Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Where do the Braves go from here?

It’s going to feel a little odd after this week… not playing the Mets for a while.  Still, you have to wonder – even in early May – where the team is heading and what further changes might be in store.

With a pair of games still to go in this series, the Atlanta Braves are now 4-3 against the Mets and 7-11 vs. everybody else.  That even includes being swept by both Washington and Pittsburgh.

What’s curious about the Nationals League so far this year is that only 3 teams are more than 2 games above the .500 mark:  the Nats, Rockies, and Diamondbacks.  Thus is truly would not take much of a run to get into a Wild Card position.

Sure, it’s way early to even think about playoff contention, but when the #2 Wildcard team – the Dodgers – are sitting at 15-13, a savvy General Manager has to look at this in early May and think ‘why not us?’

What to Do?

What is almost shocking today is the list of teams being cited here – in an MLB.com post – as potential trade sellers!

The teams?  Blue Jays, Royals, Mets, Mariners, Giants.  Given pre-season projections, that’s an unbelievable list.

The author didn’t even mention the Texas Rangers, and today they sit in a tie with the Mariners at the bottom of the AL West at 11-16.

Yet each one of these teams had been “built to win” and thus they have all have big-time assets to deal.

That may have a couple of implications for the Atlanta Braves, who were expected to make deals from the major league club, come July:

• Would the Braves get the kind of return expected if these other teams suddenly jump into the market as ‘sellers’?
• Should the Braves even look to be big sellers now?

Let’s take one example:  Seattle.

Jerry DiPoto has seemingly not seen a trade he didn’t like since taking the GM’s reins for the Mariners.  Some of his moves have worked… many not so much, given the team’s current state.

But would he be willing to part with a Kyle Seager in another month or so?

Seager is on the third year of a 7 year, $100 million deal that ramps up to the $19 million range starting in 2018.  He’s been valuable (WAR scores of 3.6, 4.0, 5.4, 3.9, and 5.5 in 2016), but he’s struggling with hitting (.241) and defense so far this season.

Do the Braves roll those kinds of dice?  Do they aim lower, like Mike Moustakas of the Royals?  Or do they simply bring up Rio Ruiz in the hopes that he can successfully be paired with Adonis Garcia to do a better job against RH pitching?

Not the Original Plan

Sure, the Braves wanted to win more this year after the last two finishes that left them drafting 3rd and (soon) 5th overall.  But the plan wasn’t really to ride this out with a fistful of single-year-contract veterans for the entire year.  We kind of expected that Colon, Phillips, Johnson, and/or Dickey – maybe all of them – would be gone by August,

But even now at 11-14, the landscape somehow looks different.  Trade inventory could be available soon that many would never have been contemplated before.  There could be a chance for players that the Braves could opt to get that actually have longer-term control that would be productive… and I’m not just picking on third base, though that’s the obvious first thought.

Yes – we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves here… but hey:  it’s a subject being raised by others first.

Meanwhile, back at the Bank…

Here’s your happy box score from last night:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Next: Full Game Recap

SCHEDULE – ALL GAMES 7:35PM EDT:

• WED: deGrom vs. Colon
• THR: Wheeler vs. Garcia