Braves

[BoomBoom]

I think we'll go after a top starter. We have plenty of money to spend and we now have a hole in our rotation

supposedly we have as much as $60M per year to spend starting next year. that's what getting bad contracts off the books will do for you.

[msstate7]

supposedly we have as much as $60M per year to spend starting next year. that's what getting bad contracts off the books will do for you.

Go get price and a LF. Pretty sure we'll need a catcher too. Hopefully Bethancourt gets the call soon so we can know for sure. Really wish he'd catch 80% of our games from here out

[smootness]

I don't see $60 million available unless we start increasing the payroll by a good bit in anticipation of the new stadium.

Assuming we do have that much, I'd prefer to spend about $40 million of it on 2 big pieces...not an ace but a good starter along the lines of Kazmir, then a legit bat (personally, I would love to trade for Nelson Cruz if we are really serious about contending in 2016 and 2017).

I would use the rest on decent pieces here and there.

[BoomBoom]

I don't see $60 million available unless we start increasing the payroll by a good bit in anticipation of the new stadium.

Assuming we do have that much, I'd prefer to spend about $40 million of it on 2 big pieces...not an ace but a good starter along the lines of Kazmir, then a legit bat (personally, I would love to trade for Nelson Cruz if we are really serious about contending in 2016 and 2017).

I would use the rest on decent pieces here and there.

2016 current obligations are $60M. that leaves $40-60M. a corner OF masher is a must. hard to say what else is a must, so i would break the bank getting the best OF on the market, if the right one is available. looks like that's Cespedes, Gordon, Upton and Heyward. meh. maybe wait on that till 2017, if that class looks stronger.

the SP class does look strong, so maybe that is a viable path, as much as i'd rather get hitting than pitching.

[Dawg61]

Hey 7 are you blackout drunk? Your boy Chris Johnson just got traded for a prosthetic Swisher and a rubberized Bourn.

[msstate7]

Hey 7 are you blackout drunk? Your boy Chris Johnson just got traded for a prosthetic Swisher and a rubberized Bourn.

I think I'll get drunk now. I'm not sure how I feel about this trade. Glad to get rid of CJ. Not happy to see swisher or Bourn. Maybe one will resurrect their career.

I'm still watching every night, but it's getting hard. Please get here college football

[MetEdDawg]

I think I'll get drunk now. I'm not sure how I feel about this trade. Glad to get rid of CJ. Not happy to see swisher or Bourn. Maybe one will resurrect their career.

I'm still watching every night, but it's getting hard. Please get here college football

This. I'm a die hard Braves fan but it's hard to continue to see guys like Shelby Miller get crapped on with no run support, or Freddie stay injured, or the bullpen continue to blow games. We knew this was going to be a charlie foxtrot this year but it seems like everything has gone straight to hell since Freddie got hurt. Team seemed to give up after that.

I don't understand this trade honestly. I mean I understand getting rid of CJ for money purposes but Swisher and Bourn have a lot on their contracts too. We got some cash considerations in this deal to offset some of the cost so my guess is this is just a temporary home for them for the remainder of the year.

[msstate7]

I'd love to see our young starters (Perez, wisler, and folty) step it up down the stretch. They've been struggling lately. I'd feel a lot better if 2 them starting pitching well this last month.

I'm pulling for Garcia, eury, and Castro to finish strong also. I think they could be solid bench players for next season.

[War Machine Dawg]

I think I'll get drunk now. I'm not sure how I feel about this trade. Glad to get rid of CJ. Not happy to see swisher or Bourn. Maybe one will resurrect their career.

I'm still watching every night, but it's getting hard. Please get here college football

You're insane, I've pretty much quit watching. I'm indifferent about the trade. Basically, it was a bad contract swap. And with Nick Swisher we get Nick Swisher's wife, so I say win for the Braves. Plus the Indians are giving us $10M. The way I see it, we got rid of a clubhouse problem in CJ and added a chemistry guy or two. The trade doesn't really help either team on the field, so I don't really care about the "who won" aspect.

[MetEdDawg]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think we are still maybe in this thing a little bit? Lot of experience and leadership on this team now. AJ, Bourn, Swisher, Gomes, Freeman, Markakis, Shelby Miller. There's a lot of guys who have been there done that. If the pitching solidifies over the last month and a half and we continue to hit like we have (I believe we have 68 hits through 6 games of the 7 game home stand), we've got a chance at this thing. Guys are starting to hit consistently now. Markakis and AJ have hitting streaks in the teens, Garcia is heating up, hopefully Olivera joins the team in the next couple of weeks.

We've got 7 more each against the Nats and Mets and are only 8.5 out of the division. If our pitching can come together here I think we've got enough horses to at least make a game of it or ruin someone else's playoff chances. I kind of like this team right now and they are way more fun to watch than last year's team.

[shoeless joe]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think we are still maybe in this thing a little bit? Lot of experience and leadership on this team now. AJ, Bourn, Swisher, Gomes, Freeman, Markakis, Shelby Miller. There's a lot of guys who have been there done that. If the pitching solidifies over the last month and a half and we continue to hit like we have (I believe we have 68 hits through 6 games of the 7 game home stand), we've got a chance at this thing. Guys are starting to hit consistently now. Markakis and AJ have hitting streaks in the teens, Garcia is heating up, hopefully Olivera joins the team in the next couple of weeks.

We've got 7 more each against the Nats and Mets and are only 8.5 out of the division. If our pitching can come together here I think we've got enough horses to at least make a game of it or ruin someone else's playoff chances. I kind of like this team right now and they are way more fun to watch than last year's team.

Still think we are a .500 team at best. But I will enjoy watching this team from here on out.

[msstate7]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think we are still maybe in this thing a little bit? Lot of experience and leadership on this team now. AJ, Bourn, Swisher, Gomes, Freeman, Markakis, Shelby Miller. There's a lot of guys who have been there done that. If the pitching solidifies over the last month and a half and we continue to hit like we have (I believe we have 68 hits through 6 games of the 7 game home stand), we've got a chance at this thing. Guys are starting to hit consistently now. Markakis and AJ have hitting streaks in the teens, Garcia is heating up, hopefully Olivera joins the team in the next couple of weeks.

We've got 7 more each against the Nats and Mets and are only 8.5 out of the division. If our pitching can come together here I think we've got enough horses to at least make a game of it or ruin someone else's playoff chances. I kind of like this team right now and they are way more fun to watch than last year's team.

11 of last 16 series are against winning teams. If FF and Olivera get back soon and catch fire, I think we could make a run at .500.

.500, our young starters pitching well down the stretch, Olivera being a stud player, and Bethancourt looking like an mlb catcher in September are what I really wanna see. If the mets and nats have a September collapse that allows us to make a run that would be great, but it would take them both collapsing for us make the playoffs

[MetEdDawg]

11 of last 16 series are against winning teams. If FF and Olivera get back soon and catch fire, I think we could make a run at .500.

.500, our young starters pitching well down the stretch, Olivera being a stud player, and Bethancourt looking like an mlb catcher in September are what I really wanna see. If the mets and nats have a September collapse that allows us to make a run that would be great, but it would take them both collapsing for us make the playoffs

The thing that impresses me the most is that as a losing team I think we got better in the last week. I hated seeing Wood go, but one thing we do have is starting pitching depth. And I'm with you, I want to see how well Perez, Wisler, Folty, and Banuelos do at the end. But I like what we've put together. I don't know what we can do with the contracts of Bourn and Swisher for next year, but if we can figure something out, I would like to keep one of them. Probably more Swisher than Bourn just because I like Swisher at a utility guy that can play 1st when Freeman is hurt/resting and a corner OF spot too. And right now I think Eury Perez and Bourn are close to the same player with Eury having a better arm.

We finished 4 games below .500 last year. If we can do better than that, I would be ecstatic about the future. If we can get an offseason bat, we are a contender next year. I still think we might make a run at Cespedes in the offseason. Not sure if there will be any other RH OF power bats next year but he's probably the best. Add him into a lineup with Markakis, Freeman, Olivera, hopefully Maybin, then you've got something. Then Teheran, Miller, Folty, Williams Perez, Banuelos, or Wisler, and that's a darn good looking rotation. Need some bullpen help but I like what we've got next year potentially.

[msstate7]

The thing that impresses me the most is that as a losing team I think we got better in the last week. I hated seeing Wood go, but one thing we do have is starting pitching depth. And I'm with you, I want to see how well Perez, Wisler, Folty, and Banuelos do at the end. But I like what we've put together. I don't know what we can do with the contracts of Bourn and Swisher for next year, but if we can figure something out, I would like to keep one of them. Probably more Swisher than Bourn just because I like Swisher at a utility guy that can play 1st when Freeman is hurt/resting and a corner OF spot too. And right now I think Eury Perez and Bourn are close to the same player with Eury having a better arm.

We finished 4 games below .500 last year. If we can do better than that, I would be ecstatic about the future. If we can get an offseason bat, we are a contender next year. I still think we might make a run at Cespedes in the offseason. Not sure if there will be any other RH OF power bats next year but he's probably the best. Add him into a lineup with Markakis, Freeman, Olivera, hopefully Maybin, then you've got something. Then Teheran, Miller, Folty, Williams Perez, Banuelos, or Wisler, and that's a darn good looking rotation. Need some bullpen help but I like what we've got next year potentially.

I expect Bourn in cf next season and Maybin traded in the offseason

[MetEdDawg]

I expect Bourn in cf next season and Maybin traded in the offseason

I sure hope not. I love what Maybin has done. He's a few years younger than Bourn, He's got a better arm, he covers more ground I think, and he just really loves being in Atlanta. I think we could get him for 2 or 3 years at 18-25 million and that would be a good buy for us.

[shoeless joe]

Doubt the braves go after cespedes...he's known as a "not so great" clubhouse guy and one of the whole purposes of this rebuild was to clean house in that regard.

[msstate7]

@mlbbowman
Bourn is not playing today, but there won't be a strict platoon in LF. Still a chance the Braves will trade Gomes.

....

Would love to move Gomes. Really no need to keep Gomes and swisher.

[trob115]

I doubt maybin is traded. Hart has said numerous times they love maybin on the field and in the clubhouse. He's a local guy that's performing well. Bourn is going to be mentoring mallex smith and playing Lf.

[msstate7]

Chris Johnson 4-4 in Indians debut

[msstate7]

I doubt maybin is traded. Hart has said numerous times they love maybin on the field and in the clubhouse. He's a local guy that's performing well. Bourn is going to be mentoring mallex smith and playing Lf.

If Bourn is gonna mentor Mallex, then wouldn't Mallex have to be on the team? Mallex won't be on team as long as Bourn and Maybin are on the team.

I just have a hunch Maybin will be moved. Bourn has been the better defensive cf this year, yet we play Maybin in cf. I think that's to keep Maybin's value as high as possible.

Move Maybin, sign a LF, and play Bourn till Mallex is ready in cf. This is my guess.

Since you mentioned Bourn mentoring Mallex, I thought about those 2 and Bourn is a good comparison to Mallex. Really fast leadoff type that strikes out a bit more than you like