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Atlanta Braves chat session: an early outlook for the 2019 season

By Alan Carpenter

Dansby Swanson of the Atlanta Braves hits a 9th inning RBI sacrifice bunt against the Giants in 2018. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images)
Dansby Swanson of the Atlanta Braves hits a 9th inning RBI sacrifice bunt against the Giants in 2018. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images) /
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TOKYO, JAPAN – NOVEMBER 09: Catcher Yadier Molina #4 of St. Louis Cardinals strikes out in the top of 1st inning during the game one of the Japan and MLB All Stars at Tokyo Dome on November 9, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN – NOVEMBER 09: Catcher Yadier Molina #4 of St. Louis Cardinals strikes out in the top of 1st inning during the game one of the Japan and MLB All Stars at Tokyo Dome on November 9, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) /

We’re playing Q&A ‘pepper’ with Daniel Shoptaw from CardsConclave.com… it forces a reflection on the state of the Braves as we approach the 2019 season.

The off-season still technically has to be called ‘incomplete’, though further changes are likely to be limited.  So now may be a good time to evaluate the Atlanta Braves as the Grapefruit League season is getting underway.

CardsConclave.com is a St. Louis Cardinals blog site, and we’ve hooked up to help give them a feel of where the Braves are as part of their pre-season review of the 30 MLB teams.  It’s a fun exercise and it helps us to come up with a honest review of this club at this point of the year.

So here are the questions Daniel wanted feedback on:

  • 1)  What are your thoughts on the offseason?  What was good, what was bad, what else should they have done?
  • 2)  What are the expectations of Josh Donaldson and what are the chances he is with the team in 2020?
  • 3)  Can Ronald Acuna Jr. duplicate or exceed his rookie season?
  • 4)  What is your general outlook for 2019?  Where will they finish in the division?
  • 5)  What’s the biggest question for this team going into the season and what’s the answer to it?
  • 6)  What do you expect will give you the most joy watching this team on a regular basis this season?

He’s scheduling my responses to run in 2-3 weeks from now, but I’m letting y’all in on the answers ahead of time… which I’ll reserve the right to update later before he posts them for his readers :D.

As usual, I couldn’t be limited to anything like ‘300 words or less’, but that helps to explain answers more fully, so here it goes…

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