The Atlanta Braves have received multiple trade calls about pitcher Lucas Harrell, a source tells Today’s Knuckleball. Harrell, a 31-year-old, has been out of the major leagues since 2014, as he has spent time pitching in Korea, where he amassed a 4.93 ERA in almost 172 innings pitched. After his stint in Korea, he signed with the Braves and recently made it to the big leagues where he has pitched surprisingly well, going 1-0 with a 1.32 ERA and a 10/3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. However, in his time in the minor-leagues, Harrell had a 3.06 ERA and an uninspiring 47/35 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 61 2/3 innings. Harrell is under club control for the next four seasons, which will intrigue teams looking for a non-rental type of player. That being said, Harrell will have to further prove himself after the All-Star break to show teams his last two outings weren’t flukes. In six major-league seasons, Harrell has played for the Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros and now the Braves. In those six seasons, he has a record of 19-33 to go along with a 4.72 ERA and a 278/203 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Harrell won’t be on the top of any teams’ wish lists, but teams could do worse when taking a flier on a player that won’t cost much in terms of prospects.
Boston is willing to offer us 10 baseball signed by Mark Lemke and a cup of melted ice from Ted Williams' frontal lobe.
With all the pitching we have drafted if we can get anything for Harrel send his ass on before he starts sucking.
pretty good interview with Coppy. would c/p but i'm mobile atm http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/baseball/coppolella-on-the-state-of-his-braves-pt-1/nrxFx/
Posted: 11:50 a.m. Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Via email, Braves general manager John Coppolella responded this week to 20 (plus one) questions regarding the half-season just past and his team’s future. The first 11 are presented here. The rest will come tomorrow. Q: The Braves have the worst record in baseball at the All-Star break. Before the season, you said you believed this team would be better than last year’s. What happened? A: It’s been a disappointing season and we feel for our fans. We never said we would be a World Series team, but we did think we would manage more than the 67 wins we had last season, and that’s still possible. Q: As difficult as it is to endure a 100-loss season – and your team is on pace to lose 106 games – would the examples of the Cubs and the Astros soften such a blow? A: No. Although we are following a similar plan to what those two teams did — and many others in recent years have done — it doesn’t mitigate the pain associated with every loss. It’s extremely difficult, but we know we are doing the right thing. Q: As the principal architect of this rebuilding effort, are there nights when you lie awake and wonder, “What have I done?” Or is your commitment to this grand design so resolute that you’re able to say, “Losing at the big-league level is the cost of what we believe will be enduring excellence”? A: Our commitment is resolute because what would have been worse is a decade of irrelevance. Look at where we were in October 2014. We had arguably the worst farm system in baseball. We had just lost 800 innings over the past 12 months with Ervin Santana and Aaron Harang leaving as free agents and Mike Minor and Kris Medlen suffering injuries, with nobody to replace them. Jason Heyward and Justin Upton were both a year away from free agency, with nobody to replace them. We finished 27-40 in the second half of 2014 with a team that was not performing, endearing to our fans, or on budget. Q: There’s no need to rehash Fredi Gonzalez’s firing, but duty compels me to ask: Have you gotten what you wanted from Brian Snitker as interim manager? Is the team now playing more or less the way you hoped it would coming into the season? From Mark Bradley A: Brian has done a great job and the team has played much better since we made the change. That’s not a knock on Fredi or Carlos Tosca, who are both great baseball men. It was just time for a change. Q: The Braves have a history of promoting from within. (You’re an example of that.) Is your preference to hire a full-time manager from within the organization, or will your first look be to find someone from outside? Is Snitker a viable candidate to manage the big-league team beyond this season? A: Brian is a viable candidate. However, as we made clear from the day we made the change, we will also look outside the organization. Q: With so many moving parts within the big-league Braves, has it been possible to get a feel as to which players are keepers? For example: Jace Peterson started the year as the second baseman; then he got demoted; now he’s back in the majors and playing every day. Is he part of the Braves’ future? A: Baseball is an extremely difficult game and we see elite players fall off cliffs in short periods of time and mediocre players turn into superstars. It’s been great seeing what Jace and other young players have done and we hope it continues. Q: Three of your young pitchers – Williams Perez, Mike Foltynewicz and John Gant – are or have been on the disabled list. Given what has happened with the Mets – Matt Harvey has opted for season-ending surgery; Noah Syndergaard has undergone a series of MRIs and left his last start with a “dead arm”; Steven Matz is pitching with bone chips in his elbow and Zack Wheeler’s recovery from Tommy John surgery has been delayed – do you ever wonder if rebuilding around pitching was the way to go? (The Cubs, as we know, rebuilt around hitting.) A: The fact that so many of these pitchers get hurt is precisely why we are building around pitching. There’s so much attrition associated with pitching that you truly can never have enough talent or depth when it comes to arms. It’s great the Cubs built around bats, but that’s what was available to them in the draft. There was no Kris Bryant or Kyle Schwarber in the draft this year. It’s also worth noting that all those bats the Cubs had still got beat (in the NLCS) by a Mets team built around pitching. Q:Entering the season, the highest-rated pitchers in your chain were Aaron Blair and Sean Newcomb. Blair has been demoted to Gwinnett after an unimpressive turn in the majors; Newcomb is still in Class AA fighting command issues. Another top prospect – Lucas Sims – was returned to AA after struggling in AAA. Yet another – Tyrell Jenkins – has been converted to a reliever. Is this a sign that maybe your young pitching isn’t good enough, or is this just part of the process of developing pitchers? A: It’s part of the process, but we won’t feel our pitching is good enough until we can run out our own version of Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz, and we’ve still got a long way to go. Aaron, Sean, Lucas, and Tyrell all have extremely bright futures, but like so many other pitchers they have struggled along the development road. Last year, Mike Foltynewicz and Matt Wisler were in similar positions, as were Julio Teheran and Mike Minor when they were first called up to the major leagues. We are happy with the development we have seen and we understand it’s a journey more than a destination, and we have faith in our players and our coaches to continue making progress. Q: Arodys Vizcaino had one blown save and no losses through June 6. He has had two blown saves and four losses since. Are you confident he can be your closer of the future? A: Arodys is extremely talented, but he needs to be more consistent. We hope he’s our closer of the future, but it’s short-sighted to make definitive proclamations on any players. Q: Was sending Bud Norris to the Dodgers on June 30 an attempt to get ahead of the trade-deadline crush and maximize the value of someone who was signed as a one-year stopgap? A: Yes. It was difficult to trade Bud, but knowing he was a free agent after the season was the overriding factor. Bud was pitching terrific and the Dodgers made us an offer that we felt compelled us to make that move at that time. Q: Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but will you trade Julio Teheran? A: No. We aren’t trading Julio.
Oh I want the truck backed up, but I want to capitalize on his value. I'm always afraid of bad Julio coming back. He's not a #1, so if they pay us like he's a #1, he needs to go.
Half a good year from Pomeranz got the Padres a prospect like Anderson Espinoza. But people thought the Braves were crazy for asking for Moncada or Benintendi in a trade for Teheran.
If Pomeranz brings that back, I really hope we deal Julio for a haul. Everyone is blaming the high price on it being a seller's market. Got to take advantage.
Read thru Gondees top 35 prospects, it is fucking loaded. Some pretty solid players didn't even make our top 35 http://www.gondeee.com/2016/07/13/braves-2016-mid-season-top-35-prospects/
Lotta people have said Liberty Media is cheap. Give them credit here, they've let them ball out in both of those areas.
Holy shit: Freddie Freeman had a cancerous mole surgically removed from his upper back during the All-Star break. Freeman goes for regular checkups after his mother died of skin cancer in 2000. While abnormal cells were present, he said Friday that he's cancer-free. "They said that with your family history, just take it out, so that's what I did," said Freeman. "There were cancerous cells, so I got it just in time." Freeman has a few stitches in his back, but it didn't stop him from being in the lineup for the first game of the second half on Friday.
Some thoughts: -Aggressive Maitan ranking, but if the scouts are right, it might end up being too low. I'd have him lower until he shows signs of that potential in actual professional games. -He's way too high on Sims. -His 9-11 should be his 5-7. -I don't mind the aggressive Dustin Peterson ranking. -Acuna looks too low based on the reports that came out on him prior to injury. -Ricardo Sanchez should have made the list. -Liked TalkingChop's list a good bit more.
I think it's time he heads to Danville. BillShanks @BillShanks 38m38 minutes ago Atlanta's draft pick @JoeyWentz with another great outing this morning (3IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 6K). Now has pitched 12 shutout IP, 3H, 5BB, 18K.
Chipper's being interviewed - When asked our prospects, he mentioned he's waiting until Swanson and Albies get promoted to AAA so he doesn't have to drive to Mississippi. Said he's keeping up with the reports and talks about the three arms we drafted this year immediately - mentioned Wentz was in on a combined no-hitter. I guess he is keeping up with the reports... Asked about bats, and there was an audible sigh. Mentioned Riley before the inning was over and they went to commercial.
And subsequently said he'd like to see us start accumulating hitters. He seems as upset as we are with the lack of bats - was kinda cool.
Adonis boots one to cause trouble, but Aybar with a great play on a tricky in-between hop to start a double play. Folty following up his last outing with another stellar performance.
i was against joe there just bc i am petty. was really hoping folty would lay into the ump on his way out
To the ump's credit, he didn't engage Folty. Laz Diaz, and many others, would have thrown him out for the shit he was pulling.
Folty pitched his ass off, and the ump start squeezing him in the 8th that got this whole thing started. Folty is a better man than I, because I would have gotten my moneys worth out of that ump when I was taken out of the game.