Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Jason Grilli, Canada, 2016 Outlook
Sep 13, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) breaks his bat after hitting a foul ball against the New York Mets at Turner Field. The Mets defeated the Braves 10-7 in ten innings. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Wait ‘Til Next Year: For awful Braves, is even worse to come in 2016?
What went wrong in 2015: That 14–46 slide is worse than any 60-game stretch the franchise has endured since 1935, when they were still in Boston, and likewise for the tail end of it, a 3–24 death march during which they’ve been outscored by 108 runs, or 4.0 per game. Beyond the possibility of beating out the Phillies for the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, it’s still difficult to make heads or tails of the rebuilding effort—not because of the lack of immediate returns, but because of the lack of an underlying philosophy beyond preparing for the team’s 2017 move into suburban SunTrust Park.
Sure, GM John Hart and company trimmed $15 million for 2015 and $7 million in ’17 commitments by unloading Kimbrel, Melvin Upton and Chris Johnson, but the Braves also absorbed a net of $20 million worth of 2016 salary for Michael Bourn and on-his-last-legs Nick Swisher, who were acquired from the Indians in August. Furthermore, they have around $33 million committed to the age-31–35 seasons of the still-unproven Olivera, offsetting those previous ’17 cuts. For just about every other team, that’s just money to shrug off, but Liberty Media Corp. is as bottom-line focused as any owner in the game, and every dollar committed carries a steeper opportunity cost than just about anywhere else. Recall that it was the commitments to the aforementioned Upton and the since-departed Dan Uggla—sunk costs that another team would have recognized as such—that undid Wren and set the stage for the teardown of a perennial contender.
And then there’s the pitching. For a team that prides itself on producing a pipeline of young arms, the Braves sure have burned through some of their best in recent years, even beyond the non-tenders that followed two-time Tommy John surgery recipients Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen last winter…
[ Ed. note: Yes – much, much more detail at the SI.com link above. Nope, he’s not buying into the plan… and I’m not yet buying that concern he has either, as there’s a lot of changes that can still happen before 2017… or 2016, for that matter. ]
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