re: ATL Thread | offseason hot takes + discussion

The Braves are sitting around $196M projected payroll, +/- a few million depending on where you look. How high do we think they're really going to go? I'm guessing they'll bring back Duvall on a cheap deal and that will pretty much be it with a few depth pieces. I really think Grissom will be at short and we'll run it back with Duvall/Rosario in left. I don't think we have the ammo left to trade for a big time shortstop or corner outfielder.

Interesting late night note. After today’s trade FanGraphs projects the Braves to have the best record in baseball.

Dodgers about $100M below last year’s payroll right now so if they add a couple big pieces they will likely jump us. Astros also could.

I watched a handful of podcasts and takes on this trade. I have thoughts that I’ll come back and share when I have more time. But check out this one if you have time. 2 guys with no affiliations to any of the 3 teams. It’s called The Just Baseball Show. 18 and a half minutes long. The 1st 11+ are them shitting on the A’s for getting fleeced, wondering how AA keeps doing it to them.

Then they try to talk about the Braves and one guy can’t let the A’s go and goes back to shitting on them because “it’s so infuriating. If I am an A’s fan, I am considering leaving this team. This is the most uncompetitive, terrible trade. I have no words for them. None. Alex Anthopolis fleece. Now let’s talk about the Braves.”

Sean Murphy Traded to Braves Instant Reaction

They go through the Braves lineup as is, putting Grissom at SS and Ozuna in LF and TDA at DH. Guy 1 lists starting rotation of Fried, Strider, Wright, Morton, and Soroka.
Guy 2: “…so freaking elite. That is such a sick team.”

They touch on the Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, how great the sport of baseball is, and wind up talking about the Brewers part of the deal, which they liked because of the offensive upgrade of Contreras and being able to keep Adames. The pitchers they got were kinda “meh” throw ins. Speaking of “meh,” they “meh”ed all over Muller for most of the podcast, mostly while talking about the A’s, obviously.

And these guys have no emotional investment in any of the 3 teams—I think 1 might be a Mets fan and the other a Yankee. But it was interesting to get an outsider’s, objective take on it that I found interesting. I said I’d have more thoughts when I had more time, but I damn near transcribed the whole pod, so I could have just left the link and gave my thoughts. But I wanted to try to make sure you listened. There’s a lot more, and they were pretty entertaining, so do try to listen to the first 15 minutes of you have time. I do have more thoughts, but a couple from this and listening to AA:

—Murphy is a lot better than we think/thought and is/was valued much more highly than we realized
—5+ teams were in on him and the A’s rejected some pretty big hauls
—AA REALLY values defense from the catcher position
—Murphy is more than just a Gold Glove winner, AA talked about his daily mental prep with the starters and how great he is at calling a game
—AA mentioned he was a great teammate; by itself, pretty benign comment. However, it may have been as much about Contreras as Murphy. Dale Murphy (the poster) texted me what are supposedly the text receipts that Contreras may not have been that popular in the clubhouse. Unnamed former Brave: “I didn’t like him as a teammate.”
—reading between the lines a bit, but Murphy was not just an upgrade defensively behind the plate, AA didn’t think he was good enough to play there every day at all once TDA’s done
—more assumptions, but I don’t think AA thinks he will hit enough to be a full-time, long-term DH. Unfortunately, we just can’t address that with Ozuna and Rosario still on the books, but I think they will upgrade that significantly either at the deadline or after the season
—I think another move for SS or LF is likely, but he’s not gonna force one he doesn’t love. I think he’s willing to go into April with Grissom/Arcia at short, Rosario and probably Duvall platooning in left, with a Murphy/TDA/Ozuna holding down the DH spot and seeing how it goes.

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The Braves are sitting around $196M projected payroll, +/- a few million depending on where you look. How high do we think they're really going to go?

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Hopefully will get in the range of the Mets payroll.


Divided by 2.

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But you—we—have to be self-aware enough to know that and try to take a 10,000 foot view of these things after the initial knee-jerk reaction. I was hoping we’d trade Contreras, because I think he’s kinda fool’s gold, and we were never gonna get as much for him as we could now.

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Yeah this is what a lot of teams who trade players to the Rays and Brewers think, and it turns out to be wrong more times than not

Think Bill DHs a bunch this year and plays some catcher, and they really work with him in the offseason behind the plate. With his ceiling as a hitter he doesn't have to be a stalwart defensively, he just has to be serviceable.

The Braves lost nothing in this deal and gained the 2nd best catcher in baseball. The fact that so many fans seem irked by the trade is mind boggling. There are hundreds of Mullers out there. Contreras is easily replaceable. Heck, Tromp will probably be better if given a chance.

Bottom line is we just added another All a star to the roster for a bunch of guys we’ll probably never hear about again. Sure, we have some holes, but everyone does. Bottom line top to bottom we are a better team today than yesterday.

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Contreras is easily replaceable. Heck, Tromp will probably be better if given a chance.

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Contreras was a big time bat and started the All Star Game. Chadwick Tromp is not filling that void.

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You’d rather be those guys?

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How did you get to this from what I said?

I'd rather have a 24 year old who has already been in an all-star game who plays at a premium position than not have him.

Yeah, it was a total fleecing