re: The ATL Thread: 2021 World Champion Atlanta Braves Offseason Thread

Btw, no one is probably happier about the Freddie news than Ozuna, considering it totally overshadowed him being back and speaking to the media today.

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I'm just dropping in to say I hate this trade... This is Mark Teixeira level bad trade. And just like that trade, it's not about the player we're getting, it's what we're giving up for one guy. Unless you're acquiring a "generational talent", this is too much.

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Meh, only one that really bothers me is Langeliers. Outfield is a log jam, we always have pitching prospects and one of my biggest knocks on the organization has been holding on to all of them until they lose their value. We still have Harris and Waters, so not worried about Pache. Langeliers is the only one I wish we would've kept

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Waters

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I wish we could've gotten rid of his wishy-washy hitting arse.

We have no idea what was offered. If the only reason he didn’t sign was because of a 6th year then I’d agree with you. But I’m betting it came down to a lot more than that.

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Meh, only one that really bothers me is Langeliers. Outfield is a log jam, we always have pitching prospects and one of my biggest knocks on the organization has been holding on to all of them until they lose their value. We still have Harris and Waters, so not worried about Pache. Langeliers is the only one I wish we would've kept

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Like I said, I didn't mind trading Pache, either. I don't think he'll ever hit at this level.

And as far as "always" having pitching prospects, we've already traded or called up the vast majority of pitching prospects that we once had. And the price of pitching on the free agent market is EXTREMELY steep. I don't think it's wise to just throw our pitching prospects at every problem that comes along. But to give those guys up AND an elite catcher, who also has the potential to be an offensive force? Those kinds of catching prospects are quite rare. I just don't understand why the A's needed all of that for Matt Olson.

I was really looking forward to having a catcher who could actually control the run game, and have a pulse at the plate. I don't recall ever having that. Maybe David Ross in a backup role was close to that.

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As it’s been said numerous times by numerous people that know…if Freddie really wanted to stay a Brave, he would be a Brave.
AA couldn’t wait around any longer to see where Freddie’s ball handler wanted him to play.

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I don't buy this. I think AA was too steadfast on not offering Freddie the years he wanted, and Freddie felt disrespected. You could see it on his face all of last year that something was bothering him. It's clear to me now that the negotiations must have been pretty contentious, for them to ultimately not come to an agreement.

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So he made a move. A good one. To compare this to Teixeira is laughable.

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Why is it laughable? There is nothing written in stone that said "if you lose Freeman, you must trade for Matt Olson". They could have upgraded other areas, and found a stop gap at first base. They just traded the most important prospect in the organization (Langeliers) and three other pieces for a guy they didn't have to have, and who doesn't have a lot of years left on his contract.

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Suddenly he’s the most important prospect. Wasn’t so long ago Pache was

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Suddenly? Pache was considered the "top" prospect by terrible scouting services. The dude hasn't shown much reason for optimism in his offense in about three years.

Langeliers was the most important prospect, because he's a catcher, and an elite one, at that. Those are far more important than any other position. But he also has shown huge potential with the bat. He was the one guy in the entire system that I did not want to be traded, under almost any circumstances.

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We have no idea what was offered.

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We know a 5 year deal was presented before the lockout and it was heavily reported that the reason it didn't get signed then was because Freddie wanted a 6th year.

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They just traded the most important prospect in the organization (Lang

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They didn't give up a single top 50 prospect in this trade. To try and compare it to the Tex trade is ridiculous.

I'd rather have not moved Lang, but when your farm system is so low that you don't have a top 50 prospect, you have to give him up to get anything of value.

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They didn't give up a single top 50 prospect in this trade. To try and compare it to the Tex trade is ridiculous.

I'd rather have not moved Lang, but when your farm system is so low that you don't have a top 50 prospect, you have to give him up to get anything of value.

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I think this is a very shallow way of looking at it. When the Teixeira deal was made, they weren't ranked that highly in the top 100, either. But they were all very good prospects, and they were all given up for one player who had very little control left. Olson only has one more year of control than Tex did, and these prospects we've just traded are actually more highly regarded now than the guys we gave up for Tex at the time of that trade. And Langeliers was an extremely important part of out future, as I've already said many times. A potential franchise catcher is something you don't come across often. He should not have been included in this deal. And if that meant the deal fell through, so be it. We won a world series with Acuna on the sidelines, and now he's coming back. Ozuna is coming back. Whether people like him or not, if he bounces back, we're already a better team just with those two back, especially if they retain either Soler or Rosario.

It's fine if people want to disagree with me, but let's try to make our discussions a little more in depth than saying that certain guys weren't in the top 50. Pache was a top 5 overall prospect, until he wasn't. That's how much those rankings mean.