2025 Braves Thread

[msstate7]

Lee hadn't pitched since Thursday.
Iggy pitched 2 of last 3 with day off between.
Hernandez pitched Monday and Friday.

Snit shoulda absolutely deployed these guys to secure the win last night. Then he could rest them today and Monday's day off.

[BoomBoom]

Agree here too. I guess you can call it bad luck on Profar but he shoulda done his homework. Ignoring the SS position for 2 years now baffles me. You go into this season AGAIN depending on Arcia and Snit gives up on him in week 1 and now we are stuck with a AAA shortstop.

You lose Fried and Morton and replace them with nothing. Depending on Sale and/or Lopez not to fall off was a huge gamble. These are positions that could have been shored up last season, at the trade deadline, and this offseason and chose not to

It's completely understandable when you look at the SS market. You either ridiculously overpay for the handful of elite SSs.....or you take value in the scrubs. There's not really a market of anything in between. Most MLB teams have a hole at SS in the lineup. No one is dealing away a SS or SS prospect with value.

SP isn't much better of a market these days. If we had given Morton another $20M and gotten nothing out of him at 40-whatever, AA would rightfully be pilloried for it. I don't think he was depending on no drop-off, but he put together a good staff without overpaying for anyone. He got Sale and Lopez for nothing, Strider is underpaid, and AJSS is on track. I don't even know where Holmes came from. Even Elder has performed. That's a pretty good job from the GM!

The main problem is all the money on this roster is paid to the hitters in the middle of the lineup, and they are not performing to their contracts.

The pen though, that's all on AA. That, and the lack of one better corner OF. There are options aplenty for those, and AA has just stood pat with scrubs.

[BravesDoggy]

The luck from 2021 and the crazy offensive output from 2022 is not coming back. AA needs to stop pinching the pennies and come up with a new approach with this team or he and Snit need to both find new jobs.

It?s time to seriously explore the market value for Ozuna and Murphy. Shortstop can?t be ignored any longer, need another SP (in addition to Strider coming back), and fix the pen.

[BoomBoom]

The luck from 2021 and the crazy offensive output from 2022 is not coming back. AA needs to stop pinching the pennies and come up with a new approach with this team or he and Snit need to both find new jobs.

It?s time to seriously explore the market value for Ozuna and Murphy. Shortstop can?t be ignored any longer, need another SP (in addition to Strider coming back), and fix the pen.

Agreed, we overperformed in 21 and 22.

But, they're not pinching pennies. They're above the luxury tax threshold or just below it. They're not going to spend more.

They're in a bit of a pickle with Murphy and Ozuna. You don't really want to trade a catcher like Murphy for a rookie to take over. And Ozuna can't play the OF, which prevents them from DHing one of the catchers or Acuna. And no one wants Ozuna because of his history. And they'd be dumb to trade one of their few hitters right now. The worst part of that is that for any given game, they can only start 2 of Ozuna, Acuna, Murphy, and Baldwin. With Eli White or Verdugo getting a start instead. But it is what it is.

[BravesDoggy]

Agreed, we overperformed in 21 and 22.

But, they're not pinching pennies. They're above the luxury tax threshold or just below it. They're not going to spend more.

They're in a bit of a pickle with Murphy and Ozuna. You don't really want to trade a catcher like Murphy for a rookie to take over. And Ozuna can't play the OF, which prevents them from DHing one of the catchers or Acuna. And no one wants Ozuna because of his history. And they'd be dumb to trade one of their few hitters right now. The worst part of that is that for any given game, they can only start 2 of Ozuna, Acuna, Murphy, and Baldwin. With Eli White or Verdugo getting a start instead. But it is what it is.

Maybe pinching pennies is an exaggeration, but you get what I mean. In the past 5 years, Dansby, Freddie, Fried and Morton have come off the books and the only player that has been signed of any significance is Profar. The core group is fine to ride with, but you see what happens when 2, 3 or 4 of them underperform. It's obvious that the 22 season was lightning in a bottle, so when you aren't getting crazy production from Ozuna, Albies, Acuna, Riley, and Olson, you better not have any black hole positions or it just magnifies the struggles of the big five. The SS position has been a glaring hole for about a season and a half now. You let Fried and Morton walk and replace them with Grant Holmes, a reliever to SP project which they've already tried with Lopez and he's out long term.

[msstate7]

I don't know if Allen can keep it up, but ...
16th among SS in fWAR (0.9)
1st in def value
He's on pace for a 3.6 fWAR season. That's pretty damn good

[shoeless joe]

I don't know if Allen can keep it up, but ...
16th among SS in fWAR (0.9)
1st in def value
He's on pace for a 3.6 fWAR season. That's pretty damn good

as i said earlier. allen is not the problem. and once some of the others start putting up their typical numbers his lack of offense won't be near as noticeable to the end results.

[msstate7]

as i said earlier. allen is not the problem. and once some of the others start putting up their typical numbers his lack of offense won't be near as noticeable to the end results.

We still need to use him better. He should bunt anytime a runner gets on in front of him with 0 outs. He's a pretty terrible hitter that's rocking an unsustainable .340 babip.

[BravesDoggy]

as i said earlier. allen is not the problem. and once some of the others start putting up their typical numbers his lack of offense won't be near as noticeable to the end results.

But that's kinda the point i made in my previous post. People have pretty much assumed those "typical numbers" are what the big five produced in 2022, and that is just not happening again. So, when Ozuna is hitting single digit homeruns, Olson is hitting .220 and his power is down and you have a struggling Harris (who often isn't even counted in the big 5) and a struggling Ozzie, those non-producing OF and SS positions just become much more glaring.

Everybody used to talk about how fearsome the lineup was 1 through 9, but when your lineup ends with Stuart Fairchild, Michael Harris, Eli White and Nick Allen it is not instilling fear.

[shoeless joe]

But that's kinda the point i made in my previous post. People have pretty much assumed those "typical numbers" are what the big five produced in 2022, and that is just not happening again. So, when Ozuna is hitting single digit homeruns, Olson is hitting .220 and his power is down and you have a struggling Harris (who often isn't even counted in the big 5) and a struggling Ozzie, those non-producing OF and SS positions just become much more glaring.

Everybody used to talk about how fearsome the lineup was 1 through 9, but when your lineup ends with Stuart Fairchild, Michael Harris, Eli White and Nick Allen it is not instilling fear.

dont' disagree with this. we have a track record on riley, he's gonna hit 270 with 30 homers if healthy. ozuna will probably catch fire at some point and end with 30 homers, harris is streaky and will end up doing some things. and acuna should add some level of production above what they have been getting from the corners. those things are based on more than one season.

the two that in my opinion are concerning are ozzie and olsen. olsen cant barrel a fastball consistently and ozzie thinks he's barry bonds.

[trob115]

At least Olson appears to be getting on a bit of a heater. He had a great weekend.

[BravesDoggy]

For a team that was labeled the most dangerous 1 thru 9 for the last couple of years, the numbers this season almost through 2 months of play are a bit concerning. Sorry I don't get into all the BABIP and those crazy ass stats, I'm just old school and look at the basic offensive numbers.

Nobody in the top 20 in BA (Riley at 22)
Riley is tied for 19th in RBI
the HR numbers are way down compared to previous years' pace

The positives are that nobody leads the league in K's although Riley is close. Ozuna is leading the NL in walks and Olson isn't far behind which is helping their OBP greatly.

[msstate7]

Olson xwoba in 2022 (54 hrs) was .392; it's .389 right now. Olson had a launch angle problem to start the season, but he's getting lift again.

[KOdawg1]

I hate this team.

[trob115]

Looked like the 7u rec league tonight

[msstate7]

Looked like the 7u rec league tonight

Tho organization is run by idiots, so don't be surprised by dumb play

[BravesDoggy]

Fire Snit or blow it up. This team is sinking.

[shoeless joe]

selfish...selfish...selfish...

i'm not questioning how hard anyone plays or wants to win but you can just watch the swings and see this team plays a selfish brand of baseball at the plate. Losing wash, EY, dansby and freddie like they did was the death nail. money ball has never won jack crap when it matters. you need leaders and captains the hold clout to keep everyone accountable.

oh...and the bullpen still sucks. can't throw strikes in the 9th to keep it a one run game. AA is beyond over rated.

[msstate7]

The problem is all these hitters are streaky, and they never line up 3 at the same time. Riley's last 30 games are absolutely horrendous. Ozuna has cooled off. Acuna came in hitting, but Olson stopped. Ozzie is actually rounding into form, but no one around him is hitting at all. I believe hitting with RISP and sequencing has a lot of luck involved, and the braves just have none right now.

[msstate7]

This made me feel a little more hopeful...
Braves record the last 5 years:
May 28, 2021: 24-25
May 28, 2022: 22-25
May 28, 2023: 32-21
May 28, 2024: 31-21
May 28, 2025: 25-28