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Chewbaccer
Illustrious Potentate
Mine will be harder than most, but this is more or less for fun.
You don't have to believe your team will be in contention, just make a case why they could be.
For the Braves, let's start with the pitching staff.
Julio Tehran and Alex Wood are young studs that will have another year of experience under their belt. Both have been effective in their young careers and they should be on an upward trend.
Then you throw in the addition of Shelby Miller and a Mike Minor that is a year removed from a very solid season and was pitching hurt most of the season last year, and we have a very solid first 4 starters. Our fifth starter will be a bit iffy. It'll either be a rookie(Mike Foltynewitz or Manny Banuelos) or a veteran(Eric Stults, Wandy Rodriguez or Chien Ming Wang.)
Personally, I think one of the veterans wins the 5th starter job, probably Stults or Rodriguez. Remember last season when everyone thought Aaron Harang was done? One veteran in the rotation is needed IMO. If for nothing else, a player-coach type for the young guns in the rotation.
For the bullpen, we had arguably the best in baseball in 2013. It fell apart last season.
We kept Kimbrel, but got rid of an injury prone Jordan Walden and a struggling David Carpenter and added some veterans with closing experience to fill the gap.
Jason Grilli, Jim Johnson and Jose Veras all have closing experience, and now they don't have the pressure of closing the game unless Kimbrel needs a day off.
Will the bull pen be the dominant force it was in 2013? Probably not. Is it better than last season's? I think it is.
Our pitching staff is good enough to keep us in the hunt if we can get anything out of our offense.
Now on to that offense.
Yeah, we traded Justin Upton, Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis away.
Yeah, they accounted for most of our home run production, but they also accounted for 45% of our strikeouts last season.
Keep in mind, our offense was ranked 29th in baseball, so it's not like we tore apart a juggernaut.
We should see a team with more productive outs, more manufactured runs, more small ball, and a lot less strikeouts.
At catcher we replace Evan Gattis with rookie Christian Bethancourt. Will Bethancourt be the instant offense threat that Gattis was? I doubt it, but I'm willing to bet that he'll be better at moving a runner from second to third, or getting that sac fly, and he won't have to do much to be better defensively.
His backup will either be AJ Pierzynski or John Buck, so he'll have some good teachers as well.
At first base, we have Freddie Freeman. He was our best offensive player last season IMO, and he'll be hitting third all season.
Second base will be interesting. Phil Gosselin played well in his short time in the majors last season, and I think he starts the year as the starter. He's a contact hitter with speed, and that's exactly what we need.
At short, we have Andrelton Simmons. He's the best defensive short stop in the game. We just need him to focus on contact and not the long ball, but whatever he does offensively, his production with the glove makes him very valuable.
Third base is Chris Johnson. Remember that .321 he hit in 2013? Yeah, that went down a bit last season, but I have confidence that he can be closer to his 2013 self than his 2014 self. Especially if we don't put him in the cleanup spot.
Left field, it's either gonna be Jonny Gomes or Eric Young Jr. If it's Gomes, we get a hard worker with a winning history and a good guy to have around the clubhouse. If it's Young, we finally have a leadoff man where a walk is basically a double.
Center field is Melvin Upton Jr. I can't talk him up. He accounted for the other 65% of our strikeouts last season and has shown nothing to me. At least he answered the phone when the hitting coach called this off season. If he hits .225, I'll take it.
Right field is Nick Markakis. A contact hitter with Gold Glove defense, and a hometown kid. He's the perfect fit for this new look offense.
Will our offense be the best in the Majors? I highly doubt it, but I do have confidence that they can score more runs than the team that ranked 29th in that department last season, and hit better with RISP than the team that ranked last in that department last season.
Remember, we were in first place most of the season last year and were in the mix until September.
Our pitching staff should be improved all the way around, and it won't take much to out do our offensive output last season. We'll be a small ball team, but after last season's disaster, that's just what we need to be.
A wild card spot is within our reach.
You don't have to believe your team will be in contention, just make a case why they could be.
For the Braves, let's start with the pitching staff.
Julio Tehran and Alex Wood are young studs that will have another year of experience under their belt. Both have been effective in their young careers and they should be on an upward trend.
Then you throw in the addition of Shelby Miller and a Mike Minor that is a year removed from a very solid season and was pitching hurt most of the season last year, and we have a very solid first 4 starters. Our fifth starter will be a bit iffy. It'll either be a rookie(Mike Foltynewitz or Manny Banuelos) or a veteran(Eric Stults, Wandy Rodriguez or Chien Ming Wang.)
Personally, I think one of the veterans wins the 5th starter job, probably Stults or Rodriguez. Remember last season when everyone thought Aaron Harang was done? One veteran in the rotation is needed IMO. If for nothing else, a player-coach type for the young guns in the rotation.
For the bullpen, we had arguably the best in baseball in 2013. It fell apart last season.
We kept Kimbrel, but got rid of an injury prone Jordan Walden and a struggling David Carpenter and added some veterans with closing experience to fill the gap.
Jason Grilli, Jim Johnson and Jose Veras all have closing experience, and now they don't have the pressure of closing the game unless Kimbrel needs a day off.
Will the bull pen be the dominant force it was in 2013? Probably not. Is it better than last season's? I think it is.
Our pitching staff is good enough to keep us in the hunt if we can get anything out of our offense.
Now on to that offense.
Yeah, we traded Justin Upton, Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis away.
Yeah, they accounted for most of our home run production, but they also accounted for 45% of our strikeouts last season.
Keep in mind, our offense was ranked 29th in baseball, so it's not like we tore apart a juggernaut.
We should see a team with more productive outs, more manufactured runs, more small ball, and a lot less strikeouts.
At catcher we replace Evan Gattis with rookie Christian Bethancourt. Will Bethancourt be the instant offense threat that Gattis was? I doubt it, but I'm willing to bet that he'll be better at moving a runner from second to third, or getting that sac fly, and he won't have to do much to be better defensively.
His backup will either be AJ Pierzynski or John Buck, so he'll have some good teachers as well.
At first base, we have Freddie Freeman. He was our best offensive player last season IMO, and he'll be hitting third all season.
Second base will be interesting. Phil Gosselin played well in his short time in the majors last season, and I think he starts the year as the starter. He's a contact hitter with speed, and that's exactly what we need.
At short, we have Andrelton Simmons. He's the best defensive short stop in the game. We just need him to focus on contact and not the long ball, but whatever he does offensively, his production with the glove makes him very valuable.
Third base is Chris Johnson. Remember that .321 he hit in 2013? Yeah, that went down a bit last season, but I have confidence that he can be closer to his 2013 self than his 2014 self. Especially if we don't put him in the cleanup spot.
Left field, it's either gonna be Jonny Gomes or Eric Young Jr. If it's Gomes, we get a hard worker with a winning history and a good guy to have around the clubhouse. If it's Young, we finally have a leadoff man where a walk is basically a double.
Center field is Melvin Upton Jr. I can't talk him up. He accounted for the other 65% of our strikeouts last season and has shown nothing to me. At least he answered the phone when the hitting coach called this off season. If he hits .225, I'll take it.
Right field is Nick Markakis. A contact hitter with Gold Glove defense, and a hometown kid. He's the perfect fit for this new look offense.
Will our offense be the best in the Majors? I highly doubt it, but I do have confidence that they can score more runs than the team that ranked 29th in that department last season, and hit better with RISP than the team that ranked last in that department last season.
Remember, we were in first place most of the season last year and were in the mix until September.
Our pitching staff should be improved all the way around, and it won't take much to out do our offensive output last season. We'll be a small ball team, but after last season's disaster, that's just what we need to be.
A wild card spot is within our reach.