VTTW Board Index

We're never losing again.  :clap:

https://www.talkingchop.com/2018/4/25/17278732/ronald-acuna-atlanta-braves-promoted

Why did they send him down to begin with? I'm sure he was just as good a month ago. Probably due to contract reasons. Hope he is as good as advertised. I think he will be.

It was contract reasons. Now they have an extra year of team control before he becomes a free agent after the 2024 season. It makes sense for a team not expected to contend now. And if he performs as expected, the Braves will NOT be able to afford to re-sign him then barring a change in ownership or a major financial windfall. Maximize his time in Atlanta, and get the most out of him while you can.

BTW, if you're wondering why the Braves are having to pinch every penny, here's some light reading that goes a long way towards explaining why:

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/estimated-tv-revenues-for-all-30-mlb-teams/

They're locked into one of the worst TV deals in baseball for another 10 years. And every team currently behind them has a deal that is expiring in the next couple years, so the Braves will likely be dead last when those teams ink their new deals.

THIS is the major reason why they built a new ballpark in a swankier part of town that is surrounded by condos and retail (all of which the Braves own). They had to find an alternate revenue stream.

It's pathetic how they have ruined this org.  The Braves used to have a huge nation-wide fan base (probably still do, to some respect), and now they can't even raise decent money from TV revenue.  Pitiful - what a Major League "Foul" up.

The AOL/TW ownership group negotiated that deal right before they sold the team and skipped town. They're the gift that keeps on giving. :frown:

They definitely miss Ted Turner's money and having WTBS televise so many games.  I sure do.

Acuna hit his first home run in his second game. Not bad.

And it was a blast, too. 

Bet the ball is already for sale on Ebay. 

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsBraves/status/989548790775414784

Acuna might have the sweetest swing I've ever laid eyes on. As long as he does nothing to mess that swing up, he'll hit for power well into his 30s and even his 40s.

Isn't it exciting to see this rebuild finally start to come together at the MLB level? I don't know that any organization can top that run the Braves' farm system went on in the late 80's/early 90's, when they produced 3 HOF'ers (Andruw can still make it 4) and upwards of a dozen more guys that made at least one All-Star team. But this crop coming up has a chance. They're just getting started- over half of them aren't even in ATL yet.

Well, it's not on eBay. Dude gave it back. Hope he got a ton of autographed merchandise for it.

https://twitter.com/JoeWeb10/status/989598876427530244

Unless they do something to change the salary caps,  the small market teams will still have to struggle to compete against the teams with money. They can do it, they just have to develope a lot of their talent from the farm system instead of free agency. But as soon as the talent is developed and successful, it usually goes elsewhere after the free agency bucks. Royals are a good example. Houston is lucky. It has most of it's stars signed for a few years.

Nice pick of Acuna...  I hate him now.

Advanced metrics has really changed the way players are scouted and developed, how rosters are built, and thus leveled the field financially. To win a championship, teams no longer have to sink $200M into payroll and buy up every big name free agent in sight like the Yankees and Sox used to do. If you're strong in scouting and development, you can compete. But where the well-heeled teams still have the advantage is in margin of error. If the Yankees sign a guy to a huge contract and he flops, they can afford to cut him loose and eat the contract. But to a small market team, one bad contract can be severely crippling. TWO bad contracts, and you'll probably end up having to tear it all down and start from scratch. See Dan Uggla and BJ Upton- those guys are the major reason the Braves had to enter this rebuild in the first place.

The Braves have really cleared their payroll for next year. As of now, they only have $37M committed to three players- Freeman, Inciarte, and Teheran (who may be traded by the deadline, reducing that number even further). Everyone else on the roster is either in their walk year or still on their rookie deal, making a relative pittance. Most assume that they have planned this so that they can be big players in next winter's huge free agent market. And many fans won't be happy if they can't come away with a Harper, Machado, or Donaldson. But I'm now wondering if that money won't be better spent by trying to lock up some of these young guys to long-term deals. Buying out the cheap years of Acuna, Albies, and Swanson would cost a lot in the short term, but it could save the team big bucks on the back end and prolong those guys' time in Atlanta. Right now, they are under team control through '23 (Albies and Swanson) and '24 (Acuna). If they could bridge those guys out through '27 (when a new and hopefully more lucrative TV deal kicks in), they'll be in much better shape financially to negotiate their next deals.

Of course, there's a ton of other young guys coming up right behind them, so they could factor into the decision-making as well.

Now they've promoted Mike Soroka, who will start tonight against the muts. It also gives them the THREE youngest players in MLB. :dude:

And he gave up one run in six innings in his debut. I don't want to jinx it, but this team might actually contend this year.

They have only lost one series so far - I am liking it :thumbup:

I don't want to get my hopes up TOO high. The gnats are going to wakeup sooner or later and probably take control of the division. But a wild card is possible. OTOH, April looked like the toughest part of the schedule before the season began, and they came through it well. How will they look when the schedule eases up?

Oh for the days they were on WTBS what seemed like every day.

I just absolutely loved that.  I remember getting my first real job in the DC area back in '91 - coming fresh outta Ga Tech grad school.  I had this ritual of driving back to my apartment from work, ordering domino's and watching Skip call the game.  Jeez, I did that way too many times!  But hey, Domino's was a whole lot better back then than now!  :-)  Mmmm, double cheeseburger pizza......  and the Braves......  and some Rolling Rock.    I am almost crying now :bawl:

Not to mention Ernie Johnson and Pete Van Wieren. The only one I didn't really like was Darrell Chaney when he started announcing. Didn't mind him as a player though. I guess Chief Noc A Homa is not politically correct any more either.