Atlanta Braves Roster Disaster

Nothing Changes when nothing changes

It’s not that last year’s roster was better; it wasn’t.  A few names have changed but there’s essentially no difference between the two 25 man lists.

Cameron Maybin is gone – mistake – by Inciarte is in his spot. We replaced Christian Bethancourt with Tyler Flowers, Shelby Miller with Jhoulys Chacin, Trevor Cahill et al with Bud Norris. The bullpen merry-go-round has different horses but the results have been about the same. Arodys Vizcaino, Matt Withrow and a recovering Jason Grilli at the back look solid and Alexi Ogando’s been sound but we’ve seen bit players go up and down and faith placed in Eric O’Flaherty with let’s say inconsistent results. The bullpen might actually be okay if we could get to them with a lead and use them sometime after the sixth inning instead of the third fourth and fifth,

Andrelton Simmons is gone but we have Erick Aybar whose bat and defense are worse but in reality that hasn’t been a factor. This roster suffers from the same two lineup issues as last season; lack of depth and lack of pop. The proof comes from the injury to Gordon Beckham when the only players available for call up without a roster move were pitchers.

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The roster is made up of AAAA players and worn out vets bookended by Nick Markakis, Freddie Freeman, Julio Teheran and when healthy Inciarte. None of the rest would start on a good team. On top of that it consists of 25 pitchers, the 12 everyday players currently with the team, Inciarte, Beckham and Hector Olivera;  that’s simply bad planning. As I was writing this Ken Rosenthal linked his post from late this afternoon put it this way.

"The Braves will gain significant financial flexibility this offseason, thanks to at least $50 million in expiring contracts. Some of their top prospects will be ready for the majors, or close to it, in 2017. Bud Black, or someone like him, could be the new manager. Here’s the problem: If the Braves failed to properly evaluate this year’s roster — an understatement, the way things are turning out — who’s to say their other evaluations can be trusted?"

Who indeed would make that leap?

Next: What Next?