Winter meeting simulation Atlanta Braves day1

Day two for the Atlanta Braves was pretty slow. Finally at about 8PM central time Oakland and the Braves finalized a simulated deal.

Let me reiterate;  that this is a simulation; it is not the real thing. Most can tell by the use of the word simulation throughout the post. However,  apparently other teams are having trouble with readers who don’t understand that. To be clear, the deals mentioned here are not actual deals.

After the initial simulated deals I discussed yesterday, the lineup lacked a right hand hitting power bat. The Marlins made it clear Giancarlo Stanton or Marcell Ozuna were not available (ed. note: their Faux-GM has managed to clear enough salary from other players to justify keeping both). Right hand hitters available all had flaws or prices that I felt were excessive. In the end Oakland offered a solution.

Atlanta Braves simulated trade – Matt Adams to Oakland

The Atlanta Braves agreed to a simulated trade of Matt Adams and Danny Santana to Oakland for Khris Davis. Davis made his debut with the Brewers in 2013 and hit 11 home runs in 136 at bats. Since that time he’s had seasons of 22, 27, 42 and 44 home runs.  His two 40+ home run seasons came when playing in the canyon called the Oakland Coliseum.

His numbers show that it’s more than traditional counting stats to validate his worth. (Statistics courtesy Fangraphs.)

As I said, all available hitters have a flaw.  Davis strikes out more than I would like and his weak arm restricts him to left field. Since that’s where I want him to play, his arm doesn’t pose a problem. When you hit 40 home runs a season the strikeouts don’t either.

Davis back-to-back 40+ homer years pushed his 2018 arbitration estimate up to $11.1M. His 2+ fWAR still leaves excess value in that amount. You may preview his swat in the video below.

The addition of Davis fills the hole where a right hand bat should live. The projected lineup after his addition would be:

• Inciarte      CF (L)
• Albies         2B  (S)
• Freeman    1B  (L)
• Davis           LF (R)
• Seager        3B (L)
• Acuna          RF (R)
• Flowers      C   (R)
• Swanson    SS (R)

Facing that lineup is not an easy task.

That a Wrap

I know a few of you will be disappointed with this selection. Some of you will tell me what I should have done; easy to do since none of you had to do it. I’m okay with that. This is a fan site where we share opinions.

However, deals can only be made on the players who teams make available. Sometimes teams say a player is available but he really isn’t.

For example, I asked about Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates GM wanted “. . . multiple top-100 prospects and at least one young controllable MLB SP. “  I wished him luck and moved on.

Stanton, Ozuna and any number of other right hand hitting out fielders simply weren’t an option. Those that were didn’t put up numbers comparable to Davis.

While making this deal and studying others,  I searched for top of the rotation starting pitching. The Rays wanted players we didn’t have to give. As a result, in the simulation Chris Archer went for Grichuk, Piscotty and Carson Kelly; the Rays apparently threw in Alex Colome for free. No word yet on who’s pitching for them next year.

Bidding in the simulations for Alex Cobb is silly high; he may be that good eventually but he probably isn’t yet. Yu Darvish passed what I would have given for him earlier and I dropped out.

Next: Meanwhile in the real world. . .

We have another day and a half to go, who knows what will shake out in that time?  I’ll let you now what’s going on after the deals – if any – are complete.