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Atlanta Braves: Dear Alex… time to throw open the window

By Alan Carpenter

KILIS, TURKEY - MARCH 01: A view of Kilis and further on Syria is seen through the window of the Muhammed Bedevi Mosque on March 1, 2016 in Kilis, Turkey. Kilis a city located just 10km from the Syrian border and the location of the Oncupinar Border crossing, has been Turkey's frontline during the refugee crisis. With a population of 129,000 Kilis was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize after the number of refugees living in the city equalled that of the Turkish population. How the city has integrated this number of refugees and the support given to refugees newly arrived, has not been seen in other cities around the world. The city has made considerable efforts to integrate the refugees by allowing them to work, rent apartments and open businesses such as cafe's and Syrian restaurants, the town has seen a massive boom in construction as it builds cheap new apartment blocks in an attempt to provide affordable housing for the refugees allowing them to have a standard of living similar to what they had in Syria. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
KILIS, TURKEY - MARCH 01: A view of Kilis and further on Syria is seen through the window of the Muhammed Bedevi Mosque on March 1, 2016 in Kilis, Turkey. Kilis a city located just 10km from the Syrian border and the location of the Oncupinar Border crossing, has been Turkey's frontline during the refugee crisis. With a population of 129,000 Kilis was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize after the number of refugees living in the city equalled that of the Turkish population. How the city has integrated this number of refugees and the support given to refugees newly arrived, has not been seen in other cities around the world. The city has made considerable efforts to integrate the refugees by allowing them to work, rent apartments and open businesses such as cafe's and Syrian restaurants, the town has seen a massive boom in construction as it builds cheap new apartment blocks in an attempt to provide affordable housing for the refugees allowing them to have a standard of living similar to what they had in Syria. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) /
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An open letter to Braves’ GM Alex Anthopoulos in which I beg him to start winning again.  I’ll even try to speak some Canadian to him.

Dear Alex:  I know you’re still trying to sort out what you’ve been given to work with, but I’m writing to you today to let you know that quite a lot of Atlanta Braves Country would be quite happy to see you end this rebuild and still actually winning. Now.

Why now?

Several reasons, actually:

  • Terrible Division.Look, I get it… you used to be in the AL East. You just left the NL West. Those divisions have some formidable opponents to navigate.

The NL East? Right now it’s the Nationals… and pretty much nobody else of consequence. Yeah, I know – Mets fans have their delusions, but even they can’t begin a single sentence in talking about their team with using the word “if”.

The Marlins are a Triple-A team (or soon will be – more on that later), the Phillies are at least a year behind the Braves, and the Mets are trying to sort out whether they qualify for Medicade.

There’s a lot of wins available in this division alone, and that alone should push you to make sure you’re ahead of that bunch of hosers lagging behind… never mind the early projections that put the Braves mired at 74 wins for 2018.

  • The Clock is Already Running

By that I mean the clocks on your major position players:  Ender Inciarte (contract control through 2022), Dansby Swanson (team control through 2022), Ozzie Albies (2023), and Freddie Freeman (2021).

You lookin’ at the calendar? There’s your window. Never mind all the pitchers you’ve got coming up through the ranks… by the time many of them (okay, some of them) hit their stride in the majors, many of these position players could be gone.

So many teams wait to go “all in” when they’ve only got 1 or 2 decent shots remaining at the World Series prize. Kansas City got away with making that happen, but they’re the exception. The Cubs and Astros, however, struck earlier in their perceived ‘windows of opportunity.’ That’s what I want you to do:  get ahead of the curve.

  • The ‘Hole-fillers’ are out there

We’ve talked a lot about Christian Yelich. There could be some movement on that front, according to Jon Heyman:

"“The Marlins are said to be seeking better prospects at the Double-A and Triple-A level, though team executives who have spoken to them suggest the Marlins have loosened up a bit since the Winter Meetings.”"

The Winter Meetings are when they asked you for Ronald Acuna and 3-4 others. Apparently even they have realized that they aren’t going to get that.

But in Yelich, you see, there’s a unique situation:

  • He’s a defender (you like those guys, eh?);
  • He’s an All-Star hitter;
  • He’s a player in his prime for reasonable coin… and gee, isn’t this the kind of player cited as a reason why the major free agents aren’t getting signed now?
  • He plays a position of need for Atlanta; and
  • He’s under contractual control for the entire duration of the window described earlier.

It’s a perfect storm of opportunity… if you can convince the Marlins that the very pitching they covet is what you have in hand.

So here’s a thought… do it. I’m pretty good with just about anything it would take to make this happen – short of Acuna. Look, we’ve got a Mark Teixeira trade in our history, so I don’t think you could do worse anyway.

But we know that most pitching prospects will flounder at some point along the way. Even if half the Braves’ premium arms ‘make it’ (and that’s statistically nutty to expect), then I’d even be okay with seeing Mike Soroka pitch against Atlanta for the Marlins… though I would understand it if you’d be reticent to trade a fellow Canadian.

As for third base… just go get somebody.  Travis Shaw? Great.  Moustakas? Okay.  I’m not personally keen on that latter idea, but hey – any contract you’d be likely to give him would cover this windows I’m talking about. I can understand the connection between Canada and Moose, but if you can help Milwaukee get Moustakas and then take Shaw for yourself, I’d be good with that… I’d even apologize to Jim Bowden.

Finally, go sign Alex Cobb. Depending on what it takes to get Yelich or Shaw or somebody, having an extra starting pitcher could be necessary anyway, but he’d be the missing piece that you’d need to get this party going.

More from Tomahawk Take

Sure, he’ll cost ya and couple of Loonies, but think of it this way – do this and in another year from now, you can sit back in your recliner and relax, knowing that your big spending is already done while snickering as the ‘big market’ clubs bid over Harper, Machado, Kershaw, and more.

So with those moves, you would improve the Braves’ hitting, hitting with power, defense, and pitching. Exactly what you need, and exactly the recipe for instant success.

Also something to excite Atlanta sports fans, given the number of times their hearts have been ripped out in the past couple of years.

Next: Acuna has all the Buzz

I know that Canadians aren’t keen on opening windows in the Winter, but here in the South, we are used to flinging ours open on a whim. So in a language I’m sure you’ll understand: be a give’er – go on and do it, eh?

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