Atlanta’s Front Office is Handling this Winter the SAME Way They Always Do | Atlanta Braves Podcast

21 comments

1. If the offense is close to as bad as last year and with the loss of a fee pitchers…this team may finish 4th in the east. Which could be a bledding to get the casuals god out of the front office and grandpa finally in his rocking chair.

2. Liberty Media put the handcuffs on AA according to Chipper. I guess they trying to reset the luxury tax clock.

   They probably will let Ozuna loose next year and get rid of Iglesias one way or another as well.

   They are gearing up for an Acuna extension if he come back from the injury.

3. The front office works exactly as Liberty Media tells them to work. AA my blow smoke but he is lockstep with LM.

4. Is a "mutual option" mean both sides have to agree? That seems pointless – both sides agreeing just sounds like a "contract" to me not an option.

   edit: Ooh, found a good article on this called "Show me the mind games! Mutual options not about the money". Turns out Lindsay and I have a mutual option to go on a date tonight :). I'm guessing he's going to decline it, though.

5. Doubt Braves will you get back to luxury tax levels. Terry McGurik now has all the power of the purse in the franchise again, and Liberty Media has washed their hands on any of the Braves stock. Liberty was an influence for the payroll to climb.

6. I'm not frustrated with the spending. Braves can take a year off and then come back with a vengeance. When I look at the signings so far there aren't any that I've seen where I say "damn the braves really screwed up by not outbidding that". The braves have a budget and it's damn high compared to almost everyone else. A mini-rebuild year seems fine, especially after last year showed that what was supposed to be a repeat dream (regular) season wasn't going to happen.

   And if the Braves suck, I'll watch Freddie and the boys next year. Wherever Freddie goes I'll be a fan. That was the deal that the braves messed up.

   Also, it's weird to call someone an all-star for a year when it's really only based on half a season. I get that there's only one all star game a year so it's technically correct, but Arcia had a much worse second half of 2023, so he's been non-allstar (to put it mildly) for 1.5 seasons not 1 season.

7. Joc and Buehler off the board

8. You're just an AA yes man and propagandists. You refuse to criticize him for anything and claim everything he does is pure genius. Pathetic

9. Patience is a virtue… it will pan out for the Braves.

10. First of all, they’re just being cheap right now. It’s obviously they wanna reset the luxury tax they’re being cheap about it. They’re being ridiculous and it’s actually gonna bite them in the ass cause I’m gonna be honest with the chances. Are Chris’s gonna get hurt before the years out Lopez is gonna regress someand I’m not banking on Spencer Stryder to be an ace because the chances are that second half of season is not what you’re gonna get for the whole season so I think it’s gonna bite the Braves in the butt because here’s a fact they just let Walker Bueller sign a one year $21 million deal to go to Boston. You can tell me could offer the same deal and I think he would’ve probably came to walk to Atlanta before he went to Boston, but we didn’t offer that obviously this is the prom I like it, but he’s too damn scared to do things. I understand pitching his photo in his eyes and all that I understand but if you don’t have, you don’t have pitching you’re in trouble and you’re gonna be they’re banking on all these young kids that they’re gonna come up and they’re gonna be hitting the strike. They’re gonna have the pitching and that’s what they’re doing. The organization was supposed to be built around pitching and I understand there’s been they’ve been snip stop about the stars I get it. They’ve been hit by the injury, but I get it, but there comes a point where you need to make sure that you have at least 2 to 3 starters in rotation you know you guarantee no matter what there’s still a lot of questions about this fetching staff that is gonna bite them in the butt just because yes, I know Ku is probably not gonna be back until probably the end of May or June I know strider’s gonna be the same way I get it, but you can’t guarantee that they’re gonna be what they were before beforehand and you can’t guarantee that I’ll be. I think I will be OK this year. I think Riley will be OK this year. I think those guys are gonna return. I don’t think Olson‘s gonna hit as bad as I think Murphy will eventually move to the DH but let’s be honest. They’re not gonna resign their too big for Agent for next year, they’re gonna be free Agent there’s just no way they’re gonna do that so then where we going I understand he’s scared to do things, but sometimes he needs to get out of his cupboard zone and do stuff that maybe he doesn’t feel comfortable with to secure a team because of this team regret because they did not go out and do the news that need to be done. It’s gonna hurt them in a long one because it’s gonna irritate the fan base. This is the problem when you have these companies who are at the bottom line I’m not saying they need to go out and blow $300 million on team and boil the Uncle crazy I don’t not saying that but you also owe your fan base who are coming to the games to give them the best team that they can give them and the Braves this year are not doing that and I don’t expect them to do it next year either. That’s why last year I was saying go get what’s his name Anny because Anny is gonna print money for the organization. The Dodgers are gonna be able to make handover foot and they deferred a lot of that money to get it. They could do the same things to Tiny because Tiny had said he wanted to come to Atlanta and that would’ve cover if they were gonna let Max goI just I don’t get it. I think the Braves are gonna worry about and they’re gonna once again, they’re gonna blow all that all that great contracts they gave all those great contracts I gave for five years or so and they’re gonna waste those deals on some great Young players because they don’t wanna take chances and I understand you feel like you need you don’t wanna lose pics. I get it and pay all this million in tax’s . but at the same time they’re acting like Atlanta is a middle mark or little market team. It’s not that’s it is a big market team and I hate to see that this team’s gonna go down like the 90s teams team a time period where they should’ve won four or five World Series, but they ended up with one and that’s because they blew their chances when they had a chance to go for it because they did not go for that extra big piece to put them on the top. I’m not gonna have to go out and be a $300 million a year salary team and paid 50 t0 60 million tax’s . But I’m I’m also saying you don’t have to be worried about being cheap all the time. Sometimes you need to go out your comfort zones to give your fan base a feeling like this team is going for because the window is open because when it’s not gonna be open forever, eventually I get it eventually Riley‘s gonna need a new contract is gonna do it. I’ll be getting a new contract. I get it right if you ever get healthy or need I get it some of those core pieces that you sign for long-term deals those deals are gonna come free and they’re still young enough that they’re gonna need a new contract and you have to pay them. I get it but to my promise I think when that happens, they’re gonna let them go too And rebuilt and it’s a sad situation is a long time brace a brace for over 40 years I understand being physically fit and not destroy yourself but at the same time I also believe you go to your fan base to always go for it. If your team is in that window with the Braves are in that window they’re in that World Series window And they’re gonna waste a year in that window when they shouldn’t because the Phillies are gonna be better the Mets will probably be better. The Marlins well the mile of the Marlins the nationals are coming. The Cubs are going for the Cardinals will see what happens with them. The Brewers are going to try to the reds da Vinci will get together and start winning. You have the Padres you have the Dodgers you have San Francisco trying to do something Arizona is a good team there comes a point when you’re gonna have to realize you can’t just stay packed and I hope I’m wrong this but something tells me the Braves might end up in fourth place this year and missed the playoffs because of cell gets hurt. Lopez gets hurt or regresses. Schreder doesn’t come back and not able to duplicate what he had not able to come back and be what he was before the Tommy John surgery. Acuna is not able to bounce back like he was. Al doesn’t regroup. Riley doesn’t come back and be able to put what he was and he’s lower numbers and Olson is what he is and so is Murphy. I’m sorry it’s not enough so that’s my worry that this team is gonna implode themselves because they just did not wanna put out the money to go out go back to where they were last year and just try to go for it and try to prove to their fans that they want to winbecause the fans have shown we wanna win

11. Good point near the end that the signings of other teams makes it seem like we are falling behind when in reality we were far out ahead of the competitors over the past few years. And the Phillies winning the division this past season and even the Mets ultimately ending with a better record than the Braves was due to generationally bad injuries. And I’m with you that I don’t think the front office is waiting til 2026 to spend big and “go all out”, I believe they are very calculated in their approach, but the fans keep looking at the needs in Outfield and everywhere else you could make improvement and just feel frustrated. But with the core that we already have in place, when healthy, is good enough to get you to the World Series. We’ll just have to see how quick our key players can return at full strength if no other major Braves signing happens this off-season.

12. Here's my ACTUAL problem with the Braves front office. If they were just standing pat this off-season, that alone is not a problem. My problem is that in 2022 you had Olson , Riley, Albies, and Acuña locked up, and Contreras, you traded him for Murphy, 6 of one, half a dozen of the other, you had a good young catcher is my point. You had Ozuna and Fried for a few years each and Strider and Harris coming on to the stage as #1 and 2 Rookie of the year. That season passes, then the next, now another and going on to a fourth. They have made some moves that worked out. They have made some boneheaded moves. Either way they were all cheap options, low risk, high reward. At NO POINT during that time did they go all in on that core and bring in Snell, bring in Bogearts, keep Swanson or make ANY high risk move to commit to that core. Now time is ticking on that core, we've gotten 2 playoff wins in 3 years and we're on the verge of watching Albies and Acuña walk in a couple years and looking back at this era of Braves baseball as "what a waste" and "what could have been if they just made ONE MOVE. Brought in ONE PIECE!". You realize jumping on a SINGLE big name free agent pitcher in any of those seasons is probably the difference between what we got and at least 2-3 NLCS berths. Every one of the past three seasons we've gone into the playoffs saying "damn, if we just had ONE MORE healthy, top of the rotation arm!". One Blake Snell, or WHOEVER makes all three of those miserable playoff runs and entirely different story.

13. The Braves are going to let all these long term contracts of the core, come and go with noting to show for it. 2021 and DONE.

14. The core is good but the big question is because of the last three playoffs appearances is it good enough. To me there is something missing whether it's chemistry or leadership or maybe even coaching. But I saw the Phillies and Padres play with such passion and the Braves looked like deer in the headlights

15. do nothing Braves ….

16. I don’t care for the mentality of “this team is good enough as is”. The point is to make the moves to put you over the top. 2024 showed how thin the roster is. By neglecting this fact, you are banking on good health and top 5% outcomes from your core. I just don’t understand being ok with not making any moves.

17. I'm sure the braves have someone in the system named dave jabroni or something who will win 20 games out of the blue like some rookie pitcher seems to do every year. A healthy braves team is a top 3 team in the league

18. While I still think they add to the roster (they kinda have to) I'll admit I'm less confident in that than I was a month ago

19. Some inguring words Thanks 😊 for them

20. What is interesting is that the Braves good during the regular season. But are not gamers during post season. Don’t have not been able to turn it on during the postseason.

21. Nothing great about kepler or lazardo! Soto is not a 5 tool player for mets!! Only a.285 hitter with no defense.lousy baserunner!! Mets afraid to put him in outfield!!!( these are not great moves!!!