The Atlanta Braves Thread

#205,126
#205,126
zjcvols said:
AA wouldn't give Freddie Freeman, an 11 year vet who posted a 145 wRC+ over the past six years and just won a World Series where he posted an over 1.000 OPS in same postseason, a sixth year because it didn't fit HIS parameters of a contract. He won't take risks because he got burned in Toronto. And while complaining about a baseball team that has won 96 games per year (full season) since he took over with a World Series seems stupid in theory, this whole "I won't take risks or bend my parameters on contracts for long term flexibility" in today's market is becoming a very outdated mindset that is going to cost us.
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And what's even funnier with this mindset is that he has no qualms or issues giving long term contracts and big money to relievers, which is A) The easiest way to save money and look for efficiency in the market and B) Is the most volatile position in the sports where year by year results cannot be trusted
 
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#205,129
#205,129
mr.checkerboards said:
The place hes screwing up though is he got burned on trades.
Trading Syndergaard away.
Trading for Reyes, Dickey, and Burhele. Hes kinda doing the same thing .
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And that's part of the problem. The only two times he has gotten "burned" in Atlanta was with Hamels and Ozuna. Hamels was just a one year deal and COVID, so that was significantly dampened. And the Ozuna contract, which might come out neutral anyways since Bear just put a monster year.

Which is the problem! When you are a successful team that has year to year aspirations of championships, you should be burned a couple times! Dave Dombrowski gave Taijaun Walker and Nicholas Castellanos $172M! The Dodgers traded Yordan Alvarez for a reliever! The Cubs traded for Jose Quintana! It happens! That's the risk of trying to find the margins when you are legitimately trying to win titles. And what's even dumber is this is not a salary cap sport! It's not like it prevents you from signing guys 5 years from now!
 
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#205,130
#205,130
And also, AA SORELY misjudged the future of baseball contracts. He wouldn't give Bryce Harper $330M/$26M AAV because it was absurd and too much. Now we are paying $27M AAV to Charlie Morton and Pierce Johnson. We just paid Marcell Ozuna and Eddie Rosario $25M last year. Juan Soto will go to market or sign with the Yankees for $500M with basically the same resume as Bryce. And now contracts are TOO BIG to pay anyone (according to him) when in 2019 he could have made a monster signing that now pales in comparison to baseball contracts in 2024. Part of your job as a GM is determining how the future of the sport looks. He totally miscalculated.
 
#205,131
#205,131
zjcvols said:
And what's even funnier with this mindset is that he has no qualms or issues giving long term contracts and big money to relievers, which is A) The easiest way to save money and look for efficiency in the market and B) Is the most volatile position in the sports where year by year results cannot be trusted
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Gotta zig when others zag!!!
 
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#205,132
#205,132
I don't think it's AA. It's the corporation. $100M market contracts are risky. We give them only when it's robbery. You could take out AA and the next guy would be under the same pressure.
 
#205,134
#205,134
Weezy said:
I don't think it's AA. It's the corporation. $100 market contracts are risky. We give them only when it's robbery. You could take out AA and the next guy would be under the same pressure.
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Liberty doesn't seem to care how the money is spent. I'm not saying "Why isn't our budget $350M????". I understand that is not likely. The issue is spending $50M on your bullpen when you are under a strict budget. It's signing a ton of these dudes for below market value and not capitalizing on that. It's "I refuse to sign a FA that isn't a reliever past a two year deal". It's paying a backup C on the decline $8M when you gave a long term extension and trade assets up for a starting catcher because "he fits the clubhouse". These are legitimate issues.
 
#205,138
#205,138
zjcvols said:
Liberty doesn't seem to care how the money is spent. I'm not saying "Why isn't our budget $350M????". I understand that is not likely. The issue is spending $50M on your bullpen when you are under a strict budget. It's signing a ton of these dudes for below market value and not capitalizing on that. It's "I refuse to sign a FA that isn't a reliever past a two year deal". It's paying a backup C on the decline $8M when you gave a long term extension and trade assets up for a starting catcher because "he fits the clubhouse". These are legitimate issues.
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I have no clue but let's speculate. Those reliever contracts are shorter, and less on total dollars. That's less risk. I think the Braves are going to be operated like a corporation. The intent is to drive shareholder value, and reduce risk. You don't do that with $150M starting pitcher contracts. You do that with young position players. Backend risk is real risk when you aren't a billionaire owner. Right now, the corporation is doing well. Don't screw it up.

I'm not an expert in any of this stuff. I'm not even sure what an Llc is. But I have zero expectation the Braves will ever win free agency.
 
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#205,139
#205,139
Weezy said:
I have no clue but let's speculate. Those reliever contracts are shorter, and less on total dollars. That's less risk. I think the Braves are going to be operated like a corporation. The intent is to drive shareholder value, and reduce risk. You don't do that with $150M starting pitcher contracts. You do that with young position players. Backend risk is real risk when you aren't a billionaire owner. Right now, the corporation is doing well. Don't screw it up.

I'm not an expert in any of this stuff. I'm not even sure what an Llc is. But I have zero expectation the Braves will ever win free agency.
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It's a very interesting conversation to be had. Does Liberty Media set an initiative that trickles down to act and operate like a Fortune 500 company (which they are) to the baseball operations? Or does Liberty Media care how the baseball team is run outside of "Here's how much you can spend on player payroll, coaches, analytical departments, etc."? Because Liberty Media and Terry McGuirk claim they simply have nothing to do with how the baseball team operates. It's an interesting conversation. While AA would never say "Yeah I wanted to give Trea Turner $325M but Liberty Media told me no I can't give out long term contracts like that" the implications from those "in the know" states as long as AA doesn't go above budget, he can run the team however he sees fit.

(Sorry for the long respones, I"m on the computer working on the resume).
 
#205,140
#205,140
What's even worse is that AA much prefers trades over free agency but our farm system sucks!
 
#205,141
#205,141
There's probably some business dudes in here. I think a publicly traded company has to act in the best interest of the shareholder. Winning is only one way to get there. There's a lot of low market teams making money by doing anything but winning. The Braves are making money hand over fist right now. But they can't buy a championship, that's what billionaire owners do.

Edit: The Braves couldn't do what the Padres just tried to do and failed.
 
#205,142
#205,142
zjcvols said:
And that's part of the problem. The only two times he has gotten "burned" in Atlanta was with Hamels and Ozuna. Hamels was just a one year deal and COVID, so that was significantly dampened. And the Ozuna contract, which might come out neutral anyways since Bear just put a monster year.

Which is the problem! When you are a successful team that has year to year aspirations of championships, you should be burned a couple times! Dave Dombrowski gave Taijaun Walker and Nicholas Castellanos $172M! The Dodgers traded Yordan Alvarez for a reliever! The Cubs traded for Jose Quintana! It happens! That's the risk of trying to find the margins when you are legitimately trying to win titles. And what's even dumber is this is not a salary cap sport! It's not like it prevents you from signing guys 5 years from now!
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It's very stupid, but I think it goes back farther than just that.

Remember AA's quote a couple years ago that he didn't want the Braves to become the Falcons, that's a directive from LM. AA is risk adverse but I believe those above him have told him not to assume more risk than needed. As long as the stands are full most nights and the Braves are competing for the division I think LM doesn't really care about a WS.
 
#205,145
#205,145
mr.checkerboards said:
It's very stupid, but I think it goes back farther than just that.

Remember AA's quote a couple years ago that he didn't want the Braves to become the Falcons, that's a directive from LM. AA is risk adverse but I believe those above him have told him not to assume more risk than needed. As long as the stands are full most nights and the Braves are competing for the division I think LM doesn't really care about a WS.
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Liberty Media no longer owns the Braves and the Ohtani contract is fiscal insanity.
 
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