Atlanta Braves Mock Winter Meeting Epilogue: A new roster
By Fred Owens

The Simulated Winter Meetings ended Friday night at 10 p.m. eastern time. The third year offered more challenges than in past years, but in the end, it proved a successful learning experience.
The Atlanta Braves improved their mock roster with a series of simulated trades and a few strategic free agent signings. The exercise allowed me to gain insight into the way our writers for other teams look at things. It was interesting.
I did my best to follow the plan that I hear Alex Anthopoulos repeating. I was in on every available player I felt could help. I didn’t get them all, but I got enough.
I tried to be aware of my spending and didn’t check the bottom line until Friday morning. I’d committed $98M to the mock payroll. I needed it to sign free agents later.
Like every commodity, trades are based on market factors. The market sets the price; you then must decide whether you pay it or pass. Understanding how the market views your players before you start to formulate a deal gives you an advantage when making a deal.
Those things noted I’ll dive into the story so far.
Braves pitching needs addressed
My goal from the outset centered on a getting a top of the rotation arm and a reinforcing the bullpen. I tried to work out a deal for Corey Kluber, but before I could complete it, the ‘Indians’ traded Carlos Carrasco and decided that he would be the only starter that would leave Cleveland.
I asked early about Edwin Diaz, but the Mariners weren’t really interested in the deal. I asked about Sonny Grey, worked on a Kyle Hendricks deal then dug deeper into the data and changed my mind.
I began talking about Kirby Yates on day one, but that didn’t conclude until day 3. I looked at the bullpen and saw a series of hard throwers, Sergio Romo’s presence changes that and his experience as a winning player helps too.
Ken Giles appeared out of nowhere when I was putting together the failed three-team deal for Francisco Mejia. Here are the pitchers for this simulated team.
Player | B/T | $ in Millions/yr | ||
1 | SP | James Paxton | L/L | $9.00 |
2 | SP | Mike Foltynewicz | R/R | $5.50 |
3 | SP | Sean Newcomb | L/L | $0.55 |
4 | SP | Kevin Gausman | L/R | $0.58 |
5 | SP | Touki Toussaint | R/R | $0.55 |
6 | CL | Kirby Yates | L/R | $3.00 |
7 | SU 7- 8 | Arodys Vizcaino | R/R | $4.80 |
8 | SU 7-8 | Ken Giles | R/R | $6.00 |
9 | RP | Darren O’Day | R/R | $9.00 |
10 | RP | Sergio Romo | R/R | $5.00 |
11 | RP | Jonny Venters | L/L | $1.50 |
12 | RP | Jesse Biddle | L/L | $0.55 |
13 | RP | A.J. Minter | L/L | $0.55 |