The Royals have made their second deal of the past week, acquiring former top outfield prospect Drew Waters, minor league righty Andrew Hoffmann and minor league corner infielder CJ Alexander from the Braves in exchange for their Competitive Balance draft pick (No. 35 overall). Both teams have announced the trade.
The 15 selections in the two Competitive Balance rounds — Round A ranges from Nos.33-39, Round B from picks 67-74 — are the only picks eligible to be traded each year’s draft and can only be traded once (meaning the Braves cannot subsequently flip the pick to another team). The No. 35 pick that Atlanta is receiving comes with a slot value of $2,202,100, all of which will be added to the Braves’ league-allotted bonus pool of $8,022,200. That’ll bump the Braves from the 19th-largest draft pool to the 10th-largest (barring any additional trades).
The added pick and financial might will give the Braves some extra means of replenishing the farm after surrendering four prospects to acquire Matt Olson this offseason (to say nothing of the handful of trades made at each of the past few deadlines). Between those deals, low draft selections the past few years (due to strong regular-season performances) and the international free-agent penalties incurred by the former front office regime, the once-vaunted Braves farm system has taken a hit.
Waters, 23, ranked among the sport’s top-100 prospects from 2019-21 but has seen his stock fall precipitously in recent seasons as he’s struggled against Triple-A pitching. Waters is currently in his third season with Triple-A Gwinnett, but his .246/.305/.393 batting line isn’t an improvement over the pedestrian output he’s recorded there in both 2019 and 2021. Overall, in 788 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Waters is a .246/.324/.383 hitter. Those struggles are reflected in the fact that the former second-round pick, who was once seen as a key building block for the Braves organization, is now instead part of a three-player package that will net Atlanta a draft pick that’s just six places higher than Waters was selected a half-decade ago.
With Ronald Acuna Jr. and Michael Harris II set to hold down two-thirds of the Atlanta outfield for the future — plus veterans Eddie Rosario, Marcell Ozuna and Guillermo Heredia all signed or controlled beyond the current season, there wasn’t much immediate room for Waters to make an impact on the big league outfield anyhow. Braves fans might be disheartened when thinking about what Waters might’ve fetched in a trade had he been moved a year or two ago, but the team did manage to net some value for the former Futures Game participant.
From the Royals’ vantage point, the long-term outfield picture is far less certain, so there’s good reason to take a chance on getting Waters back on track. Kansas City has been working to put a winning product on the field for the past couple seasons, and while the results haven’t been there yet, Waters provides more immediate potential to help the team than whomever would have been tabbed with that No. 35 overall pick. Waters posted a huge .319/.366/.481 batting line in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting back in 2019, when he was one of the youngest players in the league. Baseball America and MLB.com both ranked him within the sport’s top 40 overall prospects in consecutive offseasons.
With Andrew Benintendi all but certain to be traded and center fielder Michael A. Taylor a candidate to go as well — he’s signed affordably through 2023 — the Royals will soon have some outfield vacancies. If veteran Whit Merrifield is finally moved at this year’s deadline, that’d represent another subtraction from the outfield corps.
The organizational hope has been that 25-year-old Kyle Isbel can claim a long-term spot in the outfield mix, but he’s currently hitting just .216/.248/.328. Twenty-six-year-old Edward Olivares has performed well in a much more limited role. Generally speaking, though, the Royals are thin on outfield prospects. College pitching has been a focus of their drafts during their recent rebuild, and while they have standout young options at shortstop/third base (Bobby Witt Jr.), catcher (MJ Melendez) and first base/designated hitter (Vinnie Pasquantino, Nick Pratto), there’s no ballyhooed outfielder knocking down the door to the Majors for the Royals at the moment. Waters, clearly, is something of a project, but he’ll give the Royals an immediate option to join that young core if he can indeed benefit from a change of scenery.
Also heading to the Royals are Hoffmann, a 22-year-old righty selected in the 12th round of last summer’s draft, and Alexander, a 25-year-old who’s shown power, speed and concerning on-base struggles while playing against younger competition in Double-A.
Hoffmann ranked 16th among Braves prospects at FanGraphs and 23rd at MLB.com, where scouting reports on the 6’5″ righty peg him as a high-probability back-of-the-rotation piece — a rather notable step forward for a player just a year removed from being selected so late in the draft. So far in 2022, Hoffmann has posted terrific numbers in Class-A, making 15 starts with a 2.36 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 46.3% ground-ball rate. Hoffmann’s fastball sits in the 91-93 mph range — below-average by today’s standards — and he relies heavily on above-average command to help mitigate the lack of a power primary offering.
Alexander, meanwhile, isn’t as highly regarded — as one would expect for a player who is in his third trip through Double-A despite the fact that he’ll turn 26 this month. A 20th-round pick in 2018, Alexander has dramatically reduced his strikeout rate in 2022, as it’s currently at 21.8% after sitting at 32% in 2019-21. He’s slugged 15 homers and gone 13-for-15 in stolen base attempts through 289 plate appearances this year, but Alexander has also walked at a meager 4.8% rate. Overall, his .258/.294/.465 isn’t particularly exciting, but he gives Kansas City yet another lefty corner infield bat, as he’s capable of playing first base as well.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the trade (Twitter links).
Whoa! ATL really did give up on this kid. Not surprised. Glad we got a re-do essentially in a comp balance pick.
Braves give up 3 prospects for the 35th pick in the draft? Which includes a well performing Hoffman. I think the Royals won this trade. I’m not sure which is more shocking the Cano trade yesterday or this.
It’s more about the slot money than anything else for the Braves. Even though these are players from separate drafts, since these are the only picks that can be traded, the Braves are essentially throwing in a 12th rounder and a 20th rounder to move up six slots from a previous draft.
Won this trade? Let’s see the Braves draft take, locate Doc and get into the Delorean, knock out Marty and take his Almanac, come back to reality and we’ll know a little bit more.
Cano will face off vs. his old foes for little money and could be an easy upgrade over Arcia/now-former Gosselin (who wasn’t hitting anything).
Run DMC….Cano an upgrade?
He could barely hit the ball out of the infield in SD.
Don’t let the inflated numbers at El Paso(where everyone hits) fool you into thinking he’s found the fountain of youth.
Gosselin was a 54 OPS+ and Arcia 64+ with a hot start. They obviously see something in Cano they may can exploit and hope for better results for no risk and nothing taken except picking his brain for a Mets series and see how much dirty laundry he’d like to air out.
It’s simply a risk free no brainer move.. they either catch lightning in a bottle with him or they can just release him like last 2 teams did and minimal salary lost
I definitely think it’s safe to say, that Ben Nintendo is going to be traded somewhere now.
Waters had zero value for the braves, they failed to develop him and time to get what they could. Hoffman should make the show but his ceiling right now is average. Braves did well. If KC can out develop them that will be impressive. Oakland hasn’t had much luck yet. Give me that pool money.
Crazy how they ‘failed to develop’ Pache & Waters while they’ve somehow managed to develop Harris II & Acuña Jr into the best outfield in all of baseball.
Hope the Royals play Drew, after all, still Waters run cold & freeze.
You need to polish up on the importance of slot value.
It’s Summer. There’s an influx of idiot kids here when the schools let out.
@daddyofdonny. Royals won a 4 prospect trade after only 1 day? That’s quite impressive.
Braves will be kicking themselves for years after hearing this verdict.
I think it’s hard to say that anyone won this trade. It seems to me with the timing that Atlanta might really want something in this draft and the extra 2 million is going to allow them to get it.
Help me RunDMC, I can’t find where I’m supposed to be. I’m keeping my screen name for spite.
You latched your wagon to the wrong horse. I’d suggest “MikeHarrisiii” or “C’mon&StrideIt”
No and no. SPITE lol. Naw, I was just really hoping he would come along. Is what it is. Can’t wait to see what AA magic does to the Draft in a few days. Didn’t realize it was so close. Does that pick put us near Kumar Rocker? Heard he’s expected to fall some, maybe to 35? If not who ya thinking?
I’d be surprised if they don’t take a college arm with a lot of upside that possibly has fallen stock due to injury, etc. Connor Prielipp (Bama), Cooper Hjerpe (OR St), Justin Campbell (OK St), Gabriel Hughes (Gonzaga), Blake Tidwell (Tennessee), but interesting if they’d now go OF Jordan Beck (Tennessee). Kumar goes before their first pick (10-19)…and not to the White Castle.
I don’t think Rocker is going 10-19. I think he slips to the comp rounds.
You’ve been lost for some time now sadly. Good news though, KC BBQ is pretty good 😉
They gave up on a lot of guys here.
Surely Waters’s value hasn’t fallen this far?
Yes it must have, and quit calling me Shirley!
Top 5 reply of all time
The guy just simply isn’t hitting enough in AAA to hold value. In nearly 800 PAs in AAA, he’s a sub-100 wRC+ hitter at that level. His skillset isn’t translating to much power or many stolen bases.
He’s an incredibly talented player, but he needs a change of scenery. Perhaps a different organization can unlock those tools.
I don’t think anyone is questioning trading him, it’s trading him AND two other minor leaguers for a comp round pick.
I wouldn’t get too caught up in quantity over quality.. Everyone knows Waters struggles and Alexander was a 26 year old 3B at AA still 2019. Hoffman was a nice like back of the rotation prospect but that’s not hard to come by. The 35th pick will be a better prospect than any of these guys.
If anything, I almost feel like the Royals are giving up too much. Whoever gets selected with that pick is almost certainly going to be more valuable than Waters is now, particularly when you factor in the fact whomever they draft won’t need a spot on the 40 man roster for years
Of course, I have to acknowledge that I know essentially nothing about the other two guys in the trade- from context I’m inferring Waters is the main piece.
Could be. Look what happened between the yankees and angels with texiera and trout you just never know
At this point Hoffman looks to have more war than Waters. I’d rather have the pick.
But why? We couldn’t trade him for a piece we might need later this season? His shine has definitely wore off but lord, what a huge give up for an extra pick smh
Probably, but that extra pick (and 2.2M slot money) is huge that most likely will alter who they pick with their 1st rd pick. ATL is really could about getting quality guys in later rounds (Strider was a 2020 4th rd pick). ATL has a really vulnerable farm system that AA is thinning out to try and bulk up by doing this. Trade from areas of strength for areas of need.
I think it is a win for the braves. A comp pick on average is a 45 fv prospect (usually rank 5-10 organizationally – 50 is low end top100 prospect) and waters has fallen to a 40 on fangraphs.
Yeah fans should be more excited about getting comp picks then a lower level prospect. The pick could be the lowest they can trade but it’s the slot money that teams want.
Like I get it, but I dont at the same time. Our minor league is depleted a good bit, yes. However, trading 3 decent enough minor leaguers, especially a pitcher that was rising fast and your #1 prospect at the moment for 1 future prospect doesn’t make a ton of sense. Does the bonus money really help since we generally get underslot value with our first couple round guys and overslot value with later rounds? Sure. But again, we are a competitive team now with a few question marks. The 3 guys we traded 100% could have been used for a player that has some team control. Maybe not a stud, but someone who could provide real value to our team today and next year. So I don’t fully understand this. Our farm will rebuild overtime. But we need to keep pushing at the top. Trading multiple prospects for 1 future prospect seems a bit illogical at face value
Atlanta looks for late round value in high upside players. Usually these players were going to go to college but atlanta temps them away by going overslot to them. Look at past drafts and you will see 2-3 a year done this way. They often save pool money by signing a underslot valued player early, typically a reach type pick. Ie a number 45 type pick signed at 20, player will get more bonus than expected but not the value of the number 20 pick. They also sign a number of college seniors each year for the minimum amount and between the savings have enough bonus allotment to sign players who other teams pass on because of salary demands or a college commitment. The extra bonus allotment they get from this pick will only boost their ability to rebuild the farm.
#breckdog; Take out the word “Atlanta” replace with “Baltimore”. Elias often employs this “underslot valued player” strategy. And typically it is college position players. Curious to see what he does in this year’s draft.
Must be for the slot money
yes! the pick is part of it, for sure. But the extra 2.2 Million in slot money will allow the Braves to be more aggressive in their draft. This trade will definitely affect the quality of players we draft.
Wow, and he had so much potential early on.
Interesting.
I know this isn’t a huge trade in terms of major leaguers being traded but trade season could be heating up after all
It’s the first sign that discussions are getting to a point where GMs have had their discussions and are finally ready to start making moves. Plus teams now have a better idea of where they are at in the postseason picture. Let the trading begin
I realize the value of the competitive balance pick, but man Drew Waters must have fallen out of favor quickly for him to be included in a multiplayer deal for one pick.
I would have thought that they’d waited and deal him for major league “now” help.
The farm is depleted, Waters is the top prospect in the system (Harris ineligible). He doesn’t deserve that position and if he’s already battling injuries and strikeout prone in AAA – and Harris/Acuna both fill 2 of the 3 OF slots, now you can fill that other externally (if not Rosario). This is a future move, not a now move (like Cano at 2B).
Mike Petriello just hit the nail on the head.
“I am not at all a prospect guy, so giant grain of salt here, but ATL knew to trade Pache (who isn’t a MLB hitter), keep Harris (who might be a star), & Waters has whiffed more than almost any successful MLB’er did in the minors. I trust them on outfielder evals here.”
Hard to argue with this. Not to mention pushing the right buttons via OF last summer. AA is doing great things in AA. That’s why seeing so many people freak out about Cano yesterday was crazy. People talking about they lost respect for AA. Dude delivered you a championship less than a year ago!
*great things in ATL
That sounded dirty for a second.
I mean, was keeping Harris over Pache such an unexpected move? Pache had already shown serious MLB struggles coming into 2022 and had a limited skillset.
It wasn’t too long ago that Pache was a top 25 prospect in baseball. So the Braves keeping Harris, who wasn’t an elite prospect, but not Pache or Waters is a bit surprising, hindsight not considered.
Harris wasn’t an elite prospect? he was in the top 100
He’s been considered an elite prospect for at least the last 2 years.
Again but you have to imagine they could’ve got more return
The Braves are getting a high draft pick for Waters. What impactful MLB player were they getting for a guy barely hitting 90 wRC+ in 800+ plate appearances in AAA?
The draft pick is arguably more valuable than any MLB player they’d receive.
Not arguably, is.
Drew’s value got “Watered” Down
Remember when Waters and Pache were untouchables?
Pepperidge farm remembers
Indeed.
That Hoffman kid looks to be having a really good year in Rome.
Yeah, I could understand tossing in CJ Alexander, but not Hoffman. I’m guessing Hoffman must have been the main one KC wanted included.
Updated — CJ Alexander is the 3rd person included. lol
Just saw Waters play in Nashville few weeks ago. Good fielder. Just promoted Harris, traded Pache, question our outfield depth in the organization now. Also, we are throwing in 2 other guys for the slot money. Hope it will be a good draft.
2 years ago we got a undersized P from Clemson in the 4th of 5 draft rounds, not too long after major arm surgery. Now, he’s dominating MLB with a killer mustache. ATL does a great job of having a complete draft strategy than trying to take the top signable talent and praying their development team doesn’t screw ’em up.
Water stock has plummeted since his top-100 days because of his high strikeout, low power approach. He was never going to get a chance in the Braves OF with Harris, Acuna and whatever other veteran we throw out there depending on the day. Gives the Braves a chance to restock the upper tier of prospects with essentially another first round pick and they add to their draft pool so they can be more aggressive with higher ranked prospects. Kansas City gets a potential starting OF if they can work with him on his approach. Gonna take 4-5 years to see how well this trade plays out
Harris was Atlanta’s only top-100 prospect after the Olson trade. The farm is incredibly barren. AA is trying to rebuild the top end. Good for him.
Should have resigned Freddie instead, but waters under the bridge…
Harris was a bridge over troubled Waters. Note AA did not draft Waters (2nd rd, 2017).
Because we did not re-sign FF, we now have more spending power minus some of the prospects. Considering ATL has the most C production of any MLB team between All-Stars d’Arnaud/Contreras, Langeliers would not helping the team that is much better than this time last year (when they won the WS with FF). FF’s happy despite the AS snub, ATL is happy with Olson.
2022 Contreras kind of came out of nowhere, and this level of performance might not be sustainable. I understand why AA did what he did, but it did leave the farm in the middle of a dust bowl.
His bat has never been the question. His glove is coming along with semi-regular MLB playing time and d’Arnaud’s help. The dust bowl of the farm is less on AA and more about the sanctions from Coppy-gate finally catching up. This is the first year without any sanctions and AA managed to win a WS despite it. Waters was a Coppy/Hart regime draft before he took over, so not surprising to see a GM filtering through prospects that he doesn’t really have an attachment to and haven’t developed. Just cleaning house.
The dust bowl was the result of several factors all hitting at once, mostly the Coppy debacle. I don’t blame AA at all.
You should have said; Freddie should have re-signed in Atlanta. AA did his job very well.
There’s plenty of blame to go around, including the lockout.
When Waters couldn’t get promoted over Pache, who couldn’t hit his weight and Harris jumped him from AA the writing was on the wall. This is getting something over nothing.
That’s right !
and people were throwing Waters as a main piece in every big trade. AA probably also asked about Bendi, but it didn’t go anywhere.
No… He asked about the comp pick and for a damn reason!
Braves fans made this guy and Pache sound as if they were the next Mike Trouts just two years ago. Now neither have panned out and are elsewhere.
well in 2018 and 2019 it looked as if they both would be capable starters in the majors with Pache being at least a .,250 hitter with gold glove defense. Noone could’ve predicted that they would just forget how to hit a baseball
Waters hit for .430 BABIP in 2019. I think MOST folks should have been able to figure out he wasn’t going to keep that up.
Nobody was saying they were Mike Trout. Pache was always described as Andruw Jones minus the power bat. I did see some people say Waters could be the next Christian Yelich, but even that was an outreach.
Pache could still turn out to be a .265/10HR gold glove center fielder, which is what he was always projected to be.
Waters would also turn out to be a .285/25 HR Left Fielder, although that seems unlikely now.
I still like Waters potential quite a bit. This trade is a little tough to stomach for me, but I get the reasons why it was made. And honestly maybe it’s better for Drew. For whatever reason it just wasn’t clicking with Atlanta… and maybe KC can unlock that potential.
I think he fits what KC likes in players. I could see him .260ish average, 15-18HRs and 20-25 SB type. Not a superstar, but not without value.
you can trade picks???
Only comp balance picks
As a Royals fan, really like this from a Hoffman standpoint, and hoping that the new hitting coach crew in KC sees something they can unlock in Waters… a change of scenery/lottery ticket if there ever was one.
The biggest hope that Waters has, is that this woke him up enough to realize that his star isn’t shining as brightly as some once said it was. Perhaps it will be enough motivation for him to change his approach. If so then he wouldn’t be the first former braves farmhand to make it to the bigs after being “given up on” by the braves organization.
The Michael Harris 2 promotion was a wake up call for him. Nothing says uh oh like getting skipped over by a guy a level below you. Being dealt doesn’t necessarily mean that an organization gives up on a player. The Royals may have targeted Waters as a viable replacement for Beni and insisted he be the centerpiece of the deal. Alexander certainly wasn’t, and Hoffman was probably the “sweetener.” If any of the 3 were given up on by the Braves, it was CJ. Countless players have “made it to the bigs” after being dealt from their original organization. Not exclusive to the Braves.
Royals love toolsy guys who are underperforming. KC needs 3B, and can’t develop pitching, so 3 targeted dart throws for a comp pick. Like one of the Braves fans noted we won’t know about this for a couple of years at least
Reports are that PIT rejected “tempting” offers for both Reynolds and Bednar. Makes me wonder if AA was one of those offers with Waters plus PLUS that got rejected. I’d think Waters, Muller and more for Reynolds, though they can get a lot from most teams. After the rejection, trades Waters for comp pick for upcoming draft and we’ll look elsewhere.
It was MIL
Cody Milligan may get a look this season
The front office must have a player that they really really like in this draft and are confident they can get him. Let’s just hope last season amazing trade deadline work doesn’t go to the braves front office officials heads to where they make some really bone headed decisions. Braves def need to start refilling the farm system and Waters wasn’t apart of the future plan
Getting ready to be Benetendi’s replacement.
Are the Braves going to have a rule 5 crunch this off season and this is part of the reason for the trade?
That’s also another reason to trade Waters. They probably want to protect other players and maybe pick up a rule 5 player or 2
I def think that’s why they jettisoned Touki and CJ Alexander. Hoffman was a wild card making Waters/Alexander more enticing.
This is all about adding extra money so Bravescan overpay someone they hope drops in the draft. For Royals, they are happy to get cheap prospects and avoid paying new picks. Is it any wonder they suck?
Ok news to me when did they start to let teams trade draft picks?
Sometime in the last decade. Only competitive balance picks. Rays made a few more known trades involving the them Meadows Arozarena.
Austin Riley was a CB pick.
Hopefully the Royals don’t ruin Hoffman like all their other pitching prospects.
Makes sense from a Braves perspective.
I also like that it clears a 40-man spot with the deadline looming.
Seems like Atlanta gave up a lot for a draft pick
@rolandveras, me too, seems like a lot to give up. But then again, prioritizing getting Olson over resigning Freddy was even more of a head scratcher. An observation. The Braves are part of Liberty Media’s business portfolio. IE it’s not an extra circular activity to play around with outside of the owners wealth accomplishments. They NEED to make money. How? Winning, it puts fannys in seats. LM has bought in to the strategies that the management staff they hired, employs … and they do not meddle. It looks like so far so good for LM. WS champs last year, getting ready to overtake the Mets this year and by the looks of this story, definitely addressing the future as well.
Well this didn’t age well. Mets took 2 of 3 without two of their all star hitters.
How you like them apples?
The ATL extra cash will help them convince a HS prospect that is already committed to a top school to sign in that 3-4th round level.
That was AJ Smith-Shawver in 2021 – and he’s already looking the part. 2020’s mini-draft, it was Texas’ Bryce Elder and Clemson’s Spencer Strider.
That’s what this trade is about. Most people only think that it’s Waters for 1 draft pick. But it will actually get the Braves 2, maybe 3 promising prospects that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten (one would be whoever they pick #35 plus one or two other prospects they can pry away from college commitments)
The Royals have another Bubba now. Hope they do better this time.
I had nothing to do with those international free-agent penalties!!!!
I really wanted the Rangers to do this…
Royals got hosed in this deal. Brilliant trade for the Braves.
no they didn’t. They get a player close to what they would get with the pick, plus other lottery tickets.
Good trade for both sides
Uh if the idea is to replenish the system they would have been better served keeping the pick
Braves desperation. Ya love to see it.
Lol what
I think you’re in the wrong chat. This might make sense in the Cano article
Nothing that poor little troll says makes sense. He’s whimpering because the Mets are in the early stages of their annual collapse.
I’m not sure you understand what the word “desperation” means.
Anytime I would think about doing a trade with AA, I would check to see if I still had my wallet in my pocket. He simply doesn’t come out on the short end of many deals. Plain and simple.
Sure, Waters’ stock has dropped, but given how often draft picks fail, I still feel like he has just as good a chance of success as the #35 pick, if not better.
True, but this trade has more to do with getting the extra slot money than just the pick alone.
The extra slot money will be used to entice High School players away from College commitments in the 3rd and 4th rounds.
Cano gets to ATL and in the lineup batting 9th.
It doesn’t matter as neither the Braves nor Royals will win another World Series. Both franchises are a thing of the past
Bitter Pirates fan?
Probably a bitter Mets fan. He might be another you can put it in the books alternate troll account. He can’t post enough angry little troll comments about the Braves. Books is the Met’s angriest little troll of them all.
Waters doesn’t look like much anymore…since 2021 nothing stands out.
Hoffman looks to at least have a chance to be servicable.
The other guy wow…didn’t even start for his college team and when he did play he hit under .200 although he has improved from those days…but nothing looks like mlb material would need a drastic change.
Again they gave up a #35 pick in MLB it could easily be a bust, so Braves just wants $$$$ on this.
The conversation here is exactly why the MLB should allow the trading of draft picks. You’ll have a ton of action. Some GMs will be dealing away 2nd rounders for the next five years. Some will deal away their #1 from 2023, only to find out it is going to be the overall #4 pick.
And, as a RS fan, I hate to say this, but TB will be collecting picks like they were trading baseball cards.
Trading picks would be awesome. It would shorten the length of tank/rebuilds and help the small market teams remain competitive.
Just another stellar move by 20% Moore. Bring all 3 up to the Majors now and let Mathenaloser and staff ruin any chance they have of being marginal players
Drew gets a clearer shot at playing in the majors with KC , Hoffman has a chance to be in a rotation but is a few years away at best .
The Braves will probably draft another pitcher with the pick. Clears out some guys in the minors for the Braves , time will tell if this mattered or not.
I trust AA. This team has really no holes. There 7-9 hitters are better than most middle of the line ups
yup
Where were the tigers?
Dominant performance by the Mets despite missing two of their best hitters.
All you whiny Braves fans got to see what it’s like to actually play a good team for the first time in a month…
Fried came up small and old man Snickers with the questionable 9th inning decision to not play the infield in.
4-1 is a dominant performance when the score was 2-1 in the seventh inning?
And what are you talking about — “what it’s like to actually play a good team for the first time in a month”?
They played a four-game set last week against the second-place Cardinals who own a Wild Card berth and a .528 W-L%.
Did you like your 4-1 beat down in the second game of the series books? Whine on angriest little Met troll, whine on. Braves fans will “pour one out” for you as your Mets continue to fade away in the summer heat. Btw, thought it was poor form to cry about injuries. I haven’t seen any Braves fans on here belittling the Mets injuries, It seems to be a focal point of your trolling.
KC missed the curve for trading Merrifield.
Funny how tonight’s game basically confirmed everything I’ve said about the Mets.
1. Luck – bloops and soft hits all game
2. Umps – umps once again gave the Mets a close call. Pretty crazy if you actually been following the Mets. They get almost everything
The fact that the Braves are just superior to the Mets but still cannot defeat them is incredibly aggravating. The baseball gods want the Mets to win the division, I’m telling you. All season long, everything has gone their way.
You take homerism to another level.
Seriously, man — try this experiment: rewrite your comment replacing “Mets” with “Braves” and vice versa and imagine it was posted by a Mets fan. What would you think of that fan?
except the umps never help the Braves nor do the Braves make soft contact like the Mets. I’m the last thing to being a homer – I’m more critical of the Braves than many. However, you will never convince me the Mets are better on paper – because they are not. Too bad the games are not played on paper – actually never mind I said that. In that case, the Braves would have lost in the playoffs last season.
Relax. Braves split the first series in NY 2-2. They’re even up in Atlanta now w/13 more games between the two this season. Too much baseball left to be griping that the Braves “still cannot defeat them.” Baseballs bounce funny ways. That soft contact stuff should even out. Just enjoy the Braves crushing more homers than the power bereft Mets will this year. It’s going to make a difference. Chill.
Royals also trying to add Deer Park Waters to their clubhouse !!
Interesting deal, but AA probably has bigger fish on his radar. That draft pick is pretty valuable.
The Royals Drew Waters from the Braves. Kinda poetic, that.
What’s the odd Rocker falls to Braves? Whether their first pick or this pick? Really steam the Mets!!! Nowadays all pitchers are going to battle injury. He is proven winner. BIG chip on shoulder. And a true wild card in draft. I’m glad to see Braves has two high picks to get talent. Money Mike makes all this happen TBH and with $$ and pick this betters the team vs. trade value in upcoming deadline.
Chip on shoulder and in the shoulder hopefully healed. Lawd