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Braves Ongoing Season Comments Thread..
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Comments
He makes smart decisions on the whole I agree. I think one thing people miss is assuming that having a big payroll allows you to just buy whatever players you want. What it really allows you to do is spend your way out of mistakes and overpay relative to performance for what you want. A great example using Epstein and Cubs is the former Brave Jason Heyward. They are paying him like a superstar but he is defense-first role player on that team. Epstein is absolutely a brilliant guy. But he can also play the game of a way that only 2-3 clubs really can.
PTDawg. Epstein stepped in to not 1 but 2 situations where rich clubs had gone close to 200 years or so between them without winning a title and won in just about the time it takes to assemble a roster, that was far more than outspending the competition.
I disagree. He obviously knows what he's doing and is a smart baseball man. He deserves a great deal of credit for what he did with Boston and Chicago. As you pointed out many had tried for a century and hadn't been successful. What I'm saying is that his approach would only be successful in those type of environments. The Rays or A's (or Braves obviously) can't/won't pay Heyward $22 mill/yr to play great defense and be serviceable at the plate. The Cubs can/will. I think it is no coincidence that Epstein has distinguished himself in two environments that allowed this approach to flourish. Clearly that isn't the whole picture. Bryant, Rizzo and others were home grown and developed. It's a combination of both.
Braves don't have to spend Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox, and Yankees type money, just spend more! I think they're around 6th in revenue, but are 21st in spending. If they spent as much as the 6th ranked payroll, that'd be an additional $47 million a year (not saying that you have to be 6th in spending just because you're 6th in revenue, just using it as a rough estimate of where they could easily be). I think $47 million would at least shore up the bullpen and/or get another solid starter. Again, these are just rough estimates of where they could be spending. Liberty just elects to keep that money, even though the team clearly has a few needs that could be address to make them a legitimate contender.
Teddy. I'm sure overhead in NYC. Boston and Chicago is considerably higher than in Atlanta. So The Braves' 6th place revenue likely goes further than in those high priced cities.
MIKE SOROKA !
He carried a 3 hit shutout into the 9th inning tonight. He walked the first batter, Winkler came in and gave up 2 hits sticking MS with the earned run. So he's now 7-1 with a 1.38 ERA that should be 1.20.
This kid is already among the best.
How's this for a stat ?
Soroka is the first pitcher in MLB history to open a season giving up 1 or fewer earned runs in 9 out of 11 starts. Wow, nobody in the 150 or so year history of the game did it before now.
Definite Cy Young candidate.
The money that is not being spent is currently going to be used on guys like Swanson, Soroka, Fried, and Riley. MLB is slowly going to short term contracts with big $$$ amounts.
Dallas was a great move due to the 1 year contract. Also don’t be surprise if the Braves make a trade at the deadline.
dbrown. Liberty is cheap. Kimbrel should be a Brave now.
Chances Riley gets Roy and soroka gets Cy young...
it would be interesting to see a rookie in the mix for cy and Roy.
Josh Donaldson finds it “completely embarrassing” that Keuchel and Kimbrell weren’t signed yet as free agents. I find that quote ironic for a career .274 hitter, currently hitting .246, that is making $23 million for one season as a free agent.
And still sports a mullet.
Great game today if you’re a fan of pitching and defense. Good hustle and base running by Riley and a run saving play by Donaldson late in the game. Julio has pitched as good for the last month as I can remember him pitching as a Brave.
That was a hell of a throw and catch by Donaldson and Freeman. Donaldson has a couple good defensive plays today, wish he could’ve gotten a hit for all of the other efforts.
CoastalDawg. I just posted in the other Braves thread that Julio's ERA for May was 0.98, his June ERA to date is 0.00 and he's given up a total of 3 earned runs over his last 6 starts. He's right there with Soroka over the past month results wise. Watching the 2 pitch is a different matter though. Soroka is extremely tough to make hard contact against, he looks to have what it takes for long term high level success.