Braves On The Upswing, But When Will We Peak?
Whenever a team is in rebuilding mode, fans always want to know the same thing, “when will we be good again?” Those six words have echoed through the concourses of Turner Field and the Atlanta Braves fanbase nonstop for the past two years, and for good reason. The cold-hard truth is that the Braves have been the worst team in baseball over the last two seasons.
To put it in perspective, the Chicago Cubs won 97 games in 2015 while the Braves won 97 games if you combine last season’s win total and this season’s so far (a number which is 149 for the Cubs). So it’s safe to say that, the once powerhouse of the National League East (and West for a time) is officially in rebuilding mode.
On one hand, the Braves’ offseason moves were bold and controversial, but on the other, they were geared to build for the future and are looking better and better as the days go on. The Shelby Miller Trade is proving to be huge for the Braves as Miller is currently boasting a 7.14 ERA in Arizona, while the prospects the Braves got in return are developing nicely and showing great promise for the the years to come.
With a ton of cap space and growing interest in Erick Aybar, the Braves also have the opportunity to make some big moves around the trade deadline this year to potentially get another arm to pad the rotation or bat to put in the lineup.
The tough part is now unfortunately. The team will be lucky to win many more than 60 games this season and for fear of spoiling the developing talent, next year’s team likely won’t look vastly different from top to bottom.
Fret not Braves Country, every team goes through periods of rebuilding. While some are longer than others, it is an inevitability in the world of professional sports. As far as how long this particular rebuilding period will be, it is conceivable that it could be as brief as 2 more years.
If Teheran and Wisler can stay healthy and pitching prospects like Aaron Blair, Sean Newcomb, Kolby Allard, Touki Toussaint and others pan out, the Braves will have a pitching staff comparable to that of the 90s.
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Looking to the field, young stars like Mallex Smith, Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley and Dansby Swanson could propel the franchise to another, longer streak of division titles built around a young, talented core of homegrown players.
Picture a rotation of Teheran, Wisler, Blair, Toussaint, and Newcomb. With Swanson and Albies up the middle and Freeman and Riley at the corners. Smith and Davidson anchoring the outfield. What a pretty picture, one worth rebuilding.
With all of that in mind, I would confidently say that the 2018 Atlanta Braves will at least be contending for the wildcard and will have a strong bid for the division title. Until then, Braves country, chop on.