Braves Enter Lockout with Plenty of Work Left to Do

It’s a sad day for baseball fans as the MLB lockout begins. And maybe even a little worse for Atlanta Braves with so much work left to do. 

We all knew it was coming, but now that the lockout is officially it’s putting a real damper on the continued celebration of the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series.

But look at it this way, if the lockout and eventual strike never end, the Braves will be the last team to ever win a World Series, and Freddie Freeman the last player to hit a home run.

I do think it gets resolved before pitchers and catchers report, but it will be a long, boring, and ugly next couple of months as the two sides battle it out.

Once the lockout does end, the Braves have a lot of work left to be done.

Braves Still Need to Sign Freddie Freeman

Obviously the big one is signing Freddie Freeman. The fact it hasn’t been done already is just maddening and frustrating from a fan’s perspective.

Now you just give Freddie more time to think about his options and why would he want to come back to a franchise that clearly doesn’t appreciate all he’s done for them.

And you give other teams more time to imagine just how great Freddie would be for them.

Freddie also will probably spend a lot of time on the Westcoast during this lockout where he is from. Maybe he decides he wants to play and live there instead.

All of this is bad, but one way or another, it will need to be decided once the lockout ends.

Braves Have to Find a Suitor for Marcell Ozuna

With the league retroactively suspending Marcell Ozuna for 20 games, making him eligible immediately, now the Braves have to find somewhere to dump him.

In my mind, he can’t play for the Braves again — especially not after seeing the TMZ video. I’m not going to link it, but I’m sure you can find it on the internet.

Does he deserve a second change, sure, but it needs to come in a different uniform.

Finding a landing spot for him and saving as much money as they can in the process might actually be priority number one after the lockout.

Braves Need More Outfield Help

Even if they keep Ozuna, which I don’t think they will, the Braves still need to find another bat — most likely in the outfield.

And with the DH likely coming, they might need to find two bats.

There are several solid candidates still out there, which I’ll go over in future posts. Two being Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler.

Braves Need to Add Depth to Starting Rotation

If there is room in the budget, they need to find another veteran on a one-year deal for less than $10 million that can eat up some innings and take the ball every day.

A similar deal to what the Boston Red Sox just did with Rich Hill.

Otherwise, you go into the year with Kyle Wright, Tucker Davidson, Kyle Muller, and Huascar Ynoa battling for the final two spots in the rotation.

Not the end of the world, but I’d like a little more veteran depth there going into the season.

Buckle up, because it’s going to be a cold Winter with this lockout. But once it’s over, we should see things develop quickly with the Braves being very active.