Braves News
Prospect Profile: Ronald Acuna
Atlanta Braves outfield prospect Ronald Acuna has been shooting up Top 100 lists throughout the offseason. Garrett Spain takes a closer look at both his strengths and weaknesses heading into 2017.
Talking Chop Podcast Episode 51: Breaking down the Brandon Phillips trade
Brad and Carlos spend a majority of the show breaking down the Braves trade for Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips. We give our thoughts on Phillips as a player at this point in his career, the outlook for 2B now without Sean Rodriguez for a while and some possible ramifications for Ozzie Albies. We also touch on Baseball America's Top 100 list, which features eight different Braves prospects.
How watchable are the Atlanta Braves going to be in 2017?
SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee takes a position by position look at the 2017 Atlanta Braves to discover how watchable they will be in 2017.
The Braves might not be very good. Baseball Prospectus and PECOTA have them at 77-85 and in fourth place. FanGraphs and ZiPS have them at 74-88 and in fourth place. This means that they’re about as likely to lose 100 games as they are to contend.
Still, the Braves have built a team that’s easy to watch. There are veterans who will help act as a bridge to the next good Braves team, and they’ll prevent the whole mess from being swallowed in an avalanche of incompetence. There are rookies and young players who will help keep the paying customers optimistic about the future. There are a couple homegrown stars to put on ballpark giveaways. Even some of the bad players might be more watchable than you expect, just by virtue of how they’ve allocated their skills.
Braves’ top prospects for 2017: Composite rankings
Fox Sports’ Zach Dillard has taken the Braves’ top prospects rankings from around the web and mashed them up into one composite list.
The Calculated Mediocrity of the Atlanta Braves
FanGraph’s Nick Stellini takes a closer look at how the Braves are trying to balance a rebuild while keeping a respectable product on the field this season while moving into SunTrust Park.
The Braves are on the right track. There’s little doubt of that. They’re positioned to have another quality draft this summer, and they’ll secure a few more prospects by trading some of their veterans. They’ll have the money and prospects to acquire premium players over the winter. They’re almost ready to be dangerous again. It’s good that they’re willing to at least pretend to look like they’re trying this year.
MLB News
So Much Talent in the WBC
The World Baseball Classic gets underway in early March and there is a ton of Major League talent that will be participating. FanGraphs’ Craig Edwards
Of the 226 position players in the tournament, a Steamer projection is available for 133. Of those 133 players, 86 earn a forecast for replacement-level production or better in 2017. Nor does that account for the talent in the various Asian leagues. In other words: despite the presence of countries in which baseball is less popular, it’s still probably fair to estimate that close to half of the position players participating in the WBC will be of MLB caliber. In terms of the talent level for which we have available projections, the U.S. has a decent advantage.