Braves

[msstate7]

Looks like gattis is up next...

12:43 PM
gondeee?@gondeee
Gattis might be going to the Astros... stay tuned.

[War Machine Dawg]

I'm beginning to hate John Hart. We traded 2/3 of our outfield and LaStella. I'm ok with that, although I would've liked to make a push at re-signing J-Up. But once we moved him, I assumed that meant Gattis was safe. He fills the need in LF, brings massive power, and was just about our lone reliable bat not named Freeman last season. Plus we have full control over him at a very manageable price for about 4 more years. But now we're looking to move him on top of all the others? It makes no damn sense. Whatever the 'Stros give us in return won't have nearly the impact Gattis will. Just stupid.

[starkvegasdawg]

I can't stand the man but too late to bring back Ted? He didn't mind having a payroll the size of the GDP of a small country.

[Really Clark?]

Reports are that two other teams are aggressively pursuing Gattis as well. The Astros have gone as far to bring him in for a physical. Boy if they would take BJ with him, like we were trying to do in August, that would be good. Hope it's a good return.

[War Machine Dawg]

Reports are that two other teams are aggressively pursuing Gattis as well. The Astros have gone as far to bring him in for a physical. Boy if they would take BJ with him, like we were trying to do in August, that would be good. Hope it's a good return.

That would be the ONLY way I could stomach moving Gattis at this point. Otherwise we're basically waving the white flag on even being competitive until 2017, much less competing for the division.

[MS_half-step]

The flag was waved a long time ago. It's a move that had to be done before the disastrous LF experiment killed all his trade value. I'm ok with the moves so far, if you're gonna rebuild then do right and don't half ass it. 2015 was a lost cause with or without Heyward/Upton and neither were coming back in 2016 anyway. Tough decisions, but the right decisions.

[Tbonewannabe]

I just moved to Atlanta, so do you think I can get some really cheap tickets next year?

So is Schaefer still on the team? If they trade Gattis, they have to move BJ with him unless they just get some crazy amount of high level prospects.

[smootness]

I just moved to Atlanta, so do you think I can get some really cheap tickets next year?

Haha, you could have gotten some really cheap tickets even if we had been a 100-win team.

This is a GREAT trade for the Braves. We had already decided to scrap everything and rebuild, which in hindsight was the right move. I hated the Heyward deal but have increasingly liked every move we've made since. Our farm system was completely depleted, one of the bottom few in the league. Now, in one offseason, we have moved ourselves to about a top 5 system. That is pretty mind-boggling. And we have a ton of high-ceiling guys.

The Astros have a great farm system that is absolutely loaded, either 1 or 2 in baseball...and we got two top-7 or top-8 guys. Foltynewicz throws 100, and if anyone can turn him into a viable starter, it's the Braves. And Rio Ruiz is a high-ceiling guy that isn't too far off at a position of great need, 3B.

We weren't ever going to truly compete this year. I wanted us to resign Heyward, but all in all, Hart has done a great job this offseason. We won't win much this year and probably not much in 2016, but this has set us up to have a sustained run of success if we can develop enough of these guys.

[War Machine Dawg]

The flag was waved a long time ago. It's a move that had to be done before the disastrous LF experiment killed all his trade value. I'm ok with the moves so far, if you're gonna rebuild then do right and don't half ass it. 2015 was a lost cause with or without Heyward/Upton and neither were coming back in 2016 anyway. Tough decisions, but the right decisions.

I was fine with moving both of them. Hell, I wanted to move J-Hey for a couple of years now. And I get moving J-Up if you don't think you can re-sign him. But moving Gattis on top of all that is stupid. You can't play for a 0-0 tie every night. Someone has to f'n hit. And I'm fully expecting Markakis to forgot how to hit just like every other offensive free agent we've signed for the last decade.

[dawgs]

Reports are that two other teams are aggressively pursuing Gattis as well. The Astros have gone as far to bring him in for a physical. Boy if they would take BJ with him, like we were trying to do in August, that would be good. Hope it's a good return.

If they take bj, either the Braves are paying a lot of his salary or the Astros won't be sending anything back except low ceiling organizational depth.

[dawgs]

The flag was waved a long time ago. It's a move that had to be done before the disastrous LF experiment killed all his trade value. I'm ok with the moves so far, if you're gonna rebuild then do right and don't half ass it. 2015 was a lost cause with or without Heyward/Upton and neither were coming back in 2016 anyway. Tough decisions, but the right decisions.

Doubtful anyone is seriously pursuing him to be an everyday LF anyway. He's gonna be primarily targeted as a primary DH and a 5th OF/3rd C that can play the field in a pinch.

[Really Clark?]

If they take bj, either the Braves are paying a lot of his salary or the Astros won't be sending anything back except low ceiling farm system depth.

Well that doesn't appear to be happening. Just Gattis for 3 prospects (supposedly right now)

[dawgs]

Haha, you could have gotten some really cheap tickets even if we had been a 100-win team.

This is a GREAT trade for the Braves. We had already decided to scrap everything and rebuild, which in hindsight was the right move. I hated the Heyward deal but have increasingly liked every move we've made since. Our farm system was completely depleted, one of the bottom few in the league. Now, in one offseason, we have moved ourselves to about a top 5 system. That is pretty mind-boggling. And we have a ton of high-ceiling guys.

The Astros have a great farm system that is absolutely loaded, either 1 or 2 in baseball...and we got two top-7 or top-8 guys. Foltynewicz throws 100, and if anyone can turn him into a viable starter, it's the Braves. And Rio Ruiz is a high-ceiling guy that isn't too far off at a position of great need, 3B.

We weren't ever going to truly compete this year. I wanted us to resign Heyward, but all in all, Hart has done a great job this offseason. We won't win much this year and probably not much in 2016, but this has set us up to have a sustained run of success if we can develop enough of these guys.

I thought the haul from the Padres was underwhelming. Without other moves, I'd be shocked to see the system ranked around the top 5 going into spring. I could be wrong, the centerpiece of that deal is out all of 2015 for TJ surgery and not expected to be big league ready until 2017 or 2018. That's a long term projection.

[smootness]

I was fine with moving both of them. Hell, I wanted to move J-Hey for a couple of years now. And I get moving J-Up if you don't think you can re-sign him. But moving Gattis on top of all that is stupid. You can't play for a 0-0 tie every night. Someone has to f'n hit. And I'm fully expecting Markakis to forgot how to hit just like every other offensive free agent we've signed for the last decade.

If you were ok with moving Heyward and Upton, I'm not sure how you're upset about also moving Gattis. First, we weren't going to be good enough this year or next for him to matter one way or another, so that's not important. Winning 70 games instead of 65 doesn't do us any good.

And yes, he was under team control for 4 years, but he doesn't really have a long-term position in Atlanta. Realistically, he is a DH or possibly 1B who can catch every now and then. He could have potentially been a catcher for the Braves, but we have Bethancourt, who the FO likes, and we would always be operating slightly below Gattis' optimum value by doing that. He isn't an OF and never will be; that would have been an embarrassment and would have killed his value.

So the smart thing to do is to move him now when his value is at its highest given the fact that the Braves won't compete the next couple of years anyway. If you're going to rebuild, then commit. It's why including BJ or CJ in any deal wouldn't be smart since it would simply lower our return.

[smootness]

I thought the haul from the Padres was underwhelming. Without other moves, I'd be shocked to see the system ranked around the top 5 going into spring. I could be wrong, the centerpiece of that deal is out all of 2015 for TJ surgery and not expected to be big league ready until 2017 or 2018. That's a long term projection.

It was about right for a guy with one year left on his deal, no matter how good he is. Fried, while coming off TJ, is a legitimately good prospect who the Padres wouldn't have been willing to include had he been 100% healthy. Given TJ's success rate now, I'm ok with the gamble. He's a high-ceiling guy. Yes, it is a long-term play, but that's the way the organization is moving. And it doesn't matter for the value of a prospect; he's still going to easily be a top 100 guy.

Fried along with 3 decent positional players is a good return. We got one lower-ceiling guy who is ready to play now (a slightly better version of La Stella, really); one high-ceiling guy who is 2-3 years away; and one wildcard who could turn into a really good leadoff CF if everything goes right. That's not a bad return; chances are good that at least 2 of them become valuable pieces for the Braves eventually.

The farm system is definitely inside the top 10 right now. It may not quite be in the top 5, but it isn't far off. Our current top 10 includes at least 6 guys who were added this offseason, in addition to about 5 more of our current top 20, without really losing anybody of substance. Sims, Foltynewicz, Fried, Jenkins, Sanchez, Banuelos, Hursh, Fulenchek, Winkler, and Cabrera is now a really, really good group of high-upside arms. And Peraza, Bethancourt, Ruiz, Davidson, Albies, Camargo, Peterson, Peterson, and Mallex Smith is now at least a decent group of position players, several with high upside as well. Add a couple of really high end bats and it's about as good as any system in baseball.

[msudawg1200]

I just moved to Atlanta, so do you think I can get some really cheap tickets next year?

So is Schaefer still on the team? If they trade Gattis, they have to move BJ with him unless they just get some crazy amount of high level prospects.

No, he is with the Twins. I want some cheap tickets to go watch the Reds beat the Braves. Go Reds.