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The 2017 Atlanta Braves Season… How Does Coppy Play It?

By Alan Carpenter

Mar 31, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; General view of mesh seats inside SunTrust Park before a game between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves in the first inning. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 31, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; General view of mesh seats inside SunTrust Park before a game between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves in the first inning. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 31, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; General view of mesh seats inside SunTrust Park before a game between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves in the first inning. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 31, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; General view of mesh seats inside SunTrust Park before a game between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves in the first inning. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /

The interesting part of the 2017 season won’t be just how the Braves play, but maybe more about how they are allowed to continue playing.

This is a ‘stop gap’ year for the Atlanta Braves.  One-year-deal pitchers have been brought in to stop the bleeding from last year in the hopes of allowing others to get themselves fully ready for major league competition.

Likewise, Brandon Phillips is a ‘placeholder’, and while quite capable in his own right, it’s already been declared publicly that once Ozzie Albies is ready, no one will stand in his path to the majors.

So while most pundits think the team will be better in 2017 with these veterans, the real question is this:  how long will these temporary parts be permitted to continue with the Braves?

Let me illustrate the point by using the inputs of several other baseball people.

Sirius/XM Radio’s MLB Network channel took a survey of all of their on-air contributors to see how they thought 2017 would play out.

Here’s their answers:

On this entire chart, I see the Atlanta Braves mentioned exactly twice:  in the category of “Most Improved”. 

Not a division winner.  Not a playoff team.

It’s not just them.  Oddsshark.com has betting lines for many top Vegas sports books and the Braves range from 18:1 to 35:1 underdogs… just to win their own division.

World Series?  Anywhere from 75:1 to 165:1 odds.

So there’s clearly a consensus that the Braves are to be a second division club.  They might fight some early, but there seems to be a vibe around that it’s either not going to be sustainable… or will be broken up at the trade deadline regardless.

Ah, and that’s the question today:  how will Coppy play that?

All of these late machinations over a last bench spot are illustrative of the problem, too:  the Braves have already spent more on their roster than ever before in the history of their franchise, but are not willing (or able, perhaps) to pony up another $3-5 million for an Angel Pagan or B.J. Upton or other viable bench presence.

Is this strictly because they’re over-committed on cash or because of a Front office perception that it may not matter in the end?

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