Braves throwing in the towel?

We have now seen this pattern play out several times. Team gets new park or new TV contract. Thus they expect sharp revenue increase in a couple years. So they hold a fire sale now and gut the team while stocking up the farm system in theory because when the new revenue source kicks in they can go after free agents or sign the young prospects they are getting now, and which hopefully pan out, to long term deals.

But how many teams has this worked out for?

We have now seen this pattern play out several times. Team gets new park or new TV contract. Thus they expect sharp revenue increase in a couple years. So they hold a fire sale now and gut the team while stocking up the farm system in theory because when the new revenue source kicks in they can go after free agents or sign the young prospects they are getting now, and which hopefully pan out, to long term deals.

But how many teams has this worked out for?

And that's BaseBusinessBall. You watch the other guy make it work and then you do the same. Leverage the City and get what you want. Leverage the city and get it again. We just keep going to the game and buying the Big Mac's. My dream is watching my kid play Baseball and we have never been to a MLB game together. We have seen a High School Title game and we have seen the Ducks and Emeralds play. His Uncle took him to Spring Training and Castle & Coasters is all he talked about. It is all going to end as Baseball is too slow, Basketball has no rules and Football is a killer of young men. Go GOLF as it don't hurt unless you get hit by your wife as you are backing out of the driveway.

That was good. Had to think a minute on the golf one.

The Braves made a smart move. They are clearly rebuilding this year and probably next year to a lesser degree. So, they will both probably have little need for an elite closer, nor will they want to pay the money for one. As another poster noted, finding a closer is probably the easiest "prime" position to fill. The Cubs and Orioles did so last year without spending substantial money and without needing blue chip prospects. And journeymen like Melancon often fill in the position nicely. So, as an earlier poster noted, Grilli and/or Johnson should be able to do yeoman jobs this year, and the fire-balling Foltenywicz--acquired for Gattis--could take the job for good.

The Braves also got an excellent return for Kimbrel. Matt Wisler is one of the best SP prospects in baseball and automatically becomes the Braves' top prospect. He throws consistently in the mid-90's, has an excellent slider, and is a legitimate future #2...which is harder to find than a solid closer. They also got the 41st pick in next year's draft, and got a huge break in dumping Upton's albatross contract. So, having saved money on Heyward (whom they didn't want to sign long-term), Kimbrel, and the two Uptons (they couldn't afford Justin), they should be able to add some solid pieces in the next two years.

We have now seen this pattern play out several times. Team gets new park or new TV contract. Thus they expect sharp revenue increase in a couple years. So they hold a fire sale now and gut the team while stocking up the farm system in theory because when the new revenue source kicks in they can go after free agents or sign the young prospects they are getting now, and which hopefully pan out, to long term deals.

But how many teams has this worked out for?

Not working for the Twins. Of course they are more concerned about having TV analyst Bert Blyleven apologize for more or less calling Detroit an ugly city on Twitter (Bert deleted all associated tweets except for the apology) than actually improving their team.

BTW, they set an American League record yesterday with the most scoreless innings to open a season (24).

Ouch. In Twins case I think local fans have reason to be unhappy. It does not appear whatever additional revenues that new park created has been spent on getting better players.

Speaking on the Twins, any word from the locals when Buxton and Sano might be making an appearance. Seems like I was reading last year both had shot at making Twins but had injuries. But MILB.com shows neither has advanced beyond AA yet.

Ouch. In Twins case I think local fans have reason to be unhappy. It does not appear whatever additional revenues that new park created has been spent on getting better players.

Speaking on the Twins, any word from the locals when Buxton and Sano might be making an appearance. Seems like I was reading last year both had shot at making Twins but had injuries. But MILB.com shows neither has advanced beyond AA yet.

Yes, both suffered injuries last season. The Aaron Hicks debacle have made management leary of bringing these guys up too soon. However, another close to 100 loss season forthcoming (unless Santana wins all of his games coming off the 80 game suspension, that was a great move) and a lot of the fans that remain can't understand why these guys are being given a chance. I mean, wasn't Hunter signed to be a mentor for Buxton? Can't mentor if they aren't playing at the same level.

The pitching staff is a disaster, Hughes is the only one dependable right now. Mauer's injury propensity has become great fodder for sports radio in town.

Not a fan of the Braves tear-down strategy this year as they were poised to be competitive for the wild card, but having elected that strategy months ago the Kimbrell trade was a wise one. They save a net of $56M in salary obligations going forward and that alone is a substantial positive. The prospect return on the deal is good, not great. Wisler is below the elite level pitching prospects of today.

The prospect return on the deal is good, not great. Wisler is below the elite level pitching prospects of today.

Baseball America rated Wisler as the Padre's top prospect, the 34th best prospect in MLB, and the 11th best right handed pitching prospect in MLB. As I said earlier, he also throws consistently in the mid-90's with a slider scouts consider excellent. If someone doesn't consider that being one of the "elite level pitching prospects today," he has an extremely stringent notion of "elite."

I, and many GM's, would take a prospect like Wisler, the dumping of Upton's salary, and a supplemental first-round pick for a closer I didn't need any day.

From Fangraphs, who have him ranked similarly at 41:

"Scouting Report: To pitch at the Padres pre-draft workout in San Diego in 2011, Wisler flew to the west coast from Ohio and pitched the day after he threw in a high school playoff game, hitting 91 mph at PETCO Park. He’s shown the intangibles from day one, but came to camp in 2013 looking like a completely different pitcher. Wisler now works 91-94, touching 95 mph with sink and commands the pitch to both sides of the plate. His two-plane slider is plus, his changeup is above average at times and he also works in a fringy curveball. Scouts rave about his makeup and strike throwing abilities, though his command isn’t quite big league ready, as he ran into trouble in the hitter-friendly PCL leaving the ball up the zone. Some scouts think his build is too slight and that he won’t be able to hold up for 200 innings, with a couple suggesting he may end up as a late-inning reliever. The consensus is that he should be able to handle 180 innings as a third or fourth starter and he’ll get a big league look in 2015, though the Padres new starting pitching depth may delay that until late in the season."

A 3rd or 4th starter is a good, not elite pitcher. The Kimbrell trade was wise, the prospect return was non elite.