2020 Atlanta Braves News

[Buzzbomb]

Rule 5 on December 12:
https://www.mlb.com/news/top-prospects-in-the-2019-rule-5-draft

Mike Plant went on to say, the Braves would be mixing homegrown farm talent with veteran, market proven players.

 

[FredJacket]

The rule to face 3 batters minimum annoys me. Pace of play... I have a few thoughts:
1) It is a feature...not a flaw. Baseball's pace is perfectly fine. ...and there is a different in "pace of play" and "length of games"; but the terms seem to by used as one in the same. I realize this is personal preference for me and I am in the minority; so here are my ideas on how to fix BOTH pace of play and length of games.
2) Eliminate mound visits. Just get rid of them totally. Use signalling to communicate. If a manager wants to make a pitching change... do it from the dugout.
3) Eliminate (or reduce) warmup pitches for pitchers entering the game. Get warm in the bullpen and be ready for your 1st pitch when you arrive at the mound. [downside is getting "feel" for actual mound... but do you want to fix pace of play or not]
4) This will NEVER happen... but reconfigure ballparks to expand (reset) the ever shrinking foul territory. Foul balls that, for years, were outs are extending ABs... extending games.

My problem with the 3 batters minimum rule is it actually impacts strategy negatively when you can do the above steps "external" to the game action and solve much of your problem with pace of play.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Since moving to Trust Park:
The investors were told the Braves have averaged annual increases of 21% in total revenue, 9% in paid attendance, 22% in gate receipts, 25% in sponsorship revenue and 44% in TV ratings since the move. The largest increase in attendance came in 2017, but the trend continued upward in 2018 and 2019.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Worth watching. Click on CNBC, below:
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei briefly discussed the Braves offseason outlook in a television appearance on CNBC yesterday. In the course of a ten-minute interview with CNBC’s David Faber, Maffei indicated that the club plans to “spend some money” this winter, even after the club’s recent addition of roughly $30MM in new commitments to their 2020 payroll.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Ken Rosenthal reports LA Dodgers have an interest in Josh Donaldson. To fire up the clubhouse. He notes that Freddie Freeman had to say a few words to J.D. about “toning things down in the Braves clubhouse.”
In the same article, Ken Rosenthal also mentions that the Dodgers are one of the teams interested in Korean left-hander Kwang-Hyun Kim. Kim is 31 years old and was posted in 2014, but the San Diego Padres were unable to finalize a deal. The scouting report on Kim is that he throws a fastball, slider, and a curveball.

 

[YellowJacketFan2018]

Ken Rosenthal reports LA Dodgers have an interest in Josh Donaldson. To fire up the clubhouse. He notes that Freddie Freeman had to say a few words to J.D. about “toning things down in the Braves clubhouse.”
In the same article, Ken Rosenthal also mentions that the Dodgers are one of the teams interested in Korean left-hander Kwang-Hyun Kim. Kim is 31 years old and was posted in 2014, but the San Diego Padres were unable to finalize a deal. The scouting report on Kim is that he throws a fastball, slider, and a curveball.

Bye Bye Josh I always figured he would probably wind up asking for more than the Braves would be willing to pay

 

[FredJacket]

From an article...

The Braves’ big bullpen bet
Relievers generally are the highest risks in free agency, yet the Braves jumped the market to grab left-hander Will Smith (three years, $40 million) and righty Chris Martin (two years, $14 million). Between those two, Mark Melancon, Darren O’Day and the arbitration-eligible Shane Greene, the team is likely to spend at least $43 million on five relievers next season.

Why such a large investment, when bullpens are often the most volatile part of a club?

Go back to the trade deadline, when Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, facing a crisis in his relief corps, made separate deals for Melancon, Martin and Greene. Anthopoulos, wanting to avoid getting caught in a similar trap in 2020, now has amassed six late-inning options: The five listed above, plus Luke Jackson.

Thus, if the Braves need help at the deadline — still a possibility, depending upon how the season evolves – they can avoid paying premiums for top relievers and instead pursue inexpensive middle-inning types, the way they did with Jonny Venters and Brad Brach in 2018.

The new addition also leaves the team better positioned for the future, considering that both Melancon and Greene are eligible for free agency after the 2020 season. The departures of both would reduce the payroll by about $20 million, and the Braves still would be protected with Smith and Martin under contract, O’Day subject to a club option and Jackson under team control.

Even so, it’s all still a gamble. The Yankees were the only team to hit on their free-agent relievers last offseason, and even Zack Britton (three years, $39 million) and Adam Ottavino (three years, $27 million) were not completely unblemished. Britton posted the highest walk rate of his career, and Ottavino struggled in the postseason.

At the moment, the Braves’ bullpen is easily the best in the NL East. Check back at midseason to see if the plan in practice looks as good as it does on paper

 

[Buzzbomb]

Reposting from pg.11 in this thread:

• Will Smith: three years, $40MM (includes buyout of $13MM club option)
• Chris Martin: two years, $14MM
• Tyler Flowers: one year, $4MM
• Nick Markakis: one year, $4MM
• Darren O’Day: one year, $2.25MM (includes buyout of $3.5MM club option)
• • Mark Melancon, 35, $14MM
  • Will Smith, 30, $13MM
  • Chris Martin, 33, $7MM
  • Shane Greene, 31, $6.5MM (projected)
  • Darren O’Day, 37, $2MM
  • Luke Jackson, 28, $1.9MM (projected)
  • Grant Dayton, 32, $800K (projected)

 

[THWG]

Braves sign Travis D'Arnaud to a 2 yr-$16 million deal. I'm not overwhelmed by this, but it is a solid signing. Most importantly, it allows the Braves the financial wiggle room to sign Donaldson and a top of the rotation arm like Hamels or Bumgarner. We also have the trade chips to trade for somebody like Lindor or a frontline starter.

 

[Buzzbomb]

I think they overpaid. Truth is, I thought that last year with J.D. and I was wrong then. Hope I am again.

MLB Trade Rumors has Flowers as a better framer. We are in trouble, with all the injuries this guy has had.

 

[FredJacket]

I think they overpaid. Truth is, I thought that last year with J.D. and I was wrong then. Hope I am again.

MLB Trade Rumors has Flowers as a better framer. We are in trouble, with all the injuries this guy has had.

Interesting. My limited exposure watching Flowers is he's an aggressive framer (overly). To point ... he drops pitches or they get by him... costly sometimes. You guys correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit... and also... will be a totally lost art when strikes & balls are called by machine.

 

[kg01]

Interesting. My limited exposure watching Flowers is he's an aggressive framer (overly). To point ... he drops pitches or they get by him... costly sometimes. You guys correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit... and also... will be a totally lost art when strikes & balls are called by machine.

I think "Flowe" is just a bad catcher. You just used more fancy words to say it.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Wasn’t it Smoltz or somebody doing color, pointing out that Flowe puts the target up(isn’t that framing?)well, but then drops the pitch? He went on to say the HPU, punishes the call for that?

I not only dislike him defensively(yes, the lack of throwing out baserunners included), I dislike his bat and I dislike his high strikeout numbers. He’s good in the community, I hear.

Neither of these guys are .250 lifetime hitters. Still they command 12 m. in 2020.

Am I missing something? My cheese is slipping off my cracker?(don’t answer that kg01).

Fred, what are the Nats. doing at Catcher? Zuki or bust? He’s getting older.

 

[FredJacket]

@Buzzbomb Nationals catcher? For now... we have Suzuki and guys from the farm. That won't do it. I assume Rizzo will find a quality(?) catcher to complement Suzuki. Much like Gomes did this year. I could not begin to predict, though. I agree with you, Suzuki is on the older side and would be good to have a productive guy to spell him.

 

[GTJake]

Not thrilled with the d'Arnaud signing at all, 30 years old, .246 career hitter with 63 total career HR's ... on top of that the article I read said he would "share" time with Flowers !!

 

[MWBATL]

Not thrilled with the d'Arnaud signing at all, 30 years old, .246 career hitter with 63 total career HR's ... on top of that the article I read said he would "share" time with Flowers !!

I presume they want soldi defense form their catcher, and that's it. (NB-I have no idea if D'Arnaud fits that bill, but that's the only thing that would make any sense to me...)

 

[Buzzbomb]

After he was acquired as a promising catching prospect in 2012, d’Arnaud appeared in more than 75 games in just two of six seasons with the Mets, including a 2018 season in which he missed all but four games thanks to Tommy John surgery.
The Mets designated him for assignment in May, 2019. He had 1 AB with the Dodgers, and then on to Tampa Bay(who wanted him back, however Atlanta just outbid them). As a defensive catcher, d’Arnaud is regarded as an above-average framer, though he saw his numbers in that department dip in 2019 compared to his Mets days. Baseball Savant measures his average pop time in the 55th percentile, which allowed him to throw out 29 percent of would-be base stealers in 2019, a notch above his career mark of 22 percent.

He did total 351 AB’s in 2019. 85k’s with 32 walks at the plate. The 16 HR’s tied his highest total in a season, matching 2017.

In 2015 his batting avg. was a career high .268 in 239 AB’s.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Not thrilled with the d'Arnaud signing at all, 30 years old, .246 career hitter with 63 total career HR's ... on top of that the article I read said he would "share" time with Flowers !!

I’m going to be shocked if Catcher is NOT our weak link this season.
Now if we let the Moose sign elsewhere while awaiting J.D.(although typically the signing order goes Rendon, Donaldson, Moose-unless a team steps up and overpays)and Camargo should flop(don’t think he will, but you never know)and Riley needs to go back down(again I doubt it, because it shouldn’t help him progress by hitting AAA pitching)....and at that point 3B could become a trouble spot. Lots of if’s for that to occur.
I’m not a fan of these two catchers, either.

 

[Buzzbomb]

A bridge too far?
Atlanta’s thinking is that William Contreras or Shane Langliers will be ready by 2022. So they signed d’Arnaud for half the time and half the price Grandal got(2 years to the 4 Yasmani received; 8m. for Travis compared to 18m. for Y.G. per annum). Flowers was signed to a one year deal, but unless a prospect steps up, the Braves are talking about having this tandem share duties in 2021 as well as 2020. Platoon situation for 2 years.

Don’t get too excited about 2019 d’Arnaud, as he might have peaked during June and July. He hit .312 with 13 HR, 40 RBI. After that, below .230 w/ 3 HR, 27 RBI. He hit .105 in the postseason. His lifetime average in the playoffs is .162 in 74 AB.

Like Austin Riley, one of the hottest hitters in baseball for those two months and then....pedestrian numbers. Offensively speaking of course.

 

[YellowJacketFan2018]

A bridge too far?
Atlanta’s thinking is that William Contreras or Shane Langliers will be ready by 2022. So they signed d’Arnaud for half the time and half the price Grandal got(2 years to the 4 Yasmani received; 8m. for Travis compared to 18m. for Y.G. per annum). Flowers was signed to a one year deal, but unless a prospect steps up, the Braves are talking about having this tandem share duties in 2021 as well as 2020. Platoon situation for 2 years.

Don’t get too excited about 2019 d’Arnaud, as he might have peaked during June and July. He hit .312 with 13 HR, 40 RBI. After that, below .230 w/ 3 HR, 27 RBI. He hit .105 in the postseason. His lifetime average in the playoffs is .162 in 74 AB.

Like Austin Riley, one of the hottest hitters in baseball for those two months and then....pedestrian numbers. Offensively speaking of course.

I'm prepared to be underwhelmed by the rest of AA's trades this offseason