Braves To Sign Sean Rodriguez November 24th, 2016 at 11:54am CST • By Steve Adams The Braves are in agreement with infielder/outfielder Sean Rodriguez on a two-year deal that will guarantee the MVP Sports client more than $11MM, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Rodriguez, 32 next April, enjoyed a career year with the Pirates in 2016, hitting .270/.349/.510 with a career-best 18 home runs in 342 trips to the plate. A versatile right-handed hitter, Rodriguez spent more than 100 innings at shortstop, second base, first base and in the corner outfield, and he’s also no stranger to playing third base, with 652 Major League innings at the hot corner under his belt. Defensive metrics typically rate Rodriguez as an above-average contributor at second base and passable at the infield and outfield corners. Rodriguez may not have one set position where he fits as a starter in Atlanta, but he could still play four to five times per week by spelling others and giving manager Brian Snitker a platoon option at multiple positions. Rodriguez will give the Braves a right-handed complement to Jace Peterson at second base while Ozzie Albies recovers from an elbow fracture and continues his development in the minor leagues. He can also see some action in right field against tougher lefties if the Braves want to limit Nick Markakis‘ appearances against southpaws on the heels of a .243/.303/.309 line against lefties. At third base, meanwhile, Adonis Garcia is the favorite for playing time but has just 761 MLB plate appearances (with a 95 wRC+) and will turn 32 next spring. Rodriguez can act as a safety net at the hot corner as well, and his ability to play all over the diamond will give the team an experienced fill-in at virtually any position other than center field or catcher in the event of an injury.
I like that a lot as a super sub for our guys. I hope Albie's can come back well or package him for an ace and rely on Demeritte.
Good read from Fangraphs on why the Sean Rodriguez signing makes so much sense. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/why-the-braves-needed-to-sign-sean-rodriguez/
Braves traded Povse and Whalen to the Mariners for Alex Jackson. Jackson was the 6th overall pick in the '14 draft. Buying really low on the guy.
Jackson hasn't done shit since being drafted, but I'll trade Whalen and Povse every day and twice on Sunday to take a chance on him figuring it out. Povse is a fun arm, but we've got plenty of those.
Longest comments I have seen. Good lord at the people who put that much into an article about Sean Rodriguez. Yes I'm being judgemental.
Shanks acting like he knows the PTBNL BillShanks @BillShanks 31m31 minutes ago BillShanks Retweeted Go USA It's not a highly rated prospect, but it is someone who can fill a role and still have potential. It's a good piece to add to the system.
Gondee thinks we are getting Tyler Marlette assuming he isn't taken in the rule 5. He's a stick first catcher with some upside. Had a good season in the AFL.
SEATTLE Catcher Tyler Marlette is making a strong bid for a spot on the Mariners’ 40-man roster when the deadline arrives next month for clubs to protect players from being available in the Rule 5 Draft. Marlette, 23, is batting .375 for Peoria through six starts in the Arizona Fall League and was cited Friday by Baseball America at No. 4 in its weekly Hot Sheet. He is 9-for-24 with two homers and seven RBIs. ADVERTISING "Marlette’s career has stalled in recent years," the magazine reported. "A bat-first catcher, he has to really hit to justify his fringe-average receiving. But after reaching the high Class A California League in 2014, he has spent most of the last two seasons back there. "So this AFL stint is an important springboard for Marlette as he looks to prove he’s ready for a full season at Double-A. He has four multi-hit games in six starts in the AFL." Marlette batted .277 this season with a .335 on-base percentage and a .463 slugging percentage in 98 games at Hi-A Bakersfield (83 games) and Double-A Jackson (15). He also had 15 homers and 59 RBIs. The Mariners selected Marlette, a right-handed hitter, in the fifth round of the 2011 draft. That makes him eligible for the Rule 5 Draft in December if the Mariners don’t add him to their 40-man roster prior to the deadline. The Rule 5 Draft is designed to prevent clubs from stashing players in the minors after four or five years (depending on their age when signed). A selected player must remain on his new club’s big-league roster for an entire year or be offered back to his former club. Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sport...ider-blog/article111071222.html#storylink=cpy
Anybody have ESPN Insider? http://www.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=5936 Mariners get what they can for fading prospect Alex Jackson, trade #6 overall pick to Braves Alex Jackson, the Mariners' top pick in the 2014 draft, could never find his swing in his three seasons with the organization. 1:37 PM ET Keith LawESPN Senior Writer Outfielder Alex Jackson was in consideration for the first overall pick in 2014, didn't make it out of the top 10, and was supposed to be on the fast track to the majors by now. Instead, Seattle flipped him (with a player to be named later) for two lower-tier pitching prospects, as Atlanta cashes in some of its pitching depth to roll the dice on a longshot bat who still has a high ceiling if he can get out of his current rut. Seattle turns the page on the sixth overall pick in the 2014 draft before they even had to put the player on their 40-man roster. The Mariners took Jackson, a high school catcher with power and what appeared to be a promising hit tool, and moved him immediately to right field because they felt his bat was good enough that he'd need to play every day.
Outfielder Alex Jackson was in consideration for the first overall pick in 2014, didn't make it out of the top 10 and was supposed to be on the fast track to the majors by now. Instead, Seattle flipped him (with a player to be named later) for two lower-tier pitching prospects, as Atlanta cashes in some of its pitching depth to roll the dice on a longshot bat who still has a high ceiling if he can get out of his current rut. Seattle turned the page on the sixth overall pick in the 2014 draft before it even had to put the player on its 40-man roster. The Mariners took Jackson, a high school catcher with power and what appeared to be a promising hit tool, and moved him immediately to right field, because they felt his bat was good enough that he should play every day. His first summer ended when he took a ball off his face while playing the outfield, and since then he just hasn't hit at all, striking out in nearly 30 percent of his plate appearances across two seasons in low-A and short-season ball, showing much less power than anticipated as well. Jackson's approach has been poor, and he's been leading too much with his elbow, causing him to over-rotate and pull or hook everything to the left side. Some of this is fixable if the player is willing, and I think the Mariners started to lose patience after a second year of minimal progress. It makes all the sense in the world for Atlanta to trade from its stock of pitching prospects to add a high-ceiling, out-of-favor player like Jackson, who will turn 21 on Christmas Day and hasn't lost anything physically that would make it impossible for him to restore his value. In exchange for Jackson, the Mariners get two lower-ceiling pitching prospects who have a better chance to help the major-league team in the near future. Max Povse is a giant (6-foot-8) strike thrower with an average fastball and plus changeup. He has shown better velocity in the past, but it fluctuated in 2016, and he's never had an average breaking ball. He's probably a back-end starter, maybe one who can help in 2017 given his success through double-A. The history of starters this tall staying healthy isn't great, although Povse has been healthy in his two-plus years in pro ball. Rob Whalen is a sinker-slider guy with fringy stuff who doesn't miss enough bats, probably a triple-A depth starter or future reliever. It's definitely a letdown considering where they drafted Jackson, but if internally they'd come to the conclusion that their former No. 1 prospect was never going to develop, then I can at least understand trading him for players who could help their team in 2017.
Well, at least law says there's nothing wrong physically.. Fangraphs says his body has developed poorly and he's lost some athleticism in his swing.
would been a very affordable deal, but not really necessary after getting bartolo and RA, assuming they stay healthy of course Julio Folty young pup Colon Dickey Volquez would of taken the 3rd spot, but we need that for development, at some point this wave of starters will be ready
Rome Was Built In Half A Season Minor League Team of the Year November 30, 2016 By J.J. Cooper image: http://www.baseballamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Touki-Toussaint-2016-tp.jpg Touki Toussaint was one of four first-round picks in Rome’s talented six-man rotation (Tom Priddy) When everyone looks back at the 2016 Rome Braves years from now, they may be remembered as one of the better minor league teams of the early 21st century. The rotation featured prospects in all six spots; that’s because it had too many prospects to settle for a five-man rotation. With third baseman Austin Riley and outfielder Ronald Acuna, the team had position prospects as well, and the bullpen had a number of hard-throwring relief aces. But midway through the 2016 season, those Rome Braves stunk. Minor League Team Of The Year 1993 Harrisburg/Eastern (Expos) 1994 Wilmington/Carolina (Royals) 1995 Norfolk/International (Mets) 1996 Edmonton/Pacific Coast (Athletics) 1997 West Michigan/Midwest (Tigers) 1998 Mobile/Southern (Padres) 1999 Trenton/Eastern (Red Sox) 2000 Round Rock/Texas (Astros) 2001 Lake Elsinore/California (Padres) 2002 Akron/Eastern (Indians 2003 Sacramento/Pacific Coast (Athletics) 2004 Lancaster/California (Diamondbacks) 2005 Jacksonville/Southern (Dodgers) 2006 Tucson/Pacific Coast (Diamondbacks) 2007 San Antonio/Texas (Padres) 2008 Frisco/Texas (Rangers) 2009 Akron/Eastern (Indians) 2010 Northwest Arkansas/Texas (Royals) 2011 Mobile/Southern (Diamondbacks) 2012 Springfield/Texas (Cardinals) 2013 Daytona/Florida State (Cubs) 2014 Portland (Red Sox) 2015 Biloxi Shuckers (Brewers) 2016 Rome (Braves) When the baby Braves went their separate ways for the all-star break in late June, Rome was 27-42, having lost five of its last six. The Braves were closer to the bottom of the South Atlantic League than the top. Acuna was hurt, Riley hadn’t hit, and the pitching staff had not been nearly as reliable as expected. “Coming out of spring training, we thought this group would take the lumps in the first half,” Braves assistant director of player development Jonathan Schuerholz said. “It shouldn’t be overlooked what (manager) Randy Ingle and his staff did. They got it handed to them in the first half of the season. They learned through adversity and didn’t let it get them down.” What is apparent now is that those were growing pains. Rome had the youngest team in full-season ball in 2016, with a roster that averaged a year younger than the SAL average. In fact, Rome was the youngest team in the South Atlantic League in more than a decade. After learning how to survive in the first half, the young kids figured out how to dominate in the second half. Lefthander Kolby Allard struggled in his first three starts in Rome, but after a short demotion he returned to show the dominant form the Braves expected when they drafted him in the first round in 2015. Once he found his form, he was one of four first-round picks in the Rome rotation. In addition to Allard, Rome relied on righthander Touki Toussaint (Diamondbacks’ first- round pick in 2014), lefthander Max Fried (Padres’ first-round pick in 2012) and righthander Mike Soroka (Braves’ first-round pick in 2015). Lefthander Ricardo Sanchez, a trade pickup from the Angels, is also promising. “It’s rare to look back and say I think every starter in the rotation on that team can be a starter in the big leagues,” Schuerholz said. “All of them have a chance to play in the big leagues in a rotation.” But the best starter Rome had was a seventh-round steal. Righthander Patrick Weigel had struggled during his three-stop college career, rarely finding the strike zone enough to be given much responsibility. But once the Braves signed him and developed him as a starter, Weigel proved he had four pitches, including a mid- to high-90s fastball that was hard for low Class A hitters to hit. Weigel went 10-4, 2.51 in 22 appearances with Rome. He earned a late-season promotion to Double-A Mississippi, leaving behind a group of teenage pitchers who had grown into the role. “Every day in the stands (when charting) it’s a treat to watch,” Weigel said. Whether it’s Touki (Toussaint), Fried, Allard.It’s the best pitching staff I’ve seen. Every guy is good. You come away shaking your head. It creates a higher standard. You know those dudes are right behind you. It drives all of us to get better every day. It makes you want to play better.” By the time Weigel left, Rome could handle losing arguably the best pitcher in the league. The club went 43-27 over the second half of the season, helped by the return of Acuna, the development of outfielder Ray Didder and Riley’s emergence as a middle-of-the-order threat. Riley hit three home runs in the first half of the season, but after improving his swing, he hit 17 home runs and 39 extra-base hits in the second half. Allard didn’t allow a run in two playoff starts and Fried struck out 24 in 15 innings to win two playoff starts himself. Rome knocked off Charleston and Lakewood to win its first title since 2003. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, so that makes what happened all the more special,” Braves general manager John Coppolella said. “So many different young players from different backgrounds came together, worked together, improved together, and won together. That team is a microcosm of the rebuild within our entire farm system.” The Rome Braves won their title on the road, so they had a lengthy bus ride from Lakewood, N.J. back to Rome. When the arrived near midnight the next day, they found fire trucks, police cars and fans greeting them for an impromptu championship celebration. “I don’t know if that happens in many cities,” Rome general manager Mike Dunn said. “We wanted to welcome the players home. Our office crew really engaged with the community on social media. The fan support and the community support were unparalleled. Everyone on that bus, their jaws dropped as they pulled in.” Among those waiting for them was Weigel. He’d been promoted to Double-A, but he made the trip to be there to celebrate with his former teammates. “It gets these guys in a team environment where they know how to play winning baseball together,” Scheurholz said. “They understand the feeling of, well sparkling cider in their case, in their eyes.” Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/ba-awards-gala/rome-built-half-sason/#2ZXlgMgYJwcxCoZl.99
Not a bad deal. Dykstra was like our fourth best shortstop. Ellis is a low ceiling prospect. Gant is roster depth. If Garcia gets anything close to 2015 it's a rape. But he'll probably get TJ.