Apparently not. Saw a big article the other day saying signing a guy like Harper doesn't make fiscal sense even if you win.
love when billionaires and multinational corporations cry about the possibility of spending a few million. what a fucking joke
I beg to differ. The publicity and ability to market around a star like Harper, Acuna, etc is untold. Jersey sales, memorabilia, all go through the roof. Not to mention the baby braves movement, so you have a ton of talented prospects grabbing folks attention. If they piece some good veteran presents with our young core it could be magic again. And that's if Liberty will keep reinvesting rather than paying the note on the stadium
It’s not really untold, people have quantified it and made the argument that it’s not a great ROI That’s why the players need to fire shit ass Tony Clark and get a real negotiator and force the owners to give them more share of the revenues.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadsp...usion-to-turn-off-the-hot-stov-1831644811/amp That's an interesting read. They have economists break it down.
Basically the haves and the have nots. But when the Marlins go to sell their team vs the Yankees, there will be a marked difference paid. The Yankees win and the Marlins draw 8,000 fans. Or relocate because they arent pulling their weight etc
One of my favorite past times when driving through Philly is turning on sports radio and listening to the meltdowns. The 2 common ones I heard today 1) Ben Simmons(in his 2nd season) is maxed out as a player and should be traded 2) something happened overnight and the city woke up texting each other st 6am thinking Harper was going to be announced as a Philly today and now everyone was having meltdowns when it didn’t happen
Klaw Top 50 prospects: 22. Kyle Wright, RHP, Atlanta Braves Age: 23 (10/2/95) Bats: R | Throws: R 6-foot-4 | 200 pounds Top level: MLB | 2018 rank: 26 The No. 5 overall pick in the 2017 draft, Wright became the first player from that class to reach the majors when Atlanta recalled him in September for its playoff push. Wright will work with 92-96 mph velocity as a starter and has shown a plus slider (a hard one with bite up to 86 mph) and an average changeup. However, he hasn't missed quite as many bats in the high minors as I would have expected given his stuff, even considering that he went from Vanderbilt to Double-A in 10 months. He'll mix in a curveball, and he went to it more during his very brief time in the majors because he couldn't land the slider for strikes and barely threw the change. Wright is built like a workhorse starter and has been durable so far, though there are little delivery questions, such as whether his arm is a tick late relative to his stride leg. He looks pretty close to major-league-ready and is someone who could absorb innings at the back of a rotation, with the ceiling of a No. 2 starter. 26. Touki Toussaint, RHP, Atlanta Braves Age: 23 (6/20/96) Bats: R | Throws: R 6-foot-3 | 185 pounds Top level: MLB | 2018 rank: 90 Touki made the biggest leap of anyone in the Atlanta system last year, coming off a 2017 season in which he showed stuff and promise and still posted a 5-plus ERA in High-A. Atlanta's player development staff did a wonderful job with him in 2018, getting him more on line and helping him repeat his delivery with more consistent tempo. He also learned to slow himself down on the mound and pitch more like a starter who needs to pace himself. He'll work with three pitches that can all show plus: a fastball that averaged 93 in the majors, a hammer curveball and a power changeup with split-like action. His control is probably 45 now and his command 40, but that's progress from where he was a year or two earlier, and he's still developing. He won't turn 23 until June, his arm is loose and quick, and he's a tremendous athlete, all of the elements you'd want to see if you were going to project a pitcher to throw more or better strikes. Even as is, Toussaint is going to miss a lot of bats and pitch near the back of a rotation, but each step forward in command moves him closer to the top end, where his ceiling rests. 30. Ian Anderson, RHP, Atlanta Braves Age: 21 (5/2/98) Bats: R | Throws: R 6-foot-3 | 170 pounds Top level: Double-A | 2018 rank: 48 Atlanta's system is loaded with arms just in Double- and Triple-A, but Anderson has the highest upside of any of them when you consider the body, delivery, stuff and potential command and control. Anderson has always had a good arm, but 2018 was the year he became a more complete pitcher, throwing more and better strikes (cutting his walk rate from 12.1 to 9.9 percent despite two promotions), going from a barely there changeup in 2016 to an occasionally plus change last year and staying healthy for 24 starts. Anderson has had a plus fastball since high school, routinely working at 93-97 mph now, and his curveball will still show plus, though he had days last year when his changeup was his best secondary pitch. He has a great pitcher's body and uses his 6-foot-3 frame well for huge extension toward the plate, so his stuff plays up as hitters get so little time to react to it. He still needs to keep improving his command, which is about a 45-grade right now, but the rest of the ingredients are there for a No. 2 or better starter. 45. Cristian Pache, CF, Atlanta Braves Age: 20 (11/19/98) Bats: R | Throws: R 6-foot-2 | 185 pounds Top level: Double-A | 2018 rank: 57 Pache has a high floor because he's the best defensive center-field prospect in the minors; he might be an 80-grade defender right now and looks like he'll end up at that level either way, with reads and routes that earn constant comparisons to Andruw Jones, who has become the gold standard comparison for defense in center. I said last year that I believe Pache would come into power, despite his grand total of zero pro home runs through 2017, and he came through with nine homers in 122 games between High-A and Double-A at age 19. The only question you'll hear on Pache is about his ability to control the strike zone. He's a swing early and often kind of guy, drawing just 18 unintentional walks in the regular season but also striking out only 97 times, even though he was the Florida State League's youngest regular, so it's a question of approach and swing decisions, not of being overmatched by stuff. He'll probably never be a high-OBP guy, but he's making so much contact at such a young age and does everything else so well that I think there's All-Star upside, 20-25 homers per year with a high batting average and 15-20 runs saved per year on defense.
With that description, it’s interesting he has Pache ranked below some pitchers who he claims have back of the rotation projection.
That's not what he said. He said both Wright and Touki can pitch at the back end of a rotation *right now*, with Wright having a #2 starter ceiling and Touki a top-end starter ceiling.
I guess my point more is the Pache upside he describes sounds like someone who should be higher than 46.
If you were on twitter you would have seen where Keith said that shoulder injuries are a big red flag for him.
It’s sort of hard to not think we overpaid for Donaldson for one season. That really cuts into Clown Baby ’s dividends this year.
Is it time for Braves fans to panic about stingy ownership? They’re set to open with a significantly lower payroll from a year ago, and their in arguably the most improved division of the 2019 offseason (especially if Harper, Machado or both sign within the division). Kiley McDaniel: Haha you must not have read last week’s chat. You can all calm down, that money will be spent, they’re just being deliberate and seems like the’re leaning towards seeing exactly what all these AAA/MLB level prospects are before they go make a huge move. Which, to be fair, may be the exact same thing I would do. Would you say that William Contreras’ swing is not well optimized for power? Kiley McDaniel: Right this second it isn’t, but we were told it was a slowly-building-up sort of approach, so it will be changing. Should we be concerned about Ian Anderson’s crazy low breaking ball spin rates? Virtually no one has had success with a breaking ball with spin rates as low as his. Could this cause him to develop into more of a fastball/change guy? Or perhaps he develops a new pitch. Kiley McDaniel: Seems like scouts are higher on him than analysts, but there’s lots of ways to succeed as a pitcher. I mean, you’d like to have ideal TrackMan stuff on all your pitches and also have a bunch of intangible feel for sequencing and location and reading hitters, but in reality most prospects can only hope to have one and Anderson has lots of the intangible stuff