Verlander is who I'd be focused on. Don't think Max is leaving LA, and he'll probably get multiple years/cost too much.
Id take a season of Greinke and let the other 3 fight for a spot and the other two be long relief for Greinke’s likely poor starts 1 out of 3.
Pina is terrific defensively, and has some pop. But I don't know where this leaves Contreras and Langeliers. Log jam at the upper levels with catcher prospects.
Odd. I guess that means Contreras is trade bait? TDA does have injury problems but that means Contreras/Shea are starting every day at AAA/AA or should be.
Wright is a lock to be great but not sure you can count on the others just yet until proven so they should try to bring in one more. There are a lot of good internal options that are close however.
It will 100% be Contreras. Shea will be the everyday in Gwinnett for the year, learn under TDA in 2023, then be the guy in 2024.
More likely to be Bill, but foolish to be 100% certain on it. Only takes one big offer and they’ll get calls on both.
I'm really interested to see if AA if more aggressive moving some prospects now that he's got a WS under his belt.
By all accounts, Shea was the best, most complete offensive player for Mississippi this year, especially for his position, while being an elite defensive player. Contreras will likely never be more than good backup option or fringe starter in the bigs. You’re right that it’s not 100%, but the return for Shea would need to be far more substantial than Contreras to give up an elite catching prospect when our current guy in nearing the twilight of his career.
Think you’re underrating Bill. Still 23 currently, had a 133 wRC+ in Gwinnett and is pretty athletic for a catcher. Held his own in Atlanta last couple times up. Still raw defensively, but he’s athletic and catcher dev takes time.
9% CS rate in Gwinnett is a very generous description of raw. I agree that I’m probably unfairly favoring Shea though; was a big fan of his when he was at Baylor.
i guess it makes one of the ‘spects expendable but at the same time kevan smith, johnathan lucroy, and jeff mathis got meaningful ABs for us this season.
While a fair point, this signing seems to indicate they don’t see either prospect as ready for a backup role, which means they need development time. Hard to get that for both unless they plan to keep Shea in AA one more year.
I’m fine with having neither in the backup role just yet. Let them continue to get regular at-bats. I just don’t understand this sense of urgency with developing catchers.
I think it has way more to do with wanting them to play everyday vs them not being ready. Those dudes playing twice a week would completely fuck up their development.
Yep. Shea doesn’t appear to have much left to show in AA and Contreras has no reason to be there. TDA is rock solid but that window for development is two years unless you want to get a FA.
So much for developing one of the kiddos as a backup. Braves will always have the veterans presents of a backup catcher. Dude does seem like the ideal backup catcher between the defense, his clubhouse standing, and ability to run into some homers.
braves win the world series and sign the best catcher on the market to be the backup the rich get richer folks
Freddie’s agent trying to use the Yankees as leverage would at least hint they’re not thrilled with his market currently.
Spotrac has our current 40 man obligations for 2022 estimated at ~$136M, and that includes tendering every arb eligible player, including Duvy, and Ender's $1M buyout which vested upon release. Spotrac also had our final payroll for 2021 at ~$174M, but that includes the $5.5M in buyouts for Joc and Duvy option declines and the full salary for Ozuna, which we didn't have to pay once he was on the restricted list. So our paid payroll during the season was probably closer to the $160M range. I can't imagine we will surpass that $174M number in 2022, or at least not by much. But if we say $180M for shits and giggles, that leaves us ~$44M left to spend, unless we can find a way to save some $ on Ozuna, and we will likely keep some of that for the deadline based on AA's history. That's not a lot of room to bring in a starter, an OF, a DH, and Fred. Going to have to really rely on young guys making big contributions next year.
I am not worried, I am just talking about payroll. It took me longer to type that out than it did to look it up. Neither took very long. And I am savoring the title. My desire to continue to talk about this stuff is not mutually exclusive to my ability to enjoy the run we just had. I just didn't buy any merch for me to share the tracking updates for.