11/15/15

MMs - The 2016 – The Atlanta Braves



Projected free agent losses from their 2016 squad will be P Ross Detwiler and C A.J. Pierzynski. 

There are only so many top players on this team right now and these are the only ones that I can project for the 25-man roster:

SP     Mike Minor – (2015: $5.6mil): 2016: ARB-3  
SP     Julio Teheran - $3.467mil
SP     Shelby Miller – (2015: $535K) – 2016: ARB-1
SP     
SP    
RP     Jason Grilli - $3.5mil
RP     Arodys Vizcaino – (2015: $507,500) – 2016: ARB-1
RP     Luis Avilan - $507,500
RP    
RP    
1B     Nick Swisher - $15mil
          Freddie Freeman - $12.359mil -
2B     Jace Peterson - $507,500
SS      Erick Aybar - $8.75mil
3B     Hector Oliveros - $8.667mil
OF       Michael Bourne - $15mil
OF     Cameron Maybin - $8.1mil
OF     Nick Markakis - $11mil
C       Christian Bethancourt - $507,500

Other top prospects that are projected to be a factor at some point in the 2016 season include P Tyrell Jenkins, P Manny Banuelos, and 3B Rio Ruiz.

There doesn’t seem to be enough meat here to warrant a playoff team in 2016.

The first problem is salary. As of today, only $68.869mil is committed to the 2016 team. This won’t hunt the dog.

Secondly, pitching, pitching, pitching.

I don’t expect the Braves to give up on either Minor or Miller in 2016, but they do both need to bounce back from an injury and a bad year. Relief wise, they will have to find new pitchers to replace the loss of both Edwin Jackson and Jim Johnson.

Starter wise, Matt Wisler finished strong in 2015, but I expect the Braves to sign, possibly, a couple of short term mid-rotation starters to shore up a young rotation. The two starter prospects obtained in the Andrelton Simmons deal, Chris Ellis and Sean Newcomb, are both on target to graduate to the majors in 2017

Observation – As I said earlier, there simply isn’t enough here to catch either the Mets or Nats. In fact, I don’t see them finishing above Miami. 

New management here seems to want to build their own version of this team and Braves fans are going to have to wait out their rebuilding plan like we did with Sandy Alderson.

I’ve got them still rebuilding, finishing fourth.

3 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Braves have luxury to be rebuilding after so many playoff years. We need to not be cheap, so we can have many playoff years.

Anonymous said...

What happened to Akeel Morris?

Tom Brennan said...

Morris finished the season strong in AA, sure he is getting ready for 2016.