CURRENT BRAVES NEWS
Acuna gets glowing review from Keith Law
The preseason hype train for Ronald Acuna continues to roll on. After Baseball America dubbed him as their top prospect in all of baseball, Keith Law had nothing but glowing things to say about Acuna. Law also had Kyle Wright, Ian Anderson and Luiz Gohara in his top 50 prospect list. I totally understand if you’re getting even more excited about seeing Gohara and Acuna suiting up for the big league team this season.
Riley’s stock continues to rise in prospect rankings
Meanwhile, another player who has been going up in prospect rankings as of late is Austin Riley. The hopeful third baseman of the future for the Braves has also been receiving plenty of plaudits as of late and now MLB Pipeline considers him to be the sixth-best 3B prospect in baseball right now. When you consider the current state of third base for the Braves right now, the sooner he reaches major league quality, the better.
Braves ZiPS projections will be released today
We’ll probably have further reaction when it comes to Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections that will be released for the Braves today, but Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs gave us all a preview of what to expect. I’m sure that the projection for Ronald Acuna and Luiz Gohara are the main ones that stick out here. What do you all make of the initial projection, though?
Rough depth chart for Atlanta with WAR projections c/o @DSzymborski. Full ZiPS post tomorrow morning at fangraphs [dot] spreadsheets [dot] glasses. pic.twitter.com/gPRGAtW5xo
— Carson Cistulli (@cistulli) January 24, 2018
CLASSIC BRAVES NEWS
Why isn’t Gary Sheffield getting Hall of Fame love?
Today’s the big day — the deadline for Hall of Fame voting has passed and now we’ll know exactly who will be heading for induction into Cooperstown later this Summer. We already know that Chipper Jones is basically a lock for induction, but Tyler Kepner of the New York Times is wondering if one of Chipper’s teammates for two seasons should be in as well. He’s talking about Gary Sheffield, who is still on the ballot but is also nowhere near the threshold for induction.
Sheffield gets docked severely for his defense at third base and in the outfield, but he has more offensive wins above replacement than Martinez, a designated hitter on the cusp of election.
Sheffield’s case is complicated by his ties to performance-enhancing drugs, but the link is somewhat flimsy. He acknowledged using a cream Bonds gave him for his knee when they trained together before the 2002 season, but denied knowing it was a steroid.
Schuerholz set to receive lifetime achievement award
John Schuerholz has already received his spot in Cooperstown and now he’s going to receive yet another piece of recognition for his exploits in the past. The Atlanta Business Chronicle is reporting that Schuerholz will get a lifetime achievement award from the Atlanta Sports Council at the 2018 Atlanta Sports Awards in June. It’s just another award for a man who could probably fill a small room with the list of achievements he’s garnered over the span of his career.
MLB NEWS
Milwaukee is discussing Yelich trade with Marlins
Earlier this week, the Brewers were shaking the table that holds the bowl of bland porridge that is this current offseason with rumors that they had offered Yu Darvish a contract and other rumors that they were working on a trade. Now, the latter rumor has been clarified and they’ve come out of nowhere with a trade proposal for Christian Yelich. It looks like the Braves have some major competition in the Yelich sweepstakes.
According to Baseball Americathe franchise possesses six of the top-100 prospects league wide, and a deal would almost surely start with top prospect Lewis Brinson. Milwaukee has been shopping Domingo Santana throughout the winter, but with Miami looking more long-term with their rebuilding efforts, he doesn’t seem likely to headline a deal for Yelich. Other players on the team like catcher JT Realmuto and second baseman Starlin Castro (both of whom have indicated they wouldn’t mind a trade) could be of interest to the Brewers, as well, if David Stearns is thinking blockbuster.
With less than $70 mil in payroll currently projected for next season, the Brewers have ample room to add not only Yelich’s $7 mil salary for next season, but to also make another impactful addition.
Medlen signs minor league deal with D-Backs
After spending all of last season in Atlanta’s minor league system, Kris Medlen has found an organization that is going to give him a shot at making their bullpen and it’s Arizona. The Diamondbacks signed him to a minor league deal, but our friends over at AZ Snake Pit pointed out that there are incentives in the contract that seem to indicate that the D-Backs have a bit of faith that Medlen can work his way into their big league bullpen.