I’m surprised that Tom Brennan didn’t take the Braves when we were
deciding which Mack’s Mets writer would preview which team in baseball. Tom has
taken over here as the leader of the minor league weenies on MM’s and Baseball
America did name the Braves as the top minor league currently in baseball.
No one has a more talented pipeline
right now. John Sickles of Minor League Ball has
nine Braves guppies ranked a t a B+ of better level. Three, SS Dansby Swanson,
2B Ozzie Albies, and LHP Sean Newcomb are ready to hit Atlanta at some time
this season.
First, some housework -
The Braves have been dumping off some
dead wood lately… RHP Blaine Boyer, LHP Matt Marksberry, and LHP John
Danks were let go this month.
Major League Signings were SP Bartolo Colon (1-yr, $12.5mil), IF Sean Rodriguez (2-yrs, $$11mil), SP R.A. Dickey (1-yr, $8mil), and C Kurt Suzuki (1-yr, $1.5mil). Extensions were given to
OF Ender Inciarte (6-yrs, $30.525mil) and RP Jim Johnson (2-yrs, $10mil).
The 25-man looks to be almost complete,
but could change if there is a last minute deal LHP Jose
Quintana, OF Matt Szczur, or UT Kelly Johnson.
1B – Freddie
Freeman –
Freeman
has five years left on a $135mil contract that ends at the ends with a team
option in 2022. He’s only going to be 27 this season so there’s a good chance
he could be around for the length of this contract.
2B – Brandon
Phillips (acquired from Reds in exchange for RP Andrew
McKirahan, and RP Carlos Portuondo)
The
future here is 20-yr. old Ozzie Albies, who John
Sickles has graded out at the A- level. He will be ready for the 2018 season.
Phillips becomes a free agent at the end of tis season which will make way for
Albies.
SS – Dansby
Swanson –
Swanson
is odds on favorite for National League Rookie Of The Year and should be the
Braves shortstop for many years to come, but of course that’s what we said
about Andrelton Simmons a few years ago. The
Braves do have a way of moving their chess pieces around, but I think Swanson
is the real thing and will stick with the Braves.
3B – Adonis
Garcia –
The
Cuba born, 5-9 Garcia was a pleasant surprise last season (.273, 14-HR) for the
Braves, but he will play this season at the age of 32. Austin
Riley might be the future here, but he won’t be ready until 2020. For
now, 2017, Garcia will do. He will be under team control until he’s 37.
UTIF – Chase
d’Arnaud, Jace Peterson
D’Arnaud
is your perfect utility player since he plays all outfield and infield
positions, but he could be a late scratch if the Braves re-sign Kelly Johnson. Peterson came to the Braves, with
pitcher Max Fried, for outfielder Justin Upton, and he was supposed to be the everyday second
baseman for a long time, but that was before Phillips was traded for. He was an
ex-1st round pick who, like d’Arnaud. Can play a lot of positions.
His weakness has turned out to be his bat (2015: .239, 2016: .254).
LF – Matt Kemp
–
You
have to wonder if the Braves still want this guy around at this point of his
career. The 32-year old Kemp has three more years (2017-2019) on his $21.75mil per year contract and, though he is
still producing at a competitive level (2016: 35-HR, 108-RBI combined with the
Braves and San Diego), this is usually the time the Braves get itchy and start
rebuilding for the sixth time this decade.
The
future here is probably speedster Ronald Acuna,
who has an ETA of 2020.
CF – Ender
Inciarte –
Inciarte
is one of the guys that the Braves consider as part of the future, which
is why they signed him to a 5-year contract through 2021 (plus 2022 team option).
He will play 2017 as a 26-year old.
RF – Nick
Markakis
Markakis
came from the Orioles after the 2014 season and signed a team friendly four year
(2015-2018) $44mil deal. Pulled his weight in 2016 (.269, 13-HR, 89-RBI), as
I’m sure he will do this season.
Future
wise, there really is only one B+ prospect (Acuna) in the outfield and both
corner positions will be aging over the next two seasons. No rush here because
they have much bigger (pitching) fish to fry.
UTOF – Emilio
Bonifacio
C – Tyler
Flowers, Kurt Suzuki
The
Braves are going to attempt to play a Flowers-Suzuki combo behind the plate
this season. All attempts, if any, to bring in a heavy weight like Wilson Ramos or Matt Wieters simply
didn’t happen. There’s no one in the pipeline… at all… so, this is a weakness
for the team, both presently and in the future.
Rotation - Julio
Teheran, Bartolo Colon, Jaime Garcia, R.A. Dickey and Mike
Foltynewicz –
The
Braves projected rotation is formidable. The future here, Sean Newcomb, will play most of the 2017 season at the
AAA level. The wild card is LHP Max Fried, who
returned last year from TJS surgery. I don’t expect Fried to be seen in Atlanta
until late 2018.
Bullpen – Jim
Johnson, Arodys Vizcaino, Ian Krol, Paco Rodrigues, Jose Ramirez
Mauricio Cabrera (right elbow discomfort) and Armondo Rivera (right shoulder discomfort) will start
the season on the disabled list.
The
Braves are still rebuilding, while, at the same time, bringing in short term
veterans like Dickey and Colon to fill 2017 needs until the guppies mature. I like
the direction this team is going and they could be a real factor in 2018 or
2019, but you always have to be ready for them to trade off half the team each
year.
I’ve
got them finishing 4th in 2017 in the NL East, ahead of the hapless
Phillies.
6 comments:
I did glance at some of the Braves' spring performers today - Freddie Freeman is hitting .500 (SCARY FOR US) and oldies RA Dickey and Big Bart have surrendered a run an inning this spring (SCARY FOR BRAVES).
9a lot of work for only one comment...)
I have the Mets, Nats, Braves, Phillies and Marlins. The Phillies' staff is mediocre. The Marlins is awful.
I think the East is a 2 team race, Mets and Nats. Florida lost Fernandez, impossible to replace, Braves' staff is shaky, and Phils are rebuilding.
Nats' Trea Turner scares me - he was better in the bigs than AAA as he split season, and in 156 total games, 36 doubles, 16 triples, 19 homers, 114 runs, and 57 of 65 steals, hitting .342 in his 73 big league games. Nats could have 3 offensive Superstars (capital S)this year. That is tough to beat.
But, but, but...we have David Wright. He'll bring us to the promised land, or so sayeth the Mets front office.
I agree with Reese that I see the Braves being the 3rd best team in the division, Just ahead of the Marlins, with a 79-83 record.
I really like what they have done the past 12 months.....basically blowing the whole thing up and then plucking unwanted players (That are still good) from other teams.
Did you realize that Matt Kemp was a Top 85 MLB player last year in Runs Created with 35 HR and 108 RBI? That was better than Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Justin Upton, Todd Frazier, Adam Jones, and many others.
The Reds were so eager to get rid of Brandon Phillips...yet the man posted a .291 AVG (8th amongst all MLB 2B) and only K'd in 11.6% of his plate appearances. A mark only bested by Altuve, Murphy, and Pedroia.
The rotation is still in rough shape....Colon and Dickey are nice....but at this stage in their careers they are there to be teachers for Foltynewicz Blair, and Newcomb...not standout performers.
This team has a few pieces, is definitely better than some of the pure rebuild teams in the NL, and they'll definitely be a scrappy enough bunch to steal a few games from contenders.
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