This is going to be a topic that Atlanta Braves fans may not wish to consider… but might have to if things don’t fall in to place as hoped this Winter.
Free agents make their own choices. Trade partners may choose to go in different directions. Those are the realities that face the Atlanta Braves – and all clubs – as they pursue off-season team building.
A year ago, we almost had a scenario in which the Braves were almost left without enough quality major leaguers to work with as the season began. The ‘market’ never developed as hoped, and though Atlanta has plenty of cash to spend, the ‘products’ largely stayed on the shelf.
Alex Anthopoulos was unable to get help for the bullpen – at that time – while multiple starting pitchers were nursing injuries that forced them to delay the start of their seasons.
He had tried to acquire other players – J.T. Realmuto for one; Michael Brantley for another – and was unable to come to agreements for either.
That happens. But a look at this off-season’s possibilities raises multiple alternate scenarios that could play out if such conditions happen again.
Let’s look at the lay of the land… just in the NL East:
- The Phillies have a new manager, and aside from their desire to spend big money – again – they will want to give Joe Girardi the resources he needs to compete. At his introductory press conference today, the Philly brass said directly that their time to win is now.
- The Nationals will have some significant personnel challenges thanks to free agency, but they are in a much better position to ‘reload’ than ‘rebuild’… perhaps better than the Phillies.
- The Mets will have a new manager and will certainly be looking to do better as well.
- Don’t sleep on the Marlins… they will still be bad, but by next season they will very likely be showing us some of the reasons they will be a threat… maybe sooner than expected.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves need starting pitching, probably an outfielder, definitely at least 1 catcher, and possibly a third baseman. It could be rough sledding in 2020.
So what happens if they whiff on most of these needs this Winter?
Here’s Plan B
Honestly, this is likely well further down the alphabet… more like Plan D or E… but it’s a cheaper option that might be considered a ‘remodeling’ rather than a ‘rebuild’ or ‘reload’.
The steps that might trigger such a plan are these:
- Unable to secure a top-flight 3rd baseman via free agency or trade
- Unable to secure a frontline starting pitcher
- We’ll assume that serviceable catchers should be readily available. If you doubt this, then check Fred’s post that will appear mid-morning Tuesday on this site.
The Atlanta Braves have a tough dilemma coming in the next 5 years or so – a weak farm system. That’s a difficult reality thanks to significant ‘graduation’ to the majors, and the International penalties.
One way to mitigate this might be to engage in some trades for prospects, using replaceable major league talent as bait. What’s regrettable is that the quality of the major leaguers Atlanta might be willing to trade probably won’t bring back significant prospects… unless they’re lucky with some ‘lottery picks’.
Still… here’s the plan:
- Trade Ender Inciarte. You might think his trade value is negligible, but with a full off-season of healing and general lack of quality defensive CF’s in the market, you might be surprised. I can say – for what it’s worth – the chatter among fellow MLB FanSided editors about him is quite active.
- Trade Adam Duvall. This deal might have a harder time bringing back anything significant, but he needs to at least be made available.
- Accept the option for Julio Teheran, but then flip him to the Angels for multiple wild-card prospects.
- Perhaps also do this for Touki Toussaint or Bryse Wilson, noting that Farm System replenishment is definitely one of the goals.
- Put Johan Camargo at 3rd base… and hope that regular playing time gets the Braves the offense they would need from him.
- Alternate plan:Â try to lure Didi Gregorius to play third base.
- Promote both Cristian Pache and Drew Waters. Add Ronald Acuna and your outfield is complete.
- Pick up Nick Markakis‘ option as an outfield and hitting mentor… plus a bench bat and OF insurance.
- Promote Ian Anderson. Your base rotation, then, could be Soroka, Fried, Foltynewicz, and perhaps a competition between Anderson, Wright, and Newcomb.
- Once Austin Riley gets his bat back together, you can consider whether Camargo or Waters or Pache is doing enough offensively to keep their jobs.
This is probably the worst-case situation for Atlanta… one that wouldn’t happen unless nothing really goes right for them this Winter.
That said, this is effectively their Team of the Future… albeit one that they’d likely prefer to keep under wraps for another full season (at least).
There is reason to believe that some additional seasoning at the Triple-A level might be required for all of these promoted players. They are highly ranked by those who keep track of such things, but the major leagues can be a difficult proving ground.
So no: I don’t expect this idea to sit well with… anybody in Braves Country. It’s probably a recipe for a 75-83 win team in 2020. That should be the worst of it, though, as improvements should be had from there.
Not Nearly Etched in Stone
The Braves could choose to take parts of this plan – using savings to go hard after one or two of the bigger-name free agents (who would have to be convinced that their presence might be sufficient to win).
The trick here is that the ‘worst case scenario’ has to be outlined… just in case… so that you can know where the bottom is in case things go wrong.
That said, this would not be a bad team – it would be extremely young and equally exciting to watch. Their win potential would be challenged on a nightly basis in the NL East, but maybe… just maybe… it would at least put the Braves into position to compete even better in the next 2-3 years thereafter.