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2018 Atlanta Braves Season Thread: Offseason

timdunkandthefunk said:
I know it would be good for the team but I have hated Bryce Harper so intensely for the last six years I’m not sure I can get behind that move. It would be Duggla x 1000.
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I think he is a talented guy, but a terrible fit for this team.
 
If we resign Kimbrell, based on tonight he will fit right into our walk fest pitching staff.
 
Whoever signs Harper is going to regret it. There may be one or two players who would earn the contract he will get. I’ll pass on paying $35+.
 
YoungBuck95 said:
Whoever signs Harper is going to regret it. There may be one or two players who would earn the contract he will get. I’ll pass on paying $35+.
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Agreed. While we obviously need more power, his potential to bat ~.200 for months at a time is not acceptable.
 
Eh, folks said the same thing about Gary Sheffield and seemed to get over it when he was putting up a 7-WAR season.

I just want the Braves to win. They have a huge hole in RF for next year and need another power bat badly. Again, I think the odds of the Braves signing Harper are super low because Harper is going to get a lot of money and the Braves are likely going up against the usual teams who spend money. But Harper is pretty far and away the youngest and best FA outfielder. The fact that he has a lion's mane and wears eye black and looks like a villain in a 1980s skiing movie, I really don't care if he helps win.
 
Yeah but you weren't worried that Sheffield was going to be an awful person who was going to hit .200 for four months.
 
If Nick doesn’t come back, then I would rather have Lane Adams playing right field for super cheap. Harper isn’t worth the money, especially when the pitching staff walks every other batter.
 
I do not think re-signing Nick is ideal as he will be expensive and highly doubt he replicates this season.

However, replacing the production in the 4-hole is the second most important task this off-season.

Do we move Acuna to the 4-hole and have Ender/Ozzie in 1/2 hole? Big signing for the 4-hole?
 
DeacsOrDie said:
I do not think re-signing Nick is ideal as he will be expensive and highly doubt he replicates this season.

However, replacing the production in the 4-hole is the second most important task this off-season.

Do we move Acuna to the 4-hole and have Ender/Ozzie in 1/2 hole? Big signing for the 4-hole?
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I think Acuna to cleanup will eventually happen.

1. Albies
2. Ender
3. Freeman
4. Acuna
5. Camargo
6. Suzuki/Flowers
7. Swanson
8. ?

Not a terrible lineup if you don't give up 7 runs per game due to walks and meatball pitching.
 
I’m almost positive that we’ll have a new catcher. Flowers will back up Realmuto, Grandal, or Ramos.
 
skinnydeac said:
I think he is a talented guy, but a terrible fit for this team.
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The comparison that came to mind for me was the O's signing Albert Belle. I predicted he would be a cancer and the results were not good.
 
Harper would not be a cancer for the Braves; with the one exception of the insane Jonathan Paplebon; Harper's teammates and his managers all like him. Even so, not sure Harper merits the big payday that is coming.

As Harper has grown into his mid-20s, he has lost speed which has impacted his defense (below average defender) and his base running (average at best base runner). IMO, to pay one guy $30 million+ a year, he needs to do more than hit the ball out of the park. Right now, Harper is a limited player, and only see his limitations becoming more pronounced as he ages. Taking all of those factors into account, it's just not worth the massive long term investment. There is a reason that the Nats haven't made a concerted effort to reach a long term deal for Harper, like they did with Strasburg. With that said, easy to see Harper hitting 40 HRs next year. There are a lot of teams that think the missing piece is a middle of the order left handed power bat; Harper can fill that void.
 
All of Harper's teammates and his managers do not like him. I mean, some of them do, but it's no secret in DC that Papelbon had a significant amount of quiet support for grabbing him by the throat when Harper went into "come at me bro" mode.

There's not really all that much of an outcry here to keep Harper here. I think most people think he'll go be a diva MVP for a bad team or an overpaid piece of one of the big money teams who can afford for him to play like their 3rd best player.
 
Pilchard said:
Harper would not be a cancer for the Braves; with the one exception of the insane Jonathan Paplebon; Harper's teammates and his managers all like him. Even so, not sure Harper merits the big payday that is coming.

As Harper has grown into his mid-20s, he has lost speed which has impacted his defense (below average defender) and his base running (average at best base runner). IMO, to pay one guy $30 million+ a year, he needs to do more than hit the ball out of the park. Right now, Harper is a limited player, and only see his limitations becoming more pronounced as he ages. Taking all of those factors into account, it's just not worth the massive long term investment. There is a reason that the Nats haven't made a concerted effort to reach a long term deal for Harper, like they did with Strasburg. With that said, easy to see Harper hitting 40 HRs next year. There are a lot of teams that think the missing piece is a middle of the order left handed power bat; Harper can fill that void.
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Good post. For the amount he will likely be paid, Harper is a risk, no question. Big difference between a 9-win player and a 3-win player. I feel like he's still young enough that I expect him to have a few more really good to great seasons, but I will acknowledge that he may have just had 1 historically awesome, healthy season, and otherwise he's just a top 20-50 position player in MLB who gets more press than he deserves due to his haircut and pedigree. Assuming he's healthy, I would not be surprised to see his RF defense bounce back to at least an average level, because he's athletic and obviously in shape like a motherfucker. This is where the scouts and the analysts make their bones.
 
One place where Braves ownership has clearly been super successful is in beating down fans to the point where we just assume and accept the budget is such that they can't afford anyone who gets paid more than $15m/year. I'm pretty sure Liberty Media (and Time Warner before them) isn't losing money on the Braves. Yet we've settled in to this place where we're below league average payroll every year. Sad. The competitive window is right fucking now, and it's time to spend some money and supplement this team.
 
I mean, shit man, no offense, but someone just wrote on here they'd prefer to play Lane Adams in RF for super cheap. Lane fucking Adams! We've all just accepted that the Braves are gonna be #20 in payroll and so therefore we can't sign a guy like Bryce Harper because we won't have any money for anyone else. Same franchise that just got like $400m in public funds to build SunTrust Park.
 
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