So, about them 2014 Braves ...

[Frayed Knot]

I know it's not even Winter Meetings week yet - but the Braves are usually good for a bunch of aggressive and out-of-the-box off-season moves, and yet the biggest thing they've done so far is to announce that they are abandoning their city.

Plus, all this comes in a year where it seems they need to make more moves than usual as since October they've:
- lost Tim Hudson to the Giants
- lost Brian McCann to the Yanx
- benched their starting 2Bman for the playoffs because his hitting declined so much that his fielding became his strong suit, and when your name is Dan Uggla that's not a good thing
- had last year's big FA signing, BJ Upton, fall into disaster territory in the 1st year of a 5 year deal, essentially making the two highest paid players on their roster (Uggla & Upton) their worst
- and the system guys of Freeman, Heyward, Kimbrel, etc. are starting to reach those more expensive arbitration years

And while I'm sure they'll have some aces up their sleeves: some 14th round draft pick out of the Atlanta suburbs will come out of nowhere next spring throwing to a sub-2.00 ERA for the first few months of the season; and somewhere in their system is some 19 y/o kid who they signed based on how he looked swinging his machete on a sugarcane field on the side of a Caribbean volcano somewhere who will mysteriously turn into a .300 hitter, but still, it's unlike them to be this eerily quiet while the rest of the transaction sheets are bursting into flames all around them.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yes I wondered if they might be punting until that new site gets built. Looks like they try Gattis as their catcher now?

[metirish]

I don't think I have ever seen a noncompetitive Braves team, interesting year for them.

[Frayed Knot]

Gavin Floyd signs an incentive-heavy deal to be part of the Braves rotation.
But he's also coming off TJ surgery in May so almost certainly won't be available until the 2nd half of the season at best.

[Lefty Specialist]

I thought the Mat Gamel move was so big it basically finished them for the off-season.

[seawolf17]

When you spin a Gamel, you get the whole pot, right? What else is there to do?

[Frayed Knot]

Brian McCann gets replaced by Ryan Doumit - acquired in a deal w/the Twins in exchange for a minor league pitcher.
Doumit, a nine-year vet who turns 33 around opening day, is usually good for around 12-15 HRs/year (which means I expect him to hit 20 in April alone).

I knew there was no way they were going to go into the 2014 season with Evan Gattis as their #1 catcher.

[Lefty Specialist]

Doumit's a horrible defensive catcher. And of this 148 starts last year, only 43 were behind the dish. He's more of an OF/DH type now. Don't see him as the #1 catcher, not by a long shot.

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Doumit's a horrible defensive catcher ... Don't see him as the #1 catcher, not by a long shot.

I was thinking that part of that is on account of being teamed with Mauer - but looking at it now it appears that he started even less after Mauer got hurt (in a NYM game). Still, it's hard to imagine someone a whole lot worse defensively than Gattis so who knows what the Cobb Braves have planned here.
Sounds like it's time for Terry to get Granderson, Wright, Murphy, [crossout]Reyes[/crossout] oops, Young x2, Lagares, etc. up and running.

[Frayed Knot]

It looks like the traditionally cautious Braves are suddenly getting all aggressive with contracts for their young players.
It was just a few weeks ago that they doled out the longest contract in team history with an 8 year deal for Freddie Freeman. And now this week they've gone for 6 years for pitcher Julio Teheran, and 4 for Craig Kimbrel

[MFS62]

No matter how many pain-in-the-ass hitters they have had in recent years, their teams have always been based on good pitching. Locking up their good young pitchers on multi-year contracts is a good move.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Kimbrel certainly - although Teheran's contract surprised me a bit as his future still seems a bit up in the air.
On the hitting side they went long-term for Freeman but not (yet anyway) for Heyward (he got a two-year deal for his arg years) because he's been much less consistent than Freeman.

[Edgy MD]

The Braves are in extension mode, which I'm trying to interpret as a message to their core employees that we'll give you your security if you hunker down until the new stadium gets built. Last night brings us the news that manager Fredi Gonzalez and GM Frank Wren have been extended, and that comes on top of pre-arbitration lockup contracts being handed out to young building blocks like Julio Teheran, Jason Heyward, and Freddie Freeman. Andrelton Simmons, call your agent.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: ... Andrelton Simmons, call your agent.

BAM!! Seven year deal for Simmons.
Not bad for a guy with less than a year and a half of MLB under his belt.

[Edgy MD]

GENIUS! ME! GENIUS!

Simmons should throw one or two percent of that deal to me. He never would have called his agent if not for me.

Seriously, though, is there any sort of precedent for this? Locking up so many guys so early? I like it. Now I want to see Murphy and Gee and Parnell tied up. (Not literally).

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: Seriously, though, is there any sort of precedent for this? Locking up so many guys so early?

The Rays giving Evan Longoria a 6-year deal after he had been in the majors less than a week is the biggest example I can think of, but that's only one guy. Of course the key to doing so many at once is having so many guys on the same team who are so good while still so young.
Freeman has just a bit over 3 years of ML service time under his belt while Heyward (only a two-year deal) already has four years, even though neither will turn 25 until late this upcoming season.
Teheran, just turned 23, and Simmons (24) got the long-term deals with just one full season each so these are really the surprising ones.
'Old Man' Kimbrel turns 26 in May.

The Braves problem has been getting their outside FAs (Uggla + older Upton) to contribute according to what they're paying them.

[MFS62]

This is amazing when you consider that before free agency, guys were locked up by their signing team for their career, or until that team traded them.
Noting the Longoria deal mentioned above, how soon should a team realistically wait to make that kind of commitment?

Later

[Frayed Knot]

MFS62 wrote: This is amazing when you consider that before free agency, guys were locked up by their signing team for their career, or until that team traded them.

Right, except that they were "locked up" on a one year at a time basis. The teams, in those cases, got all of the certainty of a long-term commitment with none of the risk.

Noting the Longoria deal mentioned above, how soon should a team realistically wait to make that kind of commitment?

It's an individual call.
In the Longoria case it worked out well for both sides to the point where it was extended an additional six years before the first one was over.
The Rangers, last year, made the "easier" call by giving Elvis Andrus an 8-year deal after he already had 3 seasons under his belt - but then an off year in 2013 puts that deal on shaky ground practically before it started.
It's not like there's a right or wrong answer here.

[Frayed Knot]

Reading up a bit on the Braves and their young players:
- They got a higher WAR out of their under-25s last season (18.2) than any other team, more in fact than the bottom 11 teams got combined
- the next closest team was the Angels with 12 WAR from their under 25s, but 11 of that was from Trout alone
- of the long-term deals the Braves just gave out, the oldest player they're on the hook for is Freddie Freeman who'll be 31 in the final year of his new eight-year contract

That IS working, that's the way ya do it.

[Frayed Knot]

Braves rotation already in loads of potential trouble.
- Kris Medlen, who left the game v the Mets last week, now has confirmed "ligament damage" in his pitching elbow, although they've yet to determine (or talk about) the extent of the problem.
- Brandon Beachy is going to be missing at least one spring start with "arm tightness around the elbow and bicep soreness". He's already a veteran of two elbow surgeries (including TJ) is a candidate for starting the season on the DL
- Mike Minor has also been dealing with injuries and could start the year on the DL

[seawolf17]

Thankfully, they have a 38th-round draft pick out of suburban Atlanta who went 2-15, 6.88 in AA last season; he's going to win 14 games and beat us five times this season.

DAMMIT BRAVES

[Frayed Knot]

seawolf17 wrote: Thankfully, they have a 38th-round draft pick out of suburban Atlanta who went 2-15, 6.88 in AA last season; he's going to win 14 games and beat us five times this season.

See the tail end of the very first post in this thread for a similar sentiment.

[nymr83]

Whats the stadium story here? I thought i remember this park being less than 20 years old and they are jumping ship already???

[Frayed Knot]

The Braves, after intense research into the demographics of the state of Georgia, reached the stunning conclusion that the current location is in a bad neighborhood, has sucky traffic, and that the area outside the city in Cobb County is whiter and richer than inner-city Atlanta.

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: seawolf17 wrote: Thankfully, they have a 38th-round draft pick out of suburban Atlanta who went 2-15, 6.88 in AA last season; he's going to win 14 games and beat us five times this season. See the tail end of the very first post in this thread for a similar sentiment.

Ha! Apologies for not RingM&PingL and stealing your joke.

[Frayed Knot]

Ha! Apologies for not RingM&PingL and stealing your joke.

All it shows is when two different people, three months apart, independently reach the exact same joke/conclusion then the scenario must be pretty likely.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: Braves rotation already in loads of potential trouble. - Kris Medlen, who left the game v the Mets last week, now has confirmed "ligament damage" in his pitching elbow, although they've yet to determine (or talk about) the extent of the problem. - Brandon Beachy is going to be missing at least one spring start with "arm tightness around the elbow and bicep soreness". He's already a veteran of two elbow surgeries (including TJ) is a candidate for starting the season on the DL - Mike Minor has also been dealing with injuries and could start the year on the DL

boom, Ervin Santana.

[seawolf17]

Santana career vs Mets: 1-0.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201308040.shtml

[Edgy MD]

Benson Bunch-quality pitcher.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: Benson Bunch-quality pitcher.

Better than that at his best (of course I guess you could say the same about most of the Benson bunch ... including Benson) but now there are questions about how healthy HE is even though he's made 30-plus starts virtually every season.
I know the Rangers were kicking the tires for a while but never pulled the trigger