am sorry he hasn’t been the splash most hoped for but he has been better than the disaster he could have been
McCann is home plain and simple we needed a catcher to share time he got the homtown kid and brought him home that was an easy choice.
I myself lobbied for Grandal cause again we were told we can shop in any aisle and all it cost was money. After Grandal signed for what he did I was actually mad we got McCann so early.
Offseason I believe like many others Greinke could have been had for what ??? Yet again taking on his salary so money.
Now to get him at the deadline it’s gonna cost money & a prospect or maybe more if Arizona even attempts to move him considering they are still in a WC hunt.
Actually only guy I remember being willing to get for straight prospects was Hannigar. I didn’t even want Peralta while we were without a RF for how long ??? I wanted Markakis to return the whole offseason because the length of his contract matched the timetable for Waters who I personally like better as a prospect than Pache.
Has anybody ever seen the value of such prize prospects tumble as fast as these Brave prospects ?
Acuna & Albies were established well before AA got here
And I am sorry look at AA’s draft what he got with the 1st round picks a guy who compared out to Austin Hedges and a guy compared out to Craig Counsel
I like the old philosophy of drafting arms at the top of the draft
Jury is still out on that though because of the talent he drafted in Toronto he has had some picks turn out to be good ball players
Syndergaard, Stroman, Sanchez. AA only drafted pitching or catching in the first round. Drafted a catcher who was injured in the draft, knew about it and didn’t care (Pentecost). Also didn’t sign numerous 1st round picks, much like he did in 2018. Multiple drafts where a pitcher was picked before future studs. He used the hype from his drafts to net Tulowitzki, Price, Happ, Buehrle/Reyes and RA Dickey. But overall AA’s draft record wasn’t spectacular.
There you go I was wrong I was giving him to much credit thanks Trim
Because he signed Vlad Jr I was assuming AA was responsible for Bichette, Biggio etc but now I realize Vlad Jr was signed internationally so I just even more of the very little respect I had for AA.
He has really turned me sour on him fast. I was very excited when they hired him.
He came with a lot of hype, it’s understandable.
AA did some good; his decision to extend guys were well done (Bautista, Encarnacion, even Dickey at the time), and he’s done that with your guys in Acuna and Albies.
AA also gave a nice chunk of money to Hechavarria knowing he was all glove and no stick.
Fellow Brave fans is everyone on here totally sold on Pache, Anderson or Waters ????
Pache seems like he has taken that next step but something about the way he carries himself albeit in the very few times I have gotten to see him play. Very small sample size but still caught my attention.
Anderson walks entirely to many batters and that worries me. I know command is one of the last things to develop for young pitchers but there have been plenty of arms that don’t reach the level of success they should because of command issues.
Waters he strikes out to much but this day and age strikeouts are not the detriment they once were.
Riley strikesout to much too and can we afford to have a Riley & Waters hitting in the middle of our lineup with all those strikeouts ???
Now let me ask you this MadBum is from Brave country grew up a Brave fan. As did Wil Smith.
If the Giants gave us a 24 hr window to work out extensions with both guys and say we came to an agreement with one of them (preferably MadBum) would Brave fans be willing to see Waters or Pache or Anderson headline a trade for BOTH of the Giant pitchers ???
If you can get MadBum with an extension and Wil Smith as a possible rental (they may be able to resign long term eventually) both for a package centered around 1 of the 3 top prospects would you be willing to see that happen at this point ???
Why would anyone want a long extension on MadBum? He’s been in decline. He’d want at least the QO rate of $18m. And trade a top 40 prospect for the right get him for maybe 4/80? He’s on pace to be a 2 WAR pitcher
No one is clamoring to give Teheran $18m. He’s younger. And is producing at the same level at this point. Everyone is excited by a name brand and his mid 20s arm
He is 29 bout to be 30 and you must not watch baseball games if you say MadBum is anything close to Teheran. Do you see the names playing in that OF in San Fran ??? Dickerson, Slater, Baby Yaz granted Pillar got range & a glove. These guys have won 32 1 run games these SP feel like they have no breathing room. That’s a ton of pressure.
I am sure you were saying the same thing bout Verlander too. You see the resurgence in him right. MadBum is the ultimate competitor and that’s the type of guy you overpay a little bit if you have to. He is the type of guy you want leading a young staff.
Can the Yankees afford to have Sanchez, Stanton, and Judge in the middle of their lineup because they strike out too much? Strikeouts are an unfortunate part of baseball so as long as hitters are still getting on base and driving in runs, you have to accept it. So yes, you keep your top 3 prospects unless you get some out of this world, young and controllable talent back in return. This isn’t a big market team with bottomless pockets do they have to use the farm.
Please don’t compare the Yankee lineup when all healthy to a NL lineup. They are the exception not the rule.
YOU people call yourselves Braves fans. Have you not noticed over the years how the Braves operate? Ted Turner doesn’t own the Braves anymore, not that he was a bigtime spender. Liberty Media is not going to spend big money. That’s fine. The Braves built this young farm system for one reason, so they wouldn’t have to spend big. They don’t need to trade a bunch of prospects for 1 year, we need to look ahead for 5-10 years. If the Braves could get Greinke and take most of his money, we may not have to give up much. I’d use Folty, getting tired of his head problems. Could use some bottom top 30 prospects. If the front office listens to a lot of people from these sites, we wouldn’t have Soroka, Freid or Riley on this team this year along with probably 3 or 4 other top prospects. They wanted to trade about 10 prospects for deGrom and Realmuto last year. Would we be where we are now?
I agree on Folty and have been saying the same thing bout Greinke since last year. I have never wanted to trade Soroka under any circumstance. Fried I adit I woulda threw right under the bus and he could actually still go in the right deal. Never thought bout giving up on Dansby.
I understand how the Braves are built but I don’t think you understand how the Rule 5 draft works and the fact you can’t just hog all these prospects forever. You have to make decisions on them and keep it moving. When you have multiple pitching prospects in the case of the Braves last year you know you can’t keep them all. Therefore you trade some to fill some holes.
The minute Wright was drafted him , Anderson & Soroka woulda been untouchable after that every other pitcher had tremendous value and coulda been dealt to me.
For Greinke, I would use Folty, maybe Toki and or Gohara. Maybe Pache. Depends on how much AZ. takes of Greinke’s money. We still need a closer. Jackson is fine for the 8th. just not the 9th. unless we have a 3 run lead. Giles maybe. I could see the Braves getting Miami’s closer, the old guy. Their kind of deal, cheap. Not the rock-solid closer but experienced. The left-hander from KC. or Pitts.
Giant fans may not realize it but their GM knows they are pretenders and not contenders
MadBum & Smith could be had.
I don’t want a Stroman or Giles not for any of the top 5 would be willing to move Riley in a package for them though.
If an extension for MadBum is in play then I think one of the top 3 should be in play with Pache being the one to try the hardest to keep
The Giants have played great baseball lately. But they are one of like 8 teams with excellent chances of winning one of 2 spots in a one game playoff. Even if the odds are even for everyone that’s a 25% chance of a wildcard berth and then a 50% chance of winning that game before facing a rested Dodgers team in LA. It’s really not a great scenario and they have spotted Washington and Philly a couple games.
Sorry to enlighten you rudely if it comes off that way. The Giants have the 2nd hardest schedule behind the Angels from here on out & these guys like Dickerson & Baby Yaz are guaranteed to not be able to sustain the level they have been playing at. They don’t have the farm to add at the deadline. They have been playing over their heads and are due for a stretch where they fall off. MLBnetwork actually gives them a 7% chance of even getting the 2nd WC. I myself would put it higher but not by much.
As bad as Philly has been & Colorado has been I believe they got a run in them before it’s all over. Brewers will add and be right there fighting with the Cubs & WC positioning. Giants should sell off and I believe their GM is smart enough to know it
We seem to agree. Lol
My point is the chance is minimal due to wide competition, being behind in the race, and having 4 teams ahead of them still hunting for a division crown (PHI, WAS, MIL, STL). Those 4, plus the Braves and Cubs who could re-enter the wildcard race are all sure buyers.
The schedule just makes it worse.
But what they would win for the 2nd WC kind of sucks – 1 game away game and then if they win, a road trip against Kershaw and Ryu
Exactly that is why their GM should be smart enough to sell.
You don’t want to trade any of our top 5, which makes sense. But, You would trade Riley, that does not make any sense at all. YOU are ALL over the place. We don’t really need to trade any top prospects just to win this year. I agree we don’t need Stroman. I may throw Folty in on a trade, say to Az. for Greinke.
You have to give something to get something and to me Riley would be able to get something we need in return. Camargo proved last year he can be a major league 3B and in my opinion this year he has proven he is not the super utility type for this team considering how much Dansby & Ozzie plays. Camargo I feel needs to play everyday. I would say trade Camargo but again his value is low and it would be selling short.
I believe Riley is going to be a real good 3B but like I said you gotta give something to get something. And the return on Riley could be what we need.
Going forward we still got Markakis until Waters is ready and we can find a year stop gap until Pache is ready so they fill needs. You can never have to much pitching so waiting on Wright & Anderson I understand. Contreras fills a need that will need to filled sooner rather than later.
Riley could be better than Camargo but he may not be. We already have Camargo know what he is and has been a part of the come up already.
For me Riley is expendable in the right deal. Not just for anybody but for a proven TOR arm.
We are NOT desperate for something THIS YEAR. Riley is our future 3rd. baseman. We could sign Donaldson back next year for 4 yrs .100 million. I don’t think will happen. If nothing else we will be set for next year with Riley and Camargo, both can play 3rd. or LF. There is really no TOR arm available. Bumgardner is not worth a Riley, maybe a Folty with Smith thrown in straight-up. Could add 1 or 2 lower-level prospects in bottom 30. Greinke is really what we need. Folty and Az take some of Greinke’s money. Folty could come back with his head on straight or he may not change. Been waiting on him to get it together for a couple of years. Folty’s problem is between his ears. Braves really missed on Kimbrel. 43 million is kinda cheap, especially compared to the 100 million he was wanting. We really can’t go into the playoffs with Jackson as our closer. One thing the Braves have going for them is the team is young. Hopefully, that means every day they get a little more experience and a little bit better. Minor would be good. Don’t really want Stroman as of now, offseason may be different. He may not be as good as what we give up for him. Diekdrick from KC. Pitts. closer., even Giles
Whoever said Riley for MadBum ???
In another pulpits I said something about Pache for MadBum with an extension & Smith but I also stated it for conversation starting purposes. I myself wouldn’t want that deal but I think the Giants would jump all over it. And with the competition for them as we get closer to the deadline that may be the deal San Fran would have to have but I wouldn’t do it.
I also put out there a Pache for Vazquez & Marte deal if that would be something Brave fans could except. We get an OF signed for this year & 2 more at a favorable price and a dominate closer on a team friendly deal for I am not sure how many years.
I just stated in this thread for me Riley is the guy I would be the least hesitant to move.
We both agree on Greinke to a tee. And that is the best fit/scenario there is. And I am holding out hope it happens.
And I disagree Riley is not a LF by any stretch and I have not seen enough of Camargo out there to say one way or the other how good/bad he is. Athletically he seems like he is fine but the sample size is small.
Every year you are leading your division at the deadline should be looked at as desperate to some point. Once October comes it’s a whole nother season and anything can happen.
Fighting for a WC is a diffrent story but division winners should be trying to solidify their teams and making the strongest push possible. Next year is never guaranteed.
And no thank you to 4/25 more like 2/45 no way longer than that
Like I said Camargo can just as well be 3B of the future
I think the catcher the Braves drafted this year will be up late next year or in 2021. I see McCann coming back next year. Flowers is signed for next year. I don’t see another catcher out there for next year. Braves really have any place for a position player now. Culberson isn’t going anywhere. Joyce is doing fine. Ender is needed come playoff time, hopefully, he gets going. Acuna isn’t the center-fielder Ender is at this point. I just don’t see them getting rid of Riley after what he has done in the majors so-far. Yes, he is slumping right now, everyone does. I just don’t think it is a BIG need to win it all this year. It’s not a do or die situation. We have some great years ahead. Don’t trade the farm just to win this year.
Trading Riley when we got Camargo is far from selling off the farm. Especially when Riley has the value to get something ewe need
Again, I don’t think we are in NEED or GREAT NEED of anything really. Our future is bright. I don’t really think the Braves front office is either. I think a couple of trades will be made. I can see AA trading with Toronto for Stroman and Giles hopefully, it won’t have to have top prospects if that happens. Maybe a swap change of scenery for Folty and Stroman. or Giles. Not that I don’t like Folty, I’m just tired of his head games and I’d rather use him than a top prospect. Teams kinda know what they get with Folty also. I’d do the same with S.F. for Matt and Smith.
Folty is not getting anything for a team looking to rebuild. They will all want prospects. He could possibly be a secondary piece for a team but his ship has sailed as being the main piece.
Webb is just extremely lucky. His FIP is 4.30 with 3.3 BB/9
The pen is a lot better now. More so than at the beginning of the season imo. Especially since Newk has found his groove there. Swarzak too has been great. They should try and add a piece (everyone’s been saying this) which I’m confident they will. I just hope I cost two arms and a couple legs haha. sorry couldn’t help myself.
We don’t need a piece we need a Closer. But I wouldn’t want to see them deal a Top 5 prospect or Riley for a closer. They are to volatile and up & down to risk losing an everyday player type unless it’s part of a bigger deal filling multiple holes.
2-10 thru 15 level prospects for a closer is the farthest I would go and that has to be for a good closer.
I can see the Braves go after the guy in Miami, can’t think of his name, the older guy their closer, It would be cheap. The KC lefthander that just pitched the last two nights, again fairly cheap. That’s why all the up’s and down with the pen guys, trying to find something that works without a big trade. Hoping Sobaka does good. Gausman’s next start will be big for him and maybe the team. If they don’t trade Folty, maybe he could be good out of the pen. But, I do see a trade or two for pitchers. One or two I would like to see maybe at least one of Greinke, Minor, Giles, KC. or Pitts. lefthanders, Bumgardner, Smith
Anybody think Price is attainable ????
I know Boston wants to shed salary at some point