Atlanta Braves’ Embarrassment of Pitching Riches
We talk a lot about the newly re-stocked farm system. We also talk about the pitching. Just how much is available to John Coppolella?
Here’s a straight-up list today… all of the starting pitchers now in the system that should have good enough value to be useful to the Braves either on the field or in trades. Which would you be willing to trade? Which would you miss the most if traded?
While withholding Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz, here’s a rundown, in no particular order:
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- Sean Newcomb
- Williams Perez
- Lucas Harrell
- Joel De La Cruz
- Tyrell Jenkins
- Chris Ellis
- Lucas Sims
- Casey Kelly
- Aaron Blair
- Ryan Weber
- Matt Wisler
- Robert Whalen
- John Gant
- Manny Banuelos
- Max Povse
- Patrick Weigel
- Mike Soroka
- Touki Toussaint
- Ricardo Sanchez
- Kolby Allard
- Alan Rangel
- Max Fried
- Dilmer Mejia
Starting Pitchers from the 2016 draft (who cannot be included in any deal prior to the end of the World Series) are:
This list omits Daniel Winkler, out for the season with an elbow break, who might be classified as a starter.
There are twenty-nine names on that list… and I probably left off a couple somewhere along the way. These are all starters either with some evident upside or are otherwise having solid seasons enough to suggest that more might be possible for them. Your mileage may vary.
UPDATE: I wasn’t going to expand this beyond pitchers, but this nugget was just dropped from a TalkingChop writer, and was too good not to include:
Rome Braves DL is better than how many other team's Top 10 prospects? Acuna, Yepez, Herbert, Fried, Chris Diaz, Dykstra, Hoekstra, Salazar
— Matt Powers (@MattPowers31) July 27, 2016
Between this stock pile and the expected $50 to 60 million of cash available for major league payroll in 2017, that should give Coppy an unprecedented set of weapons to wield in the pursuit of trades and free agents to bolster the Braves’ lineup. It’s truly a formidable portfolio.
Characterizing some of these names will be a matter of opinion. Some teams might prefer more names in a deal in the hopes that one works out for them. Others might prefer the single high-value prospect.
In truth, it doesn’t matter what you or I or even the Braves might think of the future value of these players are: especially when considering those below High-A ball, it’s the perception of a trading partner that matters the most.
As fans, the waiting game is always the worst part though – and now we wait to find out how he will end up using these resources.