by Kenny Sirmans AKA Voice of Raisins
Georgia
As of the time of this writing, the lockout has just ended and the Free Agency Frenzy is just beginning. Teams have 3 days to get their players into camp, assuming they even know as of yet who those players are going to be. For the Braves, there is still a lot of work to be done.
A lot.
Priority #1: Get Freddie Freeman inked. Period. No putzing around. Get it done and make him happy.
Priority #2: Find at least 1 more OF. As this roster currently sits, the only OF’s are Adam Duvall, Marcell Ozuna, and Guillermo Heredia. Duvall doesn’t hit lefties well, Ozuna doesn’t field well, and Heredia is not a starter. We all want Ronald Acuña, Jr. to be healthy, but the reality is that he’s probably not going to be able to contribute until closer to May or even June. Cristian Pache will have another opportunity to make the team and has a realistic shot at it if he can impress in the abbreviated spring training. Even if he makes it though, the entirety of the group I just mentioned are all right handed. Not a lefty in the bunch. In fact, if we get Freddie back on board, he’s the only true lefty in the entire lineup.
Priority #3: Find a LH bat, or even two, to balance the lineup a little. This actually ties into the previous priority. We need a LH power bat for the OF. It’s that simple. Finding one we can afford is not that simple. I think we need to find that guy via trade. And if he’s got value, we’ll have to part with value. It may be time to finally stop hugging some of these prized prospects and use their prospect capital while the value is still there. Some of the guys, like Drew Waters and Kyle Muller, have lost their sheen. William Contreras has been leapfrogged by Shae Langeliers. We need to extract their value while before it dwindles.
Priority #4: Find some quality for the bench. Granted, this is something that can be done as spring unfolds and other rosters are fine tuned. But it still must be done. We have Manny Piña at backup catcher, Orlando Arcia as the projected utilityman, and the aforementioned Heredia. Again… all are RH bats. That cannot remain.
Priority #5: This team could use another starting pitcher, preferably the proverbial veteran innings eater. I’m just not sure there will be any money left over from Freddie’s haul and whatever OF is obtained to pay anyone else. We do have youngsters that can backfill behind Charlie Morton (assuming he’s 100% healthy), Max Fried, and Ian Anderson. I believe Kyle Wright proved during the World Series that he can be a bona fide ML starter. And Tucker Davidson showed some moments last season when he was healthy. Kyle Muller did as well. There are candidates, but ideally you’d like another vet. Still, this one is at the bottom of the list. Oh… and as for Mike Soroka, I’d love for him to make it all the way back. But even if he does, it won’t be before mid-season. I think you have to consider anything you get from him this year as a bonus.
Those are the things that must be done before April 7. I’m hoping that Freddie is already back in the fold before this is even published. I’ll be refreshing Twitter a lot today.
A lot.
Braves & Stuff 