Braves

[msstate7]

Do we have another great SS on the way?

http://m.chronicle.augusta.com/sport...play#gsc.tab=0

[msstate7]

Most career wins for pitchers under 25:

1. Teheran 31
2. Shelby miller 27
3. Henderson Alvarez

Mix in wood, fried, banuelos, wisler, Jenkins, folty, and wildcards like winkler and Sanchez... The future is bright guys

[msstate7]

Excellent series win. 8-4 (5-1 on road). Big series vs mets starting Tuesday. Really wanna see stults and Cahill step it up a notch

[BoomBoom]

The projections on prospect's ceilings are always strange. Unless you're a truly elite guy, like a Trout or a Strasburg, most will give you a ceiling of 'solid regular' or '#3 starter'. None of it really makes sense, especially since what constitutes a #3 starter varies.

How many #1's are there? #2's? Wiser has great potential and can be very, very good if he realizes it. That's all I need to know. Will he strike out 200+? Probably not. Will he go out and put up an ERA around 3 or below consistently in the majors? Nobody can tell me there's no chance of him doing that.

Ok, well the thing is he really doesnt have great potential. He is already pitching very intelligently, already maximizing his tools. Thats the point I've been trying to make, that there's no projection left in him. There's very little room for improvement, where with most prospects there's a ton of room for improvement.

[shoeless joe]

Excellent series win. 8-4 (5-1 on road). Big series vs mets starting Tuesday. Really wanna see stults and Cahill step it up a notch

When a team catches a 3 game series featuring Teheran, wood, and miller it is going to be hard to take 2 of 3 from atl. Hopefully the opposite won't turn out to be true with Cahill and stultz. I personally expect a marked improvement in Cahill this next outing.

[msstate7]

d'arnaud got beaned and broke bone in hand I think.

Blevins (rp) got hit with line drive. Broke forearm

Mets having some bad luck, but playing well

[War Machine Dawg]

Do we have another great SS on the way?

http://m.chronicle.augusta.com/sport...play#gsc.tab=0

Trade bait or a candidate to move to 2B/3B if he can hit would be my guess.

[msstate7]

Trade bait or a candidate to move to 2B/3B if he can hit would be my guess.

How long is Simmons locked up? This kid is only 18

[War Machine Dawg]

How long is Simmons locked up? This kid is only 18

Pretty good while, I think. He was one of the guys who got the big extensions from Wren.

[msstate7]

Pretty good while, I think. He was one of the guys who got the big extensions from Wren.

6 more years I think. I'd hold the kid as long as we can to see if Simmons will be around after that. I still think Simmons can be a .300 hitter. If he starts hitting that well with his glove, we might not be able to resign him

[smootness]

Ok, well the thing is he really doesnt have great potential. He is already pitching very intelligently, already maximizing his tools. Thats the point I've been trying to make, that there's no projection left in him. There's very little room for improvement, where with most prospects there's a ton of room for improvement.

First, this isn't really true. Wisler may have less projection than some other prospects, but he's still considered a high-end arm. There is definitely plenty of room for improvement from him.

Second, you pretty much won't find anyone in the lower levels of the minors who is projected to have a ceiling of a #1 starter by places like Fangraphs. It's fine to me if someone wants to say that their projection for them is a #3 starter or so (given the chance they won't hit their ceiling), but they consistently give pretty much everyone who isn't a huge prospect at the time of the draft a ceiling of a #3 or #4 starter at best.

Mike Minor was drafted 7th and was said to have the ceiling of a #4 or #5 starter when he was drafted. He has battled injuries, but when he was healthy and initially came up, he was already better than that. So obviously his ceiling was always higher than a 4/5 starter. That's my issue with this stuff.

Fangraphs would have said Greg Maddux had a ceiling of a spot starter because he didn't K 13 per 9 in the minors.

[smootness]

Just to support what I'm saying, Fangraphs currently lists the upside for both Lucas Giolito and Julio Urias (who are the two best pitching prospects in baseball currently) as a 2/3 starter. That's just dumb.

[War Machine Dawg]

6 more years I think. I'd hold the kid as long as we can to see if Simmons will be around after that. I still think Simmons can be a .300 hitter. If he starts hitting that well with his glove, we might not be able to resign him

You're crazy if you think Simmons will hit .300. I think he's a .285 absolute tops hitter. Probably more like .275. Hitting has always been his weakness, but he's such a defensive freak you're willing to live with it. If this kid in the minors is legit, he sounds like the kind of player you find a place for whether it's 2B, 3B, or OF. Putting him up the middle at 2B with Simba would be completely ridiculous.

[msstate7]

You're crazy if you think Simmons will hit .300. I think he's a .285 absolute tops hitter. Probably more like .275. Hitting has always been his weakness, but he's such a defensive freak you're willing to live with it. If this kid in the minors is legit, he sounds like the kind of player you find a place for whether it's 2B, 3B, or OF. Putting him up the middle at 2B with Simba would be completely ridiculous.

He may not hit .300, but he will get better. I really believe his avg will steadily rise as he matures and gains better pitch selection. He very rarely swings and misses. Once he figures out that he isn't a slugger, he's gonna steadily increase his avg. He won a batting title in the Carolina league as a minor leaguer.

[smootness]

Albies is a stud, but he's still probably at least 3 years away. By then we'll know what Peraza and Peterson are, so there's a chance Peraza sticks at 2B and you can use Albies as a trade piece to go get something legit. Or Peraza may be able to transition to CF if Peterson hits (though I'm not sure he will).

But with Albies' defense, he will have to play somewhere on the infield, and probably SS or 2B, to get max value for him.

[NeshobaChuck]

There's one thing I like about this team. And that is that they are scrappy!! It might not last long but they are fighting hard and proving they aren't going to be a pushover team since they've traded everybody and their momma away

[msstate7]

Mckirahan popped for PHD...
Mark Bowman @mlbbowman ? 16m 16 minutes ago
A source said McKirahan apologized to his teammates yesterday and informed them he had used a cream during Spring Training. #Braves

[msstate7]

The Braves have agreed to a Minor League pact with veteran right-hander Mitchell Boggs, tweets MLB.com?s Mark Bowman. The 31-year-old Boggs didn?t appear in the Majors last season and struggled greatly in 2013, but he was a reliable member of the Cardinals? bullpen prior to that. From 2010-12, Boggs, worked to a 3.08 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 52.3 percent ground-ball rate, averaging 63 appearances and 67 innings per season. Boggs had disastrous results in a 2014 season split between the Triple-A affiliates for the White Sox and Giants, posting an 8.29 ERA with more walks (26) than strikeouts (23) in 51 innings of work.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/0...ague-deal.html

[BoomBoom]

First, this isn't really true. Wisler may have less projection than some other prospects, but he's still considered a high-end arm. There is definitely plenty of room for improvement from him.

Second, you pretty much won't find anyone in the lower levels of the minors who is projected to have a ceiling of a #1 starter by places like Fangraphs. It's fine to me if someone wants to say that their projection for them is a #3 starter or so (given the chance they won't hit their ceiling), but they consistently give pretty much everyone who isn't a huge prospect at the time of the draft a ceiling of a #3 or #4 starter at best.

Mike Minor was drafted 7th and was said to have the ceiling of a #4 or #5 starter when he was drafted. He has battled injuries, but when he was healthy and initially came up, he was already better than that. So obviously his ceiling was always higher than a 4/5 starter. That's my issue with this stuff.

Fangraphs would have said Greg Maddux had a ceiling of a spot starter because he didn't K 13 per 9 in the minors.

of course there's some room for improvement, we've already covered that he has to improve against lefties. but most prospects don't know how to pitch yet. hell it takes until the 3rd or 4th year in the bigs for most pitchers to figure that out. and Wisler is mostly there already. there's no room for him to grow stronger, and very little for mental growth. you don't find a prospect with less room for projection than that, period.

plenty of prospects have a #1 ceiling, or #2:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...reatest-upside

sure, plenty have a #3 tag too, because that has great value.

Mike Minor actually surprised most scouts by adding velocity to his fastball while in the Minors. few college pitchers do that. that massively jumped his ceiling. and as we've seen from his injury history, he has to be 100% to be effective. that's the difference between a high-ceiling guy and a low one.

Maddux is just a ridiculous outlier. Clemens is a better analogy. he had a #1 ceiling, but he had to learn how to pitch to reach it. Wisler could come out of the gate with Clemens numbers, but he'll never reach sub-3 levels. Folty and Fried, while obviously not at Clemens' level, are a lot closer to that analogy than Wisler, who compares better to Mike Minor. He's a lock to be a better than average SP for years, which has value in the tens of millions of dollars, which makes him a top prospect, but he'll never sniff being an ace.

[BoomBoom]

Albies is a stud, but he's still probably at least 3 years away. By then we'll know what Peraza and Peterson are, so there's a chance Peraza sticks at 2B and you can use Albies as a trade piece to go get something legit. Or Peraza may be able to transition to CF if Peterson hits (though I'm not sure he will).

But with Albies' defense, he will have to play somewhere on the infield, and probably SS or 2B, to get max value for him.

3 years would be typical for an 18yr old in A ball, but the Andruw comparisons make me think shorter. regardless, unless they are down on Peraza for some reason, better to trade an 18 yr old that is blocked early rather than let him play his way out of value. i see him being packaged at the trade deadline with Grilli etc for prospects where we have more of a need (OF!).