That Braves question about the outfield causing them to finish in last place in the division is just embarrassing. Acuna, Albies, Riley, Swanson, Duvall, and Freeman are plenty capable of getting the job done. Plus, let’s assume Ozuna is back as well. They easily have the best offense in the East and a top tier offense in all of baseball.
Freeman isn’t going anywhere. The team that just won the WS gets Acuna and Ozuna back. I think it keeps them in the conversation right where they have been the last couple of years.
Braves have never spent that much money and they are already over budget.
Corporate owners love that bottom line. They don’t care about
“faces of the franchise”…..
I still have Freeman favored to re-sign with the Braves. I read something a week or so ago that after the season Freeman “promised Acuna and other players on the team that he was going to play with them again next year.” I figure as long as the Braves offer is at least close to the top he will stay there.
Even if he does leave the Braves will bring in at least one other big bat to replace him. Someone like Matt Olson, Trevor Story, Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber or Seiya Suzuki will definitely join the team if Freddie leaves. Actually, one of those outfielders might join the team even if Freddie stays.
I don’t think there is chance the Braves finish in last place. Even if they don’t make any more moves, my guess is the worst possible scenario is 2nd place. The Mets look like the only team who stands a chance of dethroning them next year and even so the Braves are still favored to win the division again. I would bet on the Braves winning the division with the Mets finishing 2nd, Phillies 3rd, Marlins 4th and Nats last. I also think the Mets and Phillies will contend for the wild card. I think either the Padres, Mets or Phillies will step up and take the Cardinals playoff spot from last year. All 3 could make it (or 2 plus the Cardinals) if they expand the playoffs to 14 teams. I think the Giants, Dodgers, Brewers and Braves will all probably make the playoffs again no matter what.
It’s way too early for any kind of predictions, especially for the NL East. It’s hard enough, with injuries, regressions, etc. to make predictions at the end of ST when rosters are set.
Once the lockout ends there are still plenty of FAs that could shift the balance in that division. What if the Phillies signed Correa and someone like Conforto or Schwarber? What if Freeman leaves, and the Braves aren’t able to acquire any of those replacements you listed?
I’m pretty sure the Braves will not finish last, but I’m less sure that they’re a favorite for the division. At this point, I agree they probably are, but a lot can happen when the lockout ends.
@tad: That’s technically true. I’m trying to focus more on the probability of what will actually happen. I even said the Braves were at least a 2nd place team if they didn’t add anyone else. I guess it’s theoretically possible the Phillies go out and add a bunch more players and spend Cohen type money but I doubt it. Even if the Braves stay still, the Mets add a lot more and the Phillies sign Correa I still thi k the Braves finish top 2 in the division and the Mets and Phillies both finish top 3 with the Phillies ending up behind the Braves.
IMO it’s never too early for rankings. That’s what makes them fun. If I’m right I get even more credit for predicting the future with less information. I think the 5 teams who made the playoffs last year in the AL will make it again. If the playoffs expand to 14 teams I think Toronto becomes the 6th AL playoff team and the last playoff spot will either go to the Mariners, Guardians, Angels or Tigers. I am leaving room for the Tigers young rotation to improve. If those starting pitchers reach their potential next season I think they stand a chance of taking the playoff spot from Cleveland, Seattle and the Angels.
Just for the record I think last season the Blue Jays were the best team I’ve seen miss the playoffs in a long time. That’s both record wise and on the field. They won over 90 games and still missed the playoffs. The Blue Jays looked so good on the field to me I think they should have won more than 91 games anyway. They could be better than both the Ref Sox and Yankees.
Once again you’re making predictions as if the offseason is over. The offseason is 30 days old, it is impossible to make anywhere near an educated guess of an entire division’s standings a month into the offseason.
Morton-Fried-Anderson-Soroka-Ynoa-Wright-Muller is deeper and more developed than Miami’s starting staff, and outside of MKE, the best in the NL. Freeman or no Freeman, their offense is prime-aged and talented and plenty good enough to make this the best overall team in the NL.
Hamme: I’m in align w your thinking the Braves will finish “at least” 2nd in the division. The team I’m intrigued about are the Marlins. They’ve got an enviable young (and still maturing) rotation. They’re also starting to get some interesting position players coming in as well.
I don’t disagree with anything you say except that “it’s never too early for rankings”. Too much can change between now and then, and even when the season starts, the injuries, regressions, and just plain bad years, make rankings difficult, and most times wrong.
I hear it all the time in sports; this team can’t beat that team, etc. History will show one team with a bunch of wins, and very few losses, against another team. And all those things are true, until they’re not. History is continually cited, and it means nothing. If history meant anything neither the R Sox, nor the Cubs would have won a WS.
The Braves won only 88 games in 2021, 5th best in the NL. The OF additions all panned out, and they got hot at the right time. I’m not saying they don’t deserve the title, they absolutely do. But, to count on them always exceeding expectations is a fools errand.
They look good on paper at this point, but things will change before the season starts. There’s additional work they need to do, or odds will shift against them winning the division in 2022.
I know the Mets made big money moves, but I don’t even see them particularly close to the Braves on paper. The Phillies don’t even have an OF right now, let alone their other holes. Marlins are vastly improved but still in that 3rd or 4th place range. I just don’t understand the constant lack of respect for the Braves. Perhaps because they don’t spend like their division rivals.
The Mets with all their additions are easily the team to beat at this point. Atlanta needs to solidify the Freeman situation if they are to be even in the discussion.
The Mets made some great additions, but I think people overlook how much they lost as well. I’m assuming the Braves will get Freeman back. But they’re definitely getting Acuna back. I just see them as a much stronger team. Obviously if the Freeman situation goes south I’ll reassess.
Any new CBA the players agree to; a few years into it they will feel it’s blatantly tilted against them.
No one forced them to agree with the one that just expired.
“Any new CBA the players agree to; a few years into it they will feel it’s blatantly tilted against them.”
That’s your opinion, but it’s not fact. And you could be completely wrong. Time will tell.
The baseball CBA is a one-of-a-kind document. The issues are complex and no one could predict how the specifics would factor one way or another. It’s also difficult to know how certain aspects could, or if they would be, manipulated.
Maybe the players felt there would be a good faith adherence to the spirit of the agreement, as opposed to the use of loopholes, and technical end runs, to subvert that spirit.
But whatever, any time an agreement like the CBA is instituted, no one knows exactly how fair. or tilted it is, until it’s use is applied.
You’re correct, no one forced them to agree with the last CBA, but they lived up to their word, and worked under that CBA despite their feelings. That agreement has now expired, and it’s absurd to think they should agree to extend what they feel is unfair, simply because they mistakenly agreed to the previous CBA.
Tad, I agree with you too. But then you could be completely wrong.
Most will agree that extending the expired CBA was not a good idea.
The players did live up to their word; but, boy did they complain.
There are things that need change, adjusted, added to, taken away.
Confidence is high, the player will complain about something; because the owners will work the loop holes.
I’m not sure Mark is right about Contreras. If the DH happens in the NL, I think the Cubs keep Contreras, Gomes takes the heavy workload off of Wilson’s shoulders and they can keep his bat in the line-up.
The Bobby Thompson homerun loses credit for being tainted with proven sign stealing. If the dodgers had a quarter for every time they lost championships to sign steal teams they’d have 75 cents which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened thrice.
And no I’m not salty it’s just funny that all three sign stealing scandals (those Giants, ASTROS, and RSox [whether or not they did in the WS they stole signs a lot]) have the Dodgers losing something big in common…
Kirk Gibson’s home run was a Roy Hobbs situation, but in real life. It also “won” the World Series in 1, the Dodgers were not going to be beaten after a moment like that, and they rolled.
It’s crazy to think that Gibson’s homer might now be underrated. He couldn’t run, he couldn’t get any drive out of his legs, and Dennis Eckersley was the best closer in baseball… by some margin.
That Braves question about the outfield causing them to finish in last place in the division is just embarrassing. Acuna, Albies, Riley, Swanson, Duvall, and Freeman are plenty capable of getting the job done. Plus, let’s assume Ozuna is back as well. They easily have the best offense in the East and a top tier offense in all of baseball.
Any new CBA the players agree to; a few years into it they will feel it’s blatantly tilted against them.
No one forced them to agree with the one that just expired.
An incompetent “leader” in Clarke isn’t doing them any favors.
Biff:
“Any new CBA the players agree to; a few years into it they will feel it’s blatantly tilted against them.”
That’s your opinion, but it’s not fact. And you could be completely wrong. Time will tell.
The baseball CBA is a one-of-a-kind document. The issues are complex and no one could predict how the specifics would factor one way or another. It’s also difficult to know how certain aspects could, or if they would be, manipulated.
Maybe the players felt there would be a good faith adherence to the spirit of the agreement, as opposed to the use of loopholes, and technical end runs, to subvert that spirit.
But whatever, any time an agreement like the CBA is instituted, no one knows exactly how fair. or tilted it is, until it’s use is applied.
You’re correct, no one forced them to agree with the last CBA, but they lived up to their word, and worked under that CBA despite their feelings. That agreement has now expired, and it’s absurd to think they should agree to extend what they feel is unfair, simply because they mistakenly agreed to the previous CBA.
Tad, I agree with you too. But then you could be completely wrong.
Most will agree that extending the expired CBA was not a good idea.
The players did live up to their word; but, boy did they complain.
There are things that need change, adjusted, added to, taken away.
Confidence is high, the player will complain about something; because the owners will work the loop holes.
Biff:
I could be completely wrong, except I never made a prediction that the players wouldn’t complain about the new CBA. What I said was “time will tell”.
My point in responding to you was I think we should keep an open mind, and not condemn the players for something they haven’t done yet.
He has a chat during an NFL playoff game!!??
How rude!
Who Dey!!!!!
When will then be now?
Tomorrow
I’m not sure Mark is right about Contreras. If the DH happens in the NL, I think the Cubs keep Contreras, Gomes takes the heavy workload off of Wilson’s shoulders and they can keep his bat in the line-up.
The Bobby Thompson homerun loses credit for being tainted with proven sign stealing. If the dodgers had a quarter for every time they lost championships to sign steal teams they’d have 75 cents which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened thrice.
And no I’m not salty it’s just funny that all three sign stealing scandals (those Giants, ASTROS, and RSox [whether or not they did in the WS they stole signs a lot]) have the Dodgers losing something big in common…
Kirk Gibson’s home run was a Roy Hobbs situation, but in real life. It also “won” the World Series in 1, the Dodgers were not going to be beaten after a moment like that, and they rolled.
It’s crazy to think that Gibson’s homer might now be underrated. He couldn’t run, he couldn’t get any drive out of his legs, and Dennis Eckersley was the best closer in baseball… by some margin.