The Atlanta Braves added some right-handed depth in the outfield on Monday signing Jordan Luplow to a one-year deal.
It looks like the Braves aren’t going to spend much the rest of the offseason and will settle for a platoon in left field.
MINORS MONDAY. We breakdown top prospect and former first-round pick Jared Shuster as well as perhaps the new top catcher in the system in Drake Baldwin.
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36 Comments
Can't Believe AA won't sign Adam Duval? Made a mistake a few years back when Duvall went to the Marlin's. Not sure what AA is doing?
I agree that not giving Dansby at least a fair offer is very dangerous. Future free agents see that and might not take the Braves seriously at contract time. 177 mill was too much but 100 mill was too little and makes them look cheap. Not good for future signings.
I’m ok with it. I think we have taken a step back with losing Dansby and adding nothing. Still a team good enough to win and if Ronald, Ozzie, Charlie, and Kirby have big bounce back seasons plus marcel and Eddie be at least league average we can win our division. Still a top 10 offense, top 5 pitching staff and defense. Our division is a juggernaut though, the schedule change I think the Phils, Mets, and Braves win over 100 games, it’s gonna be tough to avoid the wild card round and win the division again.
I don't hate it, especially at the price they paid. I think he's that backup plan should they not be able to sign or trade for an upgrade in left field. Luplow carries a career 13.7% walk rate, 23.8% strikeout rate, and 125 wRC+ against left handed pitchers. That's even better than Grossman's career 122 wRC+ against left handers, while likely being at a far cheaper price. Sprint speed is in the 60 percentile at 27.8ft/sec, arm ranks in the 98 percentile at 93.8mph, which is slightly better than Harris's 93.2mph arm, and can play average to above average defense at all 3 outfield positions.
I’m not sold on shuster. He is down the list for me. He gives up a bunch of home runs. If the fastball would come back to where it was he could be effective in the bigs but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I think he could be a nice bullpen piece with his movement and deception.
Baldwin is intriguing to me. Catcher who hit lefty are hard to find. I’m not a homer or bust guy like the braves seem to be but I like guys that hit and take walks. A good hitting catcher who gets on base is always a need.
Ohtani might get 50 mil aav and based on what guys are getting paid he might be worth it in the beginning. Sherzer is getting 43 mil so add a top dh to that. He could get 500 mil. His free agency is going to be insane.
THIS IS SUCH AN UNDERRATED SIGN!!!!
not a flashy more but how many times have we seen a player come in and play great when the number do not show it on their previous team. Being a Braves fan is very frustrationg at times all the promises of spending money and no results. The team rarely does anything flashy
What makes all this feel like a slap in the face to fans is that they puffed their chests out and spoke a big game about how they were going to be spending. Spare me the "they have their biggest payroll." Blah blah blah. They were the ones sounding off about the sellouts and record sales and Battery profits especially fresh off of a world series. Why all the bravado about how there were no limitations and how the luxury tax was nothing, when it turned out to be the exact opposite? It was unsolicited – no one asked. Kind of the opposite of what Shakespeare meant w/ the line "Thou doth protest too much" in Hamlet. Except you look like bold face liars because you can't mask it with anything.
In the bigger picture what concerns me is Atlanta won't look like a serious player in the FA market for big time names (certainly not for anyone in their relative prime – wtf is up w/ these mind boggling 1-year deals with former good pitchers in the twilight? Morton for $20M again? At least that worked out better than Kuechel did, I suppose…). Not to mention all the 'young core' they lock up at bargain deals who are bound to get resentful. I don't know what's in Acuna's mind, so I'm not implying I know anything, but in his shoes I'd be livid that Tatis has basically sat out injured the last couple of seasons, gets a huge suspension for PED's, hasn't had anywhere in the same universe the sheer production as he's had, and is sitting on a deal worth $240 million more.
It's a cheapskate reputation their building while bragging about big spenders. That's the part that irks me. The hypocrisy of it.
Underwhelming. Disappointing.
Definitely not exciting.
no duvall? 😢
Like I said dollar general store free agents I'm genuinely shocked at this point
Who is Sam Hilliard? When did we sign him?
Weste money!
Basically a free depth and platoon signing with some upside let’s go 🔥
I think this signing signals what a lot of us suspected. Atlanta is done with any major moves this off season. They are not going to spend the money to go into the luxury tax and they spent all their trade capital on Murphy. I don't think they planned on doing much from the beginning. I got the feeling listening to AA at the beginning of the off season they were not looking to do a lot. Time will tell if it works out.
Jake, I enjoy your commentary on the players. I can tell you have played some ball in your life.
The Cubs didnt learn a lesson on Jason Heyward. Paid him big money and it backfired on them. But they did the same thing on Dansby.
🤦🏽♂️… Atlanta franchises always disappoint. Can't see any positives on this. Being cheap doesn't get anyone anywhere no matter what the circumstances are. Hence the saying, "you get what you pay for"…
I always love your takes on Ozuna. 100% true
BUT this Luplow signing is a steal. Our hitting coaches are going to turn him into a monster vs lefty’s. Exciting move knowing we still have 1 more name in managements back pocket before luxury tax is surpassed. We haven’t made our final move but this was a solid one. We’re good Braves country. 👊
Sounds like a nice man.
Well I've listened to a few channels on YouTube in reference to the SS that were available during free agency. Before I began to listen to these channels, a question came to mind. "Why did the Dodgers and Red Sox let their best players walk?" They're both major market teams so they have the money to resign them. No team is willing to let their best player walk so easily and I believe we over-value a lot of these big name players. We're not seeing the full picture of these guys. The reason why the Braves didn't sign either of them or why they weren't re-signed by their former teams, is because of their age, defense, and lack of plate discipline. The Braves seem to value: age, defense, and power, which those players lack the majority of. So if Dansby is overpriced, which we all can agree on then the Braves did make the best decision this off-season. What's best now is to rebuild the farm system and wait during the 2023 regular season to see who becomes available before the trade deadline.
Braves got a steal
I'll admit to being disappointed they haven't gone after a bigger FA but the over reaction from some fans is maddening. This team is very solid as is and, despite not spending insane amounts of money this winter like other teams who had to restock their rosters, they are still the 6th highest payroll. It's still December and we'll see what happens between now and April.
I still have this tiny bit of hope that there's a world where we keep Ozuna out of the field all year and that, combined with some benefit from the shift ending lead to a resurgence at the plate. He'll never be worth what we're paying but I think he can be way better than he has been in 21-22.
Who will play at the shortstop position this year for the Braves?
Luplow could be an underrated signing and perhaps Liberty Media will increase Anthopoulos's budget at the trade deadline for an impact bat or arm.
When will Jesse Franklin be ready?
Does this take the braves out of the market for Duvall?
Was Luplow's contract a major or minor league deal? Thanks
Do y’all just want to spend money to spend money. You know as well as I do the outfielders they had on the market we’re not gonna move the needle why overpay for one when you can make do with what you have make small upgrades and wait for next off-season
Meh
I watch your vlog or video every day or every change I get True I don't send you a comment but sometime like this one I'm not up on minors players like you But I wanted you doing a good job Keep up the good work
Say money and Correa’s red flags all you want but how does AA think they can coast through the NL East.
Just saw that Correa went to the Mets instead of the Giants. Do you think that sparks something in the Braves front office to make a big move since the Mets have basically bought every major free agent this winter?