Braves

[msstate7]

Good thing we sent Swanson down or it might have cost us some games.

On the bright side though, snit won't be back and we won't go buy some players thinking we're contenders

[Commercecomet24]

Yeah was hoping for a .500 season but this ones getting away fast. Only thing left is to see the younguns on September.

[shoeless joe]

You are the poster child for watching games does NOT equal knowledge.

Problem with this team is and has been bullpen all year. Not snitker. I've been really happy with the job he's done. Swanson has been well below expectations on both sides and FF missed a month and a half. Young pitchers are still learning on this level. All that said, if Johnson didn't have 9 blown saves it's a totally different look. If the other pen guys didn't allow the opponents to constantly tack on runs, again this year looks totally different.

Offense has been good enough most of the time and starters haven't been terrible minus colon. I guess you think a team has to be over .500 or else the manager is garbage...oh that's right, you think the manager is garbage no matter what.

[Liverpooldawg]

You are the poster child for watching games does NOT equal knowledge.

Problem with this team is and has been bullpen all year. Not snitker. I've been really happy with the job he's done. Swanson has been well below expectations on both sides and FF missed a month and a half. Young pitchers are still learning on this level. All that said, if Johnson didn't have 9 blown saves it's a totally different look. If the other pen guys didn't allow the opponents to constantly tack on runs, again this year looks totally different.

Offense has been good enough most of the time and starters haven't been terrible minus colon. I guess you think a team has to be over .500 or else the manager is garbage...oh that's right, you think the manager is garbage no matter what.

Agree, the bullpen just stinks.

[Commercecomet24]

The bullpen is a Triple A bullpen at best, not good at all. To many blown games. FF going down hurt bad and Kemp hurt again now. They've fought hard but just can't preserve leads.

[parabrave]

Snik has done a good job with what he has. Our entire pitching staff is a joke. We got folty and thats it. I know alot of yall love Terhan but he would be a 4th or 5th starter on most team. Dickey had a great run but you don't know what you are going to get every game from him. Newcombe, hopefully he doesn't get shellshock from this year. The thing that has helped the braves this year is the emergence of Matt Adams and Camargo. The future of this team is in Gwinett and Jackson.

[parabrave]

And one other thing. Hey scheurholtz how about thanking Ted Turner next time.

[msstate7]

You are the poster child for watching games does NOT equal knowledge.

Problem with this team is and has been bullpen all year. Not snitker. I've been really happy with the job he's done. Swanson has been well below expectations on both sides and FF missed a month and a half. Young pitchers are still learning on this level. All that said, if Johnson didn't have 9 blown saves it's a totally different look. If the other pen guys didn't allow the opponents to constantly tack on runs, again this year looks totally different.

Offense has been good enough most of the time and starters haven't been terrible minus colon. I guess you think a team has to be over .500 or else the manager is garbage...oh that's right, you think the manager is garbage no matter what.

Ok.

The bullpen was a strength of this team for much of the year until snit's "game 7" approach wore them down. JJ does have a ton of blown saves... there a rule I'm not aware of that says JJ has to be closer over Viz and Ramirez? Both have much better numbers

Swanson's June (.306/.355/.418 7.5% bb, 16.8% k) was good, but quickly got sat after a few games in July. Why in the world would you not wanna develop your young ss in a throw away year? Now camargo's numbers are plunging like they always were going to. Camargo is a lifetime .600s ops.

ETA... snit continued to play Kemp when it obvious he wasn't right. Kemp's WAR plunged by -1.0 in 2 weeks. Has snit ever defensive subbed kemp or markakis late in a game even though both are horrible?

[smootness]

And one other thing. Hey scheurholtz how about thanking Ted Turner next time.

I'll never understand why people watch those speeches trying to keep track of who someone did and did not thank. It's his HOF speech, he can do whatever he wants.

[MetEdDawg]

You are the poster child for watching games does NOT equal knowledge.

Problem with this team is and has been bullpen all year. Not snitker. I've been really happy with the job he's done. Swanson has been well below expectations on both sides and FF missed a month and a half. Young pitchers are still learning on this level. All that said, if Johnson didn't have 9 blown saves it's a totally different look. If the other pen guys didn't allow the opponents to constantly tack on runs, again this year looks totally different.

Offense has been good enough most of the time and starters haven't been terrible minus colon. I guess you think a team has to be over .500 or else the manager is garbage...oh that's right, you think the manager is garbage no matter what.

I agree the bullpen sucks and I was pissed at Snitker after he gave Johnson the vote of confidence after the game last night. But then he trotted him out in the 8th today and knew he realized a change was necessary. Johnson and Colon by themselves have cost us 8-10 games (I know it's more but obviously blown saves are part of the game so I figure somewhere between 4-6 for Johnson would be reasonable.

I still think minus those two guys, this team was ready to compete, but I'm not sure Snitker or the organization were prepared to still have meaningful games being played in July.

[BoomBoom]

Good thing we sent Swanson down or it might have cost us some games.

On the bright side though, snit won't be back and we won't go buy some players thinking we're contenders

the hard part of a rebuild based around pitching prospects, is it takes most pitchers 3 years in the big leagues to reach their potential. look at Folty. so we're counting on Newcomb, Allard, and Soroka to carry this team......and they likely won't be fully ready until 2021. i'm fine with that though, it will be like Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz again. but we gotta be patient.

[shoeless joe]

Ok.

The bullpen was a strength of this team for much of the year until snit's "game 7" approach wore them down. JJ does have a ton of blown saves... there a rule I'm not aware of that says JJ has to be closer over Viz and Ramirez? Both have much better numbers

Swanson's June (.306/.355/.418 7.5% bb, 16.8% k) was good, but quickly got sat after a few games in July. Why in the world would you not wanna develop your young ss in a throw away year? Now camargo's numbers are plunging like they always were going to. Camargo is a lifetime .600s ops.

ETA... snit continued to play Kemp when it obvious he wasn't right. Kemp's WAR plunged by -1.0 in 2 weeks. Has snit ever defensive subbed kemp or markakis late in a game even though both are horrible?

Game 7 approach? Trying to win every game?? Damn snit is dumb...

I recall a game earlier in the year when he gave JJ a rest and the save was blown and braves lost.

As for Swanson he needed to go down for defense if nothing else. I could handle him struggling at the plate if he was still flashing leather...but he wasn't. And the young and struggling pitchers need solid D behind them badly.

Another note...as much as flowers is having a good year at the plate his receiving and defense have cost the braves badly. If I'd do anything different I'd let Suzuki get a majority of starts until he slumps. I have yet to see an MLB catcher receive and present pitches worse than flowers.

[MetEdDawg]

the hard part of a rebuild based around pitching prospects, is it takes most pitchers 3 years in the big leagues to reach their potential. look at Folty. so we're counting on Newcomb, Allard, and Soroka to carry this team......and they likely won't be fully ready until 2021. i'm fine with that though, it will be like Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz again. but we gotta be patient.

Folty still has a lot of work left to do and he's still able to be pretty dominant. Too many walks, especially to leadoff hitters and after strikeouts. He's unable to carry momentum and that runs his pitch count up. If he can find some consistency batter to batter, he could be a Top 10 pitcher in the majors.

Now to the patience part. We have monetary flexibility to not have to be patient and create our own momentum as a club without having to drain the minors of talent. We need bullpen help. We've got a few arms on the roster now that could be a closer I think. Freeman is better than Johnson and a lot of contending teams have dominant lefties that we will be seeing for quite some time. I think Morris has better stuff and the potential to be that guy. Then you have Vizcaino too when he's fully healthy. But we do have a couple of minor league arms that are close, and in the bullpen, you don't need as much seasoning as starters do.

Now with starters I agree. We will have to wait a long time to do this if we wait on our minor league guys to hit their stride. Folty and Newcomb are mainstays. Teheran is up and down but I'm guessing he stays. But we have the money to go get a really good starter. Why would we not do that if we can keep some of the big guns like Acuna and most of our starting pitching? Albeis is expendable with Camargo's emergence. Is Albeis really the key to our future? No he's not. Point is, if we can give up a reasonable ask for a solid SP with longer term control, why would we not do that right now?

Flowers is good enough and his power will come. People forget he's hitting .301 with an OBP nearly .400 in 70 games. Inciarte, Markakis, and Freeman are a good enough 3 to get us there. Add another OF or 3B (dump Rodriguez and Adams), and continue with Camargo, and hopefully Dansby is ready by next year. That lineup could be good enough to make noise in the East, especially if we add that solid RH bat and a quality starting pitcher.

[MetEdDawg]

Game 7 approach? Trying to win every game?? Damn snit is dumb...

I recall a game earlier in the year when he gave JJ a rest and the save was blown and braves lost.

As for Swanson he needed to go down for defense if nothing else. I could handle him struggling at the plate if he was still flashing leather...but he wasn't. And the young and struggling pitchers need solid D behind them badly.

Another note...as much as flowers is having a good year at the plate his receiving and defense have cost the braves badly. If I'd do anything different I'd let Suzuki get a majority of starts until he slumps. I have yet to see an MLB catcher receive and present pitches worse than flowers.

His receiving? He's got the most called strikes out of the zone in all of baseball at 9%. His arm isn't great but let's not act like his receiving is bad. I don't really like the way he catches balls but you can't say it's a weakness. His arm is what sucks. And he's a .300 through 70 games played. There are 2 catchers with more than 200 at bats (Flowers has 229) that have a higher batting average than him.

[BoomBoom]

Folty still has a lot of work left to do and he's still able to be pretty dominant. Too many walks, especially to leadoff hitters and after strikeouts. He's unable to carry momentum and that runs his pitch count up. If he can find some consistency batter to batter, he could be a Top 10 pitcher in the majors.

Now to the patience part. We have monetary flexibility to not have to be patient and create our own momentum as a club without having to drain the minors of talent. We need bullpen help. We've got a few arms on the roster now that could be a closer I think. Freeman is better than Johnson and a lot of contending teams have dominant lefties that we will be seeing for quite some time. I think Morris has better stuff and the potential to be that guy. Then you have Vizcaino too when he's fully healthy. But we do have a couple of minor league arms that are close, and in the bullpen, you don't need as much seasoning as starters do.

Now with starters I agree. We will have to wait a long time to do this if we wait on our minor league guys to hit their stride. Folty and Newcomb are mainstays. Teheran is up and down but I'm guessing he stays. But we have the money to go get a really good starter. Why would we not do that if we can keep some of the big guns like Acuna and most of our starting pitching? Albeis is expendable with Camargo's emergence. Is Albeis really the key to our future? No he's not. Point is, if we can give up a reasonable ask for a solid SP with longer term control, why would we not do that right now?

Flowers is good enough and his power will come. People forget he's hitting .301 with an OBP nearly .400 in 70 games. Inciarte, Markakis, and Freeman are a good enough 3 to get us there. Add another OF or 3B (dump Rodriguez and Adams), and continue with Camargo, and hopefully Dansby is ready by next year. That lineup could be good enough to make noise in the East, especially if we add that solid RH bat and a quality starting pitcher.

the bullpen will be fine next year. they intentionally didn't spend $ or prospects there this year, that will change next year. Carmargo is no Albies, if we give the latter up because the former has had a hot couple of months, then we don't deserve a championship. we'll dump one of Kemp or Markakis in the offseason, and call up Acuna, hopefully after 2 weeks so as to keep him an extra year, but at this rate they may call him up now with Kemp hurt.

[MetEdDawg]

the bullpen will be fine next year. they intentionally didn't spend $ or prospects there this year, that will change next year. Carmargo is no Albies, if we give the latter up because the former has had a hot couple of months, then we don't deserve a championship. we'll dump one of Kemp or Markakis in the offseason, and call up Acuna, hopefully after 2 weeks so as to keep him an extra year, but at this rate they may call him up now with Kemp hurt.

I figure Kemp is gone. Would love to keep Markakis. I like his leadership and his attitude. Selfless and does his job. I figure Acuna would be up at some point, but I also think his time in the majors depends on how the OF shakes out. If both Kemp and Markakis go, I figure Acuna is a shoe in to start in the OF in 2018. If only ones goes he may platoon to start out. But I think we need to spend money on another RH bat. We have to have another power RH in the lineup. Assuming Adams goes, 3B is the most likely spot, especially if we keep one of Kemp and Markakis.

We've got to make 3 trades for next year. Need a quality starter long term, need a RH bat (don't mind if it's long term because I think Acuna and Riley will be ready by 2020 so a 1-2 year guy would be ok with me), and we need at least one bullpen guy. I like Freeman, Vizcaino, and Morris. Gonna have to have a couple more there to be good enough to compete.

[BoomBoom]

I figure Kemp is gone. Would love to keep Markakis. I like his leadership and his attitude. Selfless and does his job. I figure Acuna would be up at some point, but I also think his time in the majors depends on how the OF shakes out. If both Kemp and Markakis go, I figure Acuna is a shoe in to start in the OF in 2018. If only ones goes he may platoon to start out. But I think we need to spend money on another RH bat. We have to have another power RH in the lineup. Assuming Adams goes, 3B is the most likely spot, especially if we keep one of Kemp and Markakis.

We've got to make 3 trades for next year. Need a quality starter long term, need a RH bat (don't mind if it's long term because I think Acuna and Riley will be ready by 2020 so a 1-2 year guy would be ok with me), and we need at least one bullpen guy. I like Freeman, Vizcaino, and Morris. Gonna have to have a couple more there to be good enough to compete.

it's a tough choice, and i doubt they've made it yet. Kemp has the much higher ceiling, if he can be anywhere close to it then he stays unless a real good trade offer comes in. Markakis is pretty bad at this point. definition of an empty average, with bad defense to boot. but Markakis only has one year left on his contract, whereas Kemp has two. it will be a lot easier to offload Markakis in the offseason. but Kemp has looked terrible for the past month or so, and is hurt again. if Acuna wasn't killing AAA already then it would make sense to keep both and call up Acuna for the inevitable Kemp DL stints, but Acuna looks ready now.

[MetEdDawg]

it's a tough choice, and i doubt they've made it yet. Kemp has the much higher ceiling, if he can be anywhere close to it then he stays unless a real good trade offer comes in. Markakis is pretty bad at this point. definition of an empty average, with bad defense to boot. but Markakis only has one year left on his contract, whereas Kemp has two. it will be a lot easier to offload Markakis in the offseason. but Kemp has looked terrible for the past month or so, and is hurt again. if Acuna wasn't killing AAA already then it would make sense to keep both and call up Acuna for the inevitable Kemp DL stints, but Acuna looks ready now.

I mean Acuna has to make the 40 man right? There's 3 on it currently that are on the 60 day DL. I would think Acuna would get his shot in September.

[BoomBoom]

I mean Acuna has to make the 40 man right? There's 3 on it currently that are on the 60 day DL. I would think Acuna would get his shot in September.

meh, easy to drop someone off the 40 man. Cut one of the god awful relievers. i don't even know who Enrique Burgos is.

[msstate7]

You could have a very expensive LF platoon in kemp and Markakis