How to improve the 2019 Atlanta Braves without derailing the future Atlanta Braves? That’s the big question facing the Front Office this July.
As much grief as Atlanta Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos has received – including a lot from here – for his handling of team-building issues, one thing is certain: no one should envy the task he has in front of him over the next 4 weeks.
If the off-season’s lessons are any guide, early trades of any kind will be difficult to obtain, particularly as rival GM’s sort through Atlanta’s catalog of prospects.
Anthopoulos’ philosophy appears to include turning over every rock – no matter how big – in the process of doing his job to improve the Braves.
During the Winter, Atlanta was connected to numerous free agents and trade options – some of which made sense and some that didn’t.
During July, we can expect to hear much more of this… and yes, much of it will be either pure speculation or outright nonsense.
There are a few principles, though, that we think we have learned along the way that may help guide us all through the process (taken from various sources throughout the first half of the season):
- Avoid Dead Money
- Don’t give up premium talent for a ‘rental’
- Think Longer Term
- There is most likely some money to spend
So does any of that suggest ‘taking on a bad contract’ or ‘give up a couple of great prospects for a pitcher you’ll have only for 2 months’?
That’s why I am now cringing every time I’m hearing things like this – from Ken Rosenthal, of all places:
"To repeat the obvious: Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner, a native of Hickory, N.C., would be a perfect fit."
That came on Monday via his column in The Athletic. A subscription is needed to read the whole thing, but I’ll hit the highlight in just a bit… for I believe we may have enough information to figure out the plan for this July.