Guessing at Future Needs for the Atlanta Braves

So What to Target for Upgrades?

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The easy/cynical answer is “everybody”, but that’s unrealistic.  Let’s look deeper.

FIRST BASE.  Nothing to see here… move along.

SECOND BASE.  This will probably become the domain of Ozzie Albies next Spring.

SHORTSTOP.  This will probably become the domain of Dansby Swanson next Spring.

THIRD BASE.  Here we have a quandry.  We have Adonis Garcia and Rio Ruiz.  Ruiz is still just 22, but I have concerns about his ceiling.  He’s continuing to improve, but will he be more than a 0.0-1.0 WAR option?  If the Braves get an option to snag a higher-upside third baseman, they should snag it.  Like maybe Alex Bregman from Houston now that they just blocked him completely?

CATCHER.  The loss of Flowers has exposed just how vulnerable Atlanta is for quality catching options.  A.J. Pierzynski is at the end of his career and has been stumbling and clawing his wa y to the finish line.  For now the backup is a guy that we just signed 2 months ago.

If the Braves want to wait until year’s end, then a couple of free agent options might be available:  Wilson Ramos and Matt Wieters.  Trade options – either now or later – could include Jonathan Lucroy and some kid named Brian McCann.

Regardless:  despite Flowers being under contract for 2017, an upgrade is needed here.  Even as well as Tyler has done, he can’t play every game.

OUTFIELD.  I’m going to treat this as a group because the parts are rather interchangeable.

• Mallex Smith
• Ender Inciarte
• Nick Markakis
• Jeff Francoeur

I believe it’s a 50-50 proposition as to whether Frenchy remains a Brave once the calendar flips to August.  I believe it’s also 50-50 as to whether Nick Markakis remains a Braves once the calendar flips to 2017.

With that in view, having Smith, Albies and Inciarte  all in the same lineup together would make for an interesting dynamic – the likes of which we’ve never seen before.  I have no idea how to guesstimate their production, but I can guess that between the three of them, it’s a net “positive” for the Braves… and I definitely want to see that works.

Francoeur would be excellent to keep as a 4th outfielder.  We’ll see how that goes.

I truly like Nick Markakis, but of the 3 outfield slots, we really need something more offensively.  Therefore, I would try to get anything in trade for him at some point and then work on getting a thumper corner OF hitter.

A few of the possible options between now and the off-season:  Yasiel Puig, Michael Conforto, Andrew Benintendi (not likely at all), Aaron Judge (also not likely), Lewis Brinson (ditto), Clint Frazier.  Yes, there are others.

BENCH.  As projected here, upgrades would give Atlanta the potential to have a bench of players like Franceour, Jace Peterson, Chase d’Arnaud, and Flowers.  That’s not half bad.

Is that Enough?

External upgrades at third base, catcher, and right field to go along with internal changes at shortstop and second base will go a long way, but I would not expect that to give us a playoff contender right away in 2017.  Getting an extra 30 WAR is a tall order in one step.

Once each player gets acclimated to the surroundings and the league, then Improvements should approach that level with perhaps additional tweaks along the way.

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It might take 2018-19 to fully see that happen, but trades made in the near term could strongly influence the direction of things to come.  Hopefully they will be pointed in these directions.