***The Official 2024 Atlanta Braves Thead***

[Rabs]

Since SuperBrandon is no longer with us I wanted to create this thread since we are now into 2024.

Last year was a let down in the postseason but we should be a top contending team again this year.

We have traded away a lot of players this offseason but if Kelenic and Sale pan out our team will be better than last year health permitting.

Excited to see our explosive offense yet again.

[BonVoyage]

If you can't tell by my posts in the 2023 and offseason threads, I'm quite pessimistic about the team.
Its hard to expect the offense to perform any better than it did last year, while the pitching has been improved only slightly imo. Despite a decent amount of additions, I don't see the bullpen being dominant.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers have made huge moves.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by BonVoyage

If you can't tell by my posts in the 2023 and offseason threads, I'm quite pessimistic about the team.
Its hard to expect the offense to perform any better than it did last year, while the pitching has been improved only slightly imo. Despite a decent amount of additions, I don't see the bullpen being dominant.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers have made huge moves.

The offense doesn't need to perform any better in the regular season for them to win the division again. They just need to figure out how to get over that hump of getting a week off and going cold.

I'm not concerned about the starters for the playoffs, except for them staying healthy. Elder was the only one that really struggled last post season. Not much you can do when a bunch of pitchers go down with injuries the last couple weeks of the season.

The pen should have a different look, a lot more hard throwing arms, instead of the soft toss garbage they had last year. Personally, I'm excited to see Matzek pitch again.

[BonVoyage]

Originally Posted by whitmm

The offense doesn't need to perform any better in the regular season for them to win the division again. They just need to figure out how to get over that hump of getting a week off and going cold.

I'm not concerned about the starters for the playoffs, except for them staying healthy. Elder was the only one that really struggled last post season. Not much you can do when a bunch of pitchers go down with injuries the last couple weeks of the season.

The pen should have a different look, a lot more hard throwing arms, instead of the soft toss garbage they had last year. Personally, I'm excited to see Matzek pitch again.

Matzek's story is friggin awesome. Happy for him to be back. I like rooting for guys that have had adversity or have had a circuitous route to the Braves. Matzek, Jackson Stephens, Evan Gattis...

[Philthy]

duplicate

[mlbfan10]

Feeling good about this year. Let's get another ring!

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[whitmm]

I think it helps to remember that with the Braves current ownership structure, and I think the only team that is publicly traded?, the team is limited as to what they can spend. I know that, unlike other teams, Liberty Media is unable to just dump money into the team. Where a team like the Dodgers can have their owners spend every last penny of their own money on the team.

[Chuck Bartowski]

The pen is set up nicely so I'm not sure what you mean there. All of the bullpen guys should be 95+ fastballs now. They set up well against the Phillies and Dodgers with Minter, Bummer, Kerr and hopefully Matzek. They have dominate righties in Raisel, Johnson, Lopez and Jimenez.

Offense should be set as well. You might see some regression with Olson and Ozuna as it's hard to see them hitting as many homers next season, but most of the rest of the lineup should be where they were and you could see a step up from Money Mike (I'm hoping he's good for the whole season may get a 25/25 season out of him or better) and Kelenic hopefully breaks out (he could also have a 25/25 season or 30/30 even).

Starting pitching could be a concern, but remember they used like 16 or 17 different starters last season so even if they have to do that again they've shown they can make it work in the regular season. Let's hope that's not the case though.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by Chuck Bartowski

The pen is set up nicely so I'm not sure what you mean there. All of the bullpen guys should be 95+ fastballs now. They set up well against the Phillies and Dodgers with Minter, Bummer, Kerr and hopefully Matzek. They have dominate righties in Raisel, Johnson, Lopez and Jimenez.

Offense should be set as well. You might see some regression with Olson and Ozuna as it's hard to see them hitting as many homers next season, but most of the rest of the lineup should be where they were and you could see a step up from Money Mike (I'm hoping he's good for the whole season may get a 25/25 season out of him or better) and Kelenic hopefully breaks out (he could also have a 25/25 season or 30/30 even).

Starting pitching could be a concern, but remember they used like 16 or 17 different starters last season so even if they have to do that again they've shown they can make it work in the regular season. Let's hope that's not the case though.

A full season of healthy Harris should make up for regression from Olson and Ozuna.

The biggest question mark I think the team has is Arcia. Can he put together a full season this year? Because he fell off a cliff at the end of last year.

[Chuck Bartowski]

Originally Posted by whitmm

A full season of healthy Harris should make up for regression from Olson and Ozuna.

The biggest question mark I think the team has is Arcia. Can he put together a full season this year? Because he fell off a cliff at the end of last year.

You know, but that doesn't really even matter that much. Even if Arcia regresses as a hitter as long as he plays average defense at SS he will be fine for his cost. If he regresses offensively and defensively it could be a small problem as they don't have much depth here anymore (Fletcher would be the only option currently).

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by Chuck Bartowski

You know, but that doesn't really even matter that much. Even if Arcia regresses as a hitter as long as he plays average defense at SS he will be fine for his cost. If he regresses offensively and defensively it could be a small problem as they don't have much depth here anymore (Fletcher would be the only option currently).

That is true. I'm sure there will be another veteran pick up before the season starts to add some minor league depth.

[thenightman]

This is a division winning team. Anything after that is a crapshoot.

EDIT: Why did SuperBrandon get banned?

[atoaz12]

Originally Posted by thenightman

This is a division winning team. Anything after that is a crapshoot

This is baseball. Perfect answer.

Create the best team you can to get to the playoffs and hope you’re hot, healthy and lucky at that point

[Rabs]

I do agree that Arcia is the biggest question as far as position players go. He had a great first half and seemed to overachieve. Second half was rough. Harris should be better. Kelenic I guess is a question mark as well but he has a bigger boom capability than Arcia.

We had so many SPs last year, half of which seem to no longer be with the organization. So at this point I think we have less total depth with SP but that isn't a bad thing if the current projected rotation can stay healthy and perform.

I think there is a decent chance we win more games than last year which says a lot.

[oplum29]

wait wait wait....wtf happened to SuperBrandon?

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by oplum29

wait wait wait....wtf happened to SuperBrandon?

Sometime around the MVP debate thread he got banned. Never saw what he posted to get it, or if it was even in that thread.

But, until a mod comes and actually says why, I will go to the grave believing Fabianni was 100% responsible for it.

[oplum29]

Originally Posted by whitmm

Sometime around the MVP debate thread he got banned. Never saw what he posted to get it, or if it was even in that thread.

But, until a mod comes and actually says why, I will go to the grave believing Fabianni was 100% responsible for it.

uff...

gonna miss SuperBrandon. hopefully he can come back later.

[Rabs]

Originally Posted by oplum29

uff...

gonna miss SuperBrandon. hopefully he can come back later.

As a PBM?

[oplum29]

Originally Posted by Rabs

As a PBM?

idk what that means.

[whitmm]

Starting rotation should be:

Fried
Strider
Morton
Sale
Elder

AJSS, Vines, Winans, Lopez (should play the Tonkin role this year), Dodd should be the next 5 in line. Waldrep is on the outside edge of getting a spot start.

[whitmm]

Charlie Culberson will be a non-roster invitee to spring training with a new position. He will be reporting as a pitcher only.

[Philthy]

I'm excited to see what this team will do. I like the addition of Kelenic and Sale (especially with Boston paying his whole 2024 salary).

However, I kind of wonder if we'd have been better off not trading for Kelenic and Sale. Then exercising Rosario's option, and not signing one 1 of the 3 relievers (Lopez, Bummer, or Jimenez). That would give us about $50m extra money over the next two years and then put that money towards signing someone like Sonny Gray. We'd also still have Grissom to either try in LF or trade for a reliever.

Kelenic obviously has a way higher upside then Eddie Rosario, but the Braves took on about $15m in contracts to trade for him (after moving Marco and Stassi). I think this move is riskier than some people realize given that Kelenic has had about 2 good months in a couple years in the majors.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by Philthy

I'm excited to see what this team will do. I like the addition of Kelenic and Sale (especially with Boston paying his whole 2024 salary).

However, I kind of wonder if we'd have been better off not trading for Kelenic and Sale. Then exercising Rosario's option, and not signing one 1 of the 3 relievers (Lopez, Bummer, or Jimenez). That would give us about $50m extra money over the next two years and then put that money towards signing someone like Sonny Gray. We'd also still have Grissom to either try in LF or trade for a reliever.

Kelenic obviously has a way higher upside then Eddie Rosario, but the Braves took on about $15m in contracts to trade for him (after moving Marco and Stassi). I think this move is riskier than some people realize given that Kelenic has had about 2 good months in a couple years in the majors.

Eddie has only had about 3-4 good months during his time with the Braves, so not really much better than Kelenic during the same time frame. Been riding that 2021 NLCS performance for the last two years.

Kelenic should have no pressure on him in this Braves line up and should have some better protection behind him. I'd hit him 9th.

[Philthy]

Originally Posted by whitmm

Eddie has only had about 3-4 good months during his time with the Braves, so not really much better than Kelenic during the same time frame. Been riding that 2021 NLCS performance for the last two years.

Kelenic should have no pressure on him in this Braves line up and should have some better protection behind him. I'd hit him 9th.

Sure, but Eddie would have been cheaper (in 2024) which was my point. Instead of spending the extra money on what are pretty risky assets in my opinion (Sale, Kelenic, Bummer, etc), we could have rolled with Eddie and used that money to go after someone more consistent like Sonny Gray.

AA is a magician so I'm sure they will do everything possible to put Kelenic in a position to succeed.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by Philthy

Sure, but Eddie would have been cheaper (in 2024) which was my point. Instead of spending the extra money on what are pretty risky assets in my opinion (Sale, Kelenic, Bummer, etc), we could have rolled with Eddie and used that money to go after someone more consistent like Sonny Gray.

AA is a magician so I'm sure they will do everything possible to put Kelenic in a position to succeed.

Sale has been pretty consistent during his career, when he's healthy. And AA must feel that that the injury bug the last couple years is over.

I'm looking at Sale and Gray's numbers, and I'm not really seeing much difference to suggest Gray would have been a better option.

Gray is only 222 days younger than Sale. Sale's first start came in 2012, Gray's in 2013. Gray only has 7 more starts than Sale. Sale has about 100 more innings as a starting pitcher though. Even last season, Sale's stat/9 were across the board better than Gray's, outside of hr/9. Sale's WHIP was better.

When you are looking at salaries, are you factoring in that the Red Sox sent $17 million to cover Sale's salary and that he only has a CBT hit of $3M for 2024? Using Spotrac, I'm coming up with a combined CBT salary of around $45M for the 7 players you referenced (Kelenic, Sale, Bummer, Lopez (who will serve a dual role), Jimenez, Marco, Stassi). Compared to $35M for Eddie and Sonny (giving a slight bump over what he signed for. Since you wanted to still keep two of the three relievers, that adds another $15M+ to that side. Final breakdown: $45M for 5 players (actual) vs $50M for 4 players (hypothetical)