Know Thy Enemy: 2020 Atlanta Braves

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Let's keep a compact focus on our closest rivals rather than lose it in the non-NYM thread.



So they got d'Arnaud a batterymate in... Cole Hamels. 1 year $18M deal.

[Centerfield]

They're spending. But to be fair, I'd be pretty pissed if the Mets spent $18 million on 36 year old Cole Hamels. ERA was still good, but his WHIP of 1.391 suggests he might be losing a bit.



Hamels has been floated as a Wheeler replacement, so I'm pretty happy he's off the board.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

[Frayed Knot]

After first embracing, and later rejecting (even to the point of firing the architect responsible) the idea of signing almost everyone to long-term deals [Kimbrel, Simmons, Upton, Uggla, others] the Braves quickly

reversed course and these days seem to be opting for the strategy of longer deals for arb-eligible or even pre-arb players [Albies, Acuna, Freddie] but shorter-term/big-bucks ['Let's see what ya still got'] kind of

deals for older ones [Donaldson, Markakis, and now Hamels]

As always you've got to pick the right guys to slot in each category -- the downside is putting yourself in the situation where you (and the fans) are saying: 'We paid $20 million for this lame piece of shit?!?' -- but

if you do it's probably the right way to go.