***The Official 2024 Atlanta Braves Thead***

[NCWolf]

Originally Posted by bravesballer

I'd say the team has given up but unless they gave up months ago nothing has really changed. I don't see it suddenly changing either. I'd trade Fried and Ozuna, get some real outfield talent. Put Acuna in at DH next year, Morton will clearly be done, and Arcia I just don't know his glove good and I think he can make a comeback but the main thing is they need some morale, leadership, and heart. Also someone on the coaching staff that will get on their asses since Snitker is the most hands off, asleep at the wheel, autopilot coach in history.

I don’t think I’d sell Ozuna because he can help you next year. Fried is gone though so he makes total sense to unload. There’s no shame in taking a step back this season at the deadline.
Strider, Acuna, Harris, Albies, Murphy and even Riley have missed a ton of time this season. Go get some prospects and gear up for next year.

[bravesballer]

Originally Posted by NCWolf

I don’t think I’d sell Ozuna because he can help you next year. Fried is gone though so he makes total sense to unload. There’s no shame in taking a step back this season at the deadline.
Strider, Acuna, Harris, Albies, Murphy and even Riley have missed a ton of time this season. Go get some prospects and gear up for next year.

Ah, he still signed through next year that's right thought this was his last. Still its all based around the idea of Acuna as a DH. I wouldn't want Ozuna back in the OF. An All Star bat with a year and half left on contract who basically never gets injured should pull some major trade value. Come next spring no one will really miss him, come during the season and if were playing like this we will but it won't really matter. One or two guys aren't carrying this team.

[whitmm]

Lopez heading back to Atlanta for an MRI

[Rabs]

Originally Posted by whitmm

Lopez heading back to Atlanta for an MRI

Hoping for the best but this is worrisome.

[rittdk01]

At least they are hitting the ball. Lopez was already pitching too much transitioning from relief. Hopefully he just needs a little rest.

[whitmm]

Lopez appears to avoid the IL.

And I hope he eventually figures it out, but Vines continues to show that he's not an MLB pitcher.

Meanwhile, Schwellenbach continues to impress. Third pitcher since 1901 to record 60+ k and 10 or fewer walks in first 10 starts, joining Jared Jones (not Skenes) and Masahiro Tanaka.

[unreal13]

Soler and Luke Jackson are back

[whitmm]

Dang, I'm going to miss Matzek. His inning against the Dodgers in the 2021 playoffs was the biggest moment of that run, IMO. I put it above Soler's bomb in the WS

Kelenic and Soler will make a nice platoon next season.

[Cracktoast]

if Atlanta doesn't bring a SP back before the deadline everything the have done is a huge fail. They are trying to catch lightening in a bottle a 2nd time with Soler, Jackson, Rosario, and Duvall instead of trading prospects for standout pieces. Jackson has a era in the high 5's , Duvall and Rosario both are hitting sub .200, and Soler hasn't played the field a single game this year.

[Rabs]

Originally Posted by whitmm

Dang, I'm going to miss Matzek. His inning against the Dodgers in the 2021 playoffs was the biggest moment of that run, IMO. I put it above Soler's bomb in the WS

Kelenic and Soler will make a nice platoon next season.

Matzek was incredible in that run. But was never the same since.

[Noles939913]

Originally Posted by Cracktoast

if Atlanta doesn't bring a SP back before the deadline everything the have done is a huge fail. They are trying to catch lightening in a bottle a 2nd time with Soler, Jackson, Rosario, and Duvall instead of trading prospects for standout pieces. Jackson has a era in the high 5's , Duvall and Rosario both are hitting sub .200, and Soler hasn't played the field a single game this year.

What prospects should they deal and what standout pieces are available?

[Cracktoast]

Originally Posted by Noles939913

What prospects should they deal and what standout pieces are available?

That's not my job to figure out but you can't tell me Soler and Jackson are the best players still available.

[Noles939913]

Originally Posted by Cracktoast

That's not my job to figure out but you can't tell me Soler and Jackson are the best players still available.

And I’m extremely happy about that.

[NCWolf]

The Braves don't need guys like Soler and Kelenic to be studs. They need their studs to be studs. That was been the biggest problem.

All of a sudden the mid September lineup looks good again...

Soler
Riley
Olson
Ozuna
Albies
D'Arnaud/Murphy
Harris
Arcia
Kelenic

Will be interested to see what happens at second base because Nacho ain't gonna cut it much longer... Roll out Merrifield? Trade for a dude on a final season of contract?

[jduds]

Originally Posted by Cracktoast

That's not my job to figure out but you can't tell me Soler and Jackson are the best players still available.

I think they might be the best available that Atlanta can actually get. The cupboard is pretty bare in the minors and that's the optimistic way of saying that. This is what happens when they've already traded everyone.

[jduds]

Originally Posted by NCWolf

The Braves don't need guys like Soler and Kelenic to be studs. They need their studs to be studs. That was been the biggest problem.

All of a sudden the mid September lineup looks good again...

Soler
Riley
Olson
Ozuna
Albies
D'Arnaud/Murphy
Harris
Arcia
Kelenic

Will be interested to see what happens at second base because Nacho ain't gonna cut it much longer... Roll out Merrifield? Trade for a dude on a final season of contract?

The studs have been duds but Kelenic has the worst OPS over the last 30 days of any qualified hitter in the majors so we can spread some blame to the role players as well. He's definitely to the point of hurting the team.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by Cracktoast

That's not my job to figure out but you can't tell me Soler and Jackson are the best players still available.

Who are/were the best players available?

The Braves were never going to be in the market for the top players available. For a couple reasons.

One being that part of the reason they are middle of the pack is that most of their core (guys that aren't getting traded) aren't performing. This isn't a team that needs a big time position player to make them a WS contender, they need an upgrade over Wall/Williams/Duvall/Rosario, and Soler is just that. As Wolf said, they need their studs to hit.

Could they use another starting pitcher, sure, probably. But they have enough pitching right now to field a competitive playoff rotation. Fried will be back to go along with Sale and Lopez. If the studs in the lineup start hitting, Schwellenbach/Morton is going to be just fine as a 4th starter in the playoffs.

But the biggest issue as to why they haven't gone after bigger names (and we still have a few hours for a potential move) is they simply don't have the farm system depth to do it. It's a bottom 5-6 farm system. What do you think it's going to take to get a Crochet or Skubal?

At the end of the day, if the offense doesn't start rolling, one stud pitcher isn't going to change a thing. And the way this season has gone, there's no reason for the Braves to be big time buyers this year. It's not like the window is closing after this season.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by jduds

The studs have been duds but Kelenic has the worst OPS over the last 30 days of any qualified hitter in the majors so we can spread some blame to the role players as well. He's definitely to the point of hurting the team.

It's been a very cold last 14 games for Kelenic. From June 15 (the day after Harris went down) until July 9th, Kelenic had a .869 OPS, good for 53rd in the league. Since July 10th, yes, dead last.

I think it's playing center field that is catching up with him. We saw it with Duvall a couple years ago. The bat was terrible when he was in center, but when Harris was called up and he moved to left, the numbers improved. Per FanGraphs, since Harris went down, Matt Olson has the worst fWAR in the league and Duvall has the 8th worst.

[NCWolf]

Originally Posted by whitmm

It's been a very cold last 14 games for Kelenic. From June 15 (the day after Harris went down) until July 9th, Kelenic had a .869 OPS, good for 53rd in the league. Since July 10th, yes, dead last.

I think it's playing center field that is catching up with him. We saw it with Duvall a couple years ago. The bat was terrible when he was in center, but when Harris was called up and he moved to left, the numbers improved. Per FanGraphs, since Harris went down, Matt Olson has the worst fWAR in the league and Duvall has the 8th worst.

I think you can do worse than Kelenic if he's batting ninth and playing left field. I thought he was outstanding defensively in LF.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by NCWolf

I think you can do worse than Kelenic if he's batting ninth and playing left field. I thought he was outstanding defensively in LF.

I agree. He wasn't even that bad when he was lead off and playing left. Slashed .280/.327/.500 with a wRC+ of 126 from the time Acuna went down to Harris went down.

[jduds]

Originally Posted by whitmm

I agree. He wasn't even that bad when he was lead off and playing left. Slashed .280/.327/.500 with a wRC+ of 126 from the time Acuna went down to Harris went down.

He was great for June, decent for May, bad for April, and the worst hitter in the majors for July. If he can be a consistent .700 OPS with decent defense (I think that contribution gets inflated for him), he's a great fit. I just don't know if he can be an everyday player long-term though when his cold streaks are as bad and sustained as they are.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by jduds

He was great for June, decent for May, bad for April, and the worst hitter in the majors for July. If he can be a consistent .700 OPS with decent defense (I think that contribution gets inflated for him), he's a great fit. I just don't know if he can be an everyday player long-term though when his cold streaks are as bad and sustained as they are.

Again, his current cold streak isn't all of July. It's been two weeks, still not great. Please reference my other comment where I talked about this.

How was Kelenic bad in April? He hit .288/.347/.349. The same .696 OPS that you said was decent for May. From day 1 until July 9th, Kelenic had a .766 OPS and 112 wRC+, both good for 3rd on the team for anyone over 50 AB.

[NCWolf]

Originally Posted by whitmm

Again, his current cold streak isn't all of July. It's been two weeks, still not great. Please reference my other comment where I talked about this.

How was Kelenic bad in April? He hit .288/.347/.349. The same .696 OPS that you said was decent for May. From day 1 until July 9th, Kelenic had a .766 OPS and 112 wRC+, both good for 3rd on the team for anyone over 50 AB.

Exactly. If the focus is on Kelenic not being good enough then we're missing the point. He was brought in to be the 8/9 hitter in a stud lineup that plays great defense. When essentially everyone not named Ozuna greatly regresses then people start looking for blame to pass out.

If Riley, Olson, Albies, Acuna, Harris and Murphy were just having their career average type years (and healthy) then no one would be talking about Kelenic.

[jduds]

Originally Posted by whitmm

Again, his current cold streak isn't all of July. It's been two weeks, still not great. Please reference my other comment where I talked about this.

How was Kelenic bad in April? He hit .288/.347/.349. The same .696 OPS that you said was decent for May. From day 1 until July 9th, Kelenic had a .766 OPS and 112 wRC+, both good for 3rd on the team for anyone over 50 AB.

.254/.313/.305 in April. You are including the March stats I think. Take out June and he's hit .221 with an OPS closer to .600 (too lazy to calculate it out fully). To me, he looks like a player who isn't quite up to snuff for the majors who has hot months every once in a while. What I hope he turns into is what everyone already thinks he is, a .700 OPS outfielder with some consistency.

[jduds]

Originally Posted by NCWolf

Exactly. If the focus is on Kelenic not being good enough then we're missing the point. He was brought in to be the 8/9 hitter in a stud lineup that plays great defense. When essentially everyone not named Ozuna greatly regresses then people start looking for blame to pass out.

If Riley, Olson, Albies, Acuna, Harris and Murphy were just having their career average type years (and healthy) then no one would be talking about Kelenic.

My point initially was chiefly that there is blame to go around and to not give the role players a pass just because the stars are bad too. As an aside, why does everyone on here immediately jump to the Kelenic plays great defense conclusion? By most metrics he is solid, but not spectacular, and his range is actually pretty bad. Is it just the absurdly strong arm?