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Atlanta Braves Should Rebuild Under The Radar In 2016

By Benjamin Chase

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May 20, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) pitches during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
May 20, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) pitches during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports /

Atlanta Braves Rebuild: How To Do It Under The Radar

The Atlanta Braves are now in the second off season of rebuilding, and many fans are starting to see the path toward a future of not just competitiveness, but a very strong Braves major league organization once again. 2016 doesn’t figure to be a season where the Braves will be contending for a playoff spot in any serious manner, so the team has an opportunity to really explore a few things at the big league level. We’re going to explore some player acquisitions that would make sense to help in the path of the rebuild in the coming pages of this article, but to start, let’s look at how to manage the guys who are already in hand.

At the major league level, you have guys like Adonis Garcia and Jace Peterson that it simply makes sense to run out there every day (or in a platoon situation, but we’ll explore that more, especially with Garcia, later on). Those two may not turn out to be full-time major league ball players, but they’re on the cusp, talent-wise, so it makes sense to play them and see what you have. Peterson’s defense and Garcia’s swing are both major league quality, and you hope that the rest plays up to par.

Next: DFA Players

With the pitching, truly there is no reason to waste time on someone who doesn’t have a future with the team. I’m going to explore some ideas with acquisitions as we move forward that could involve pitching, but frankly, the Braves are overloaded in pitching already, both in the rotation and bullpen, and that’s from the major leagues on down to high-A. The team simply needs to let guys who show they deserve the opportunity have the opportunity this year. I was pleased last season to see a guy like Ryan Kelly get a shot in the bullpen after having a very good season in the minors in relief. He didn’t work out, but a guy like Ryan Weber did quite fine for the Braves, and he was a similar pop-up guy that was relatively unknown until he continued putting up excellent numbers, and the Braves are set up well to allow them to give opportunity to any guy they have at AA/AAA who really makes a push to show they deserve a shot to start in Atlanta.

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