Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Solid Finish, Bradley, Instructional League Roster

Remember how bad the Braves were? They’re not so bad now

MARK BRADLEY / AJC.COM (SEPT 20)

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Dansby Swanson has played 27 big-league games. Per Baseball-Reference, he has a WAR value of 0.6. Extrapolated over 162 games, that’s a WAR of 3.6, which wouldn’t quite be All-Star caliber but wouldn’t be far off. (I know, I know. Almost nobody plays all 162 games. Hear me out.)

Ender Inciarte has a WAR of 3.4, which is third among Atlanta Braves behind Freddie Freeman and Julio Teheran. That puts Inciarte in the “solid starter” classification of WAR, and there’s your Shelby Miller trade right there — a starting shortstop, a starting center fielder and Aaron Blair, who won his first MLB game last night.

Swanson is 23. Inciarte is 25. Blair is 24. I guess it’s possible to make a better trade, but realistically I don’t see how.

We knew when it happened this had the potential to be a coup of coups, but nobody had any idea Miller would have such a year. (He has returned to the majors after a demotion to Class AAA but has gotten no better. He has an ERA of 6.90 and a WAR of minus-1.3.) And nobody knew if Inciarte would ever hit here after a damp squib of a start, and nobody could say for sure that Swanson wouldn’t struggle on arrival. But here they are.

The Braves, who weren’t really trying to win, have won 59 games. The Arizona Diamondbacks, who fancied themselves a playoff contender, have won 63. Three of their past four Round 1 picks — Swanson, Blair and Touki Toussaint — now work for the Braves. Which organization would you rather be?

…[snip – more at link above]…

[ Ed note:  TomahawkTake welcomes Mark Bradley to the bandwagon party.  I know hell would probably freeze over if the AJC’s Jeff Schultz also acknowledges just how much better this club has been and how bright a future it has, but we’ve left a seat open for him, just in case.  At least Mark seems to have been more open-minded along the way.

(In Schultz’s most recent column about the Braves, his premise is that John Coppolella is good on twitter. For him, maybe that’s a start. )

Bradley wrote a bunch more on this topic at the link above – so feel free to click over there and enjoy the view. ]