It’s one thing to want to improve the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline. It’s quite another to convince another team that they should help you do that.
“The Atlanta Braves‘ win streak is over… long live the (next) streak!”
That could be the mantra from the Braves’ clubhouse right now. Hopefully, this Friday loss to the Cubs injects both some reminders about how this offense works and some pressure relief as they now longer have to find ways to keep that streak going.
But the Braves have done the necessary things to get back to a position where the NL East now has an actual competitive feel to it… though unfortunately, the Phillies have done exactly the same thing.
That eventually led Off Leo’s Rocker into discussions about the state of the farm system, and then toward next month’s amateur draft… launched from an interview with Alex Anthopoulos about what he’d like to pursue.
But about that draft thing…
Do you go hitter or pitcher in the first round? Do you go high school or college? This year’s draft is said to be ‘position player heavy’, which tends to push my own thinking toward “college hitter”.
The reason for this is multi-faceted:
- Hitting tools tend to develop earlier; power develops later. So if you want a power bat, a collegiate player makes more sense.
- Pitchers are always risky, but high school pitchers all the more so.
- If you’re going after a pitcher this year, there are 2 ways to go: grab an injured top-notch kid that fell toward the bottom of Round 1 or ignore all pitchers early on with the idea that you can always pick up somebody of good quality in a later round. Either way, though, the risk remains.
The Braves have had this tendency to gravitate to pitching, though, and that has been a constant through many different incarnations of their front office. That said, if there was a year to break that trend, it might be this year.
So Fred and I work through a number of players that Alex Anthopoulos might consider for a Summer trade deal, the possible costs involved, and our hand-wringing about draft philosophies.
Hopefully that lineup will prove interesting enough to you between now and this afternoon’s game to spend a few minutes with us on this week’s episode.
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