re: The ATL Thread Offseason Thread

~$50 mil was always the number I heard since the start of this season. That's why I pointed out the date on that Bowman article. It was way out of date.

So likely somewhere between 50-70+ mil

That’s a pretty significant amount to play with.

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So likely somewhere between 50-70+ mil

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More than likely and their revenues are higher as well.

Does anyone think we'll try to trade Teheran ($11 mill next year) this off-season?

Folty, Gausman, Newcomb seems like a descent core.

Add a high-priced free agent at the top.

Trade Julio to allow even more financial freedom and that leaves a spot open for one of the young guys.

I wonder how many bags of balls and buckets of dubble bubble we can get for him

Thought you guys may be interested in this from Bill Shanks

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BRAVES SHOULD INCREASE PAYROLL FOR ANTHOPOULOS’ SHOPPING SPREE
By Bill Shanks
Middle Georgia’s ESPN TheSuperStations.com

Talking about being in the proverbial catbird seat. Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos is in it, sitting upright with a wry smile on his face, knowing others will wonder how in the world he fell into this.

Sure, he inherited most of the good fortune. Most of the groundwork was laid by one person in particular, a man who did something so wrong his name can’t even be mentioned inside Cobb County and is no longer even in the sport.

Make no mistake about it, however, John Coppolella envisioned this. The former Atlanta general manager just had to hand it to Anthopoulos, who will enjoy the fruits of that labor and cross the finish line with this rebuild.

Anthopoulos’ hands are in this too, particularly due to a certain trade that freed up a bunch of money. He didn’t want to split up Matt Kemp’s remaining $40 million over two years, so he offered it to the Dodgers who had a similar amount ready to come off the books after 2018.

And now, magic can happen. The defending NL East champion Braves are loaded, with a young core that makes all other 29 teams envious. Plus, the Braves have at least $50 million to spend this winter to make the 90-win team even better for 2019.

Any article you will read the next six weeks will have one missing piece of information: the exact amount Anthopoulos will be given as his payroll for next season. Maybe only he will know, but it will be fun to speculate for the next few weeks how he can spend what he’ll have at his disposal.

Here’s what we do know, at least in general terms. The Braves payroll was around $130 million this season. There is around $70 million coming off the books, but with expected raises and arbitration figures, the $60 million remaining climbs to around $80 million. That’s where we get the possible $50 million that Anthopoulos will have to work with if the payroll remains the same.

But why in the world would the payroll remain the same? The revenues were already reportedly sky high in 2017, the first season in SunTrust Park. Attendance was up by 50,000 this season along with the two playoff games totaling another 80,000. You know that merchandise revenue must was higher, with many buying number 13 jerseys. Television ratings were higher. That’s good.

So, if ownership keeps the payroll at the same level, they’ve been lying to us. They’ve said Anthopoulos will be able to shop in every aisle this winter. Therefore, it certainly would be nice if Liberty Media or whoever runs this club could increase the payroll up to $140 million, or mercy me how about up to $150 million.

That could make the money available for Anthopoulos to play with increase from $50 million to maybe $60 or $70 million. Oh, what someone can do with $70 million bucks.

Sure, a higher payroll will increase the expectations. But a better team will increase attendance and subsequently increase revenue. Walk around SunTrust Park and look at how much they are swimming in greenbacks. The money is there, and that’s why it’s time for them to invest that in the team.

Liberty Media wanted this new stadium to help compensate for a so-called media executive making an idiotic TV deal fifteen years ago that handcuffed this team. They needed the revenue from the new stadium, they told us, to compete with other teams that have more lucrative local TV contracts. And again, if you’ve ever been to SunTrust Park, it looks like a mission accomplished.

There will be time to invest in the younger talent. It’s scary to think what some of these kids will want in a few years, so yes that’s part of the thought process. But the time is now to make the money available to make the team better now, so that next year’s roster can be ready to jump from the 90-win mark to near the 100-win total.

That’s possible, with the right moves. But money must be available for Anthopoulos to make it happen. Liberty Media doesn’t need to get cheap now. They must do everything possible to build off this fantastic season so that the Braves won’t watch another team celebrate on their new field ever again.

$$$ COMING OFF THE BOOKS
PLAYER AMOUNT
Brandon McCarthy $10.00
Scott Kazmir $17.60
Rex Brothers $1.10
Brad Brach $1.75
Kurt Suzuki $3.85
Adrian Gonzalez $22.36
Nick Markakis $11.05
Lucas Duda $0.30
Anibal Sanchez $1.00
Ryan Flaherty $0.75
Peter Moylan $0.58
Rene Rivera $0.49
TOTAL $70.83

The Bill Shanks Show airs weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. ET on TheSuperStations.com.

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Heyman says no QO for Markakis.

Some notes from Kiley McDaniel (former Braves FO exec under Coppy who presumably still has plenty of Braves connections) on the Braves offseason on FG podcast:

-Thinks they will wait 11 days on Riley and then bring him up to play 3rd in mid April
-They’re happy with Swanson and love his D
-They think Camargo is a “premium utility guy” and they think he could be an even better version of a Marwin Gonzalez type. Growing consensus in the industry that every good team needs someone like that to win. If Riley disappoints could always move him back to everyday 3B during season.
-Thinks odds of signing Harper are about “1 in 5”. They have money but thinks they will likely be more conservative and try and stay on the “natural progression” of improvement.
-AA has explored trading Inciarte but will likely wait until Pache is ready which is expected to be 2020
-They love Contreras and they also love Grandal internally. He thinks that would be their preferred bridge to Contreras and they may try and up the AAV to take off a year on potential Grandal deal. Belief is Realmuto will cost too much, especially within division.
-FO loves the flexibility that comes with all the upper level pitching depth and he thinks they will keep it in tact unless something falls in their lap. Thinks Julio will be dealt for financial flexibility but he doesn’t think any of the other top tier arms will be traded. Folty, Gausman, Newcomb, Soroka will be penciled in to rotation and then they can just use the Gwinnett shuttle and bullpen to manage innings and get a look at everybody else throughout next season without stressing any of the young arms too much.
-Thinks they go short term on a RF like Pollock if they don’t get Harper. 2 yr/$40M was his guess. After adding Pollock and Grandal and clearing money from Julio would allow them to add a couple vet arms to the pen.
-You add Riley/Pollock/Grandal to core plus a few vets in bullpen without any long term commitments and you are favorite in division next year. Still have pitching chips to make almost any deal you want down the line.
-You then wait on Contreras and Waters to replace Grandal and Pollock and Pache to replace Inciarte for even cheaper and you’ll have even more flexibility to fill any holes that are open down the line in terms of both cash and player capital.

Think we add a big pen piece like a ck

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Think we add a big pen piece like a ck

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How many years would you be willing to go?