Atlanta Braves: Dreaming of a tear down for Houston Astros after punishment
With the Houston Astros getting hammered for cheating, we look at how the Atlanta Braves could benefit from their punishment.
The Atlanta Braves are very familiar with harsh punishments from Major League Baseball as they recently had a GM banned for life and lost over $40 million worth of international prospect signings.
But the Astros are the latest team to feel the brunt of punishment from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. On Monday it was announced that their GM and manager would receive a one-year suspension, and the worst of it all was losing their first and second-round picks for the 2020 and 2021 MLB Drafts.
Not long after the announcement of the punishments, it was reported that GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch have been fired.
I don’t want to get into the level of punishment, Alan Carpenter will do that in another article that should be up on the site soon.
What I want to focus on is the possible fallout of these punishments for the Braves and other teams.
Houston still has a very talented lineup that is capable of winning the AL West again in 2020 and possibly competing for a World Series.
In all likelihood, they find an experienced manager and try to continue this run of dominance.
But let’s dream for a moment, what if the Astros decide to tear things down and re-build?
As Braves fans we know how hard it is to recover from losing a significant amount of prospects. While the Braves still had a good farm system before and after their punishments, we’re starting to see the depth of Atlanta’s farm system take a hit after not being able to sign any significant international prospects for a couple of years.
Not being able to draft in the first and second rounds for two years could have a lingering effect on this team.
And they already don’t have a great farm system with only one player ranked in the Top 100 according to MLB.com.
Michael Brantley and George Springer are free agents after the 2020 season, while Zack Greinke, Justin Verlander, and Carlos Correa will be free agents after 2021.
They still have Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman locked up for a while and can build around them.
But it appears their window is closing and they maybe have two years left before they were going to have to rebuild anyway.
Why not speed up the clock and trade away some of these players to prepare for the coming rebuild with these punishments?
Wouldn’t you as a Braves fan love to trade for George Springer for center field? Or maybe Michael Brantley (who the Braves should have signed last offseason instead of Nick Markakis) for left?
Shortstop Carlos Correa was already being rumored in trades. I don’t see him as a fit for Atlanta, but maybe they move on from him.
Those hoping Bregman becomes an option for third base in Atlanta might want to pump the breaks. But I’m already dreaming, so why not?
Next. Freeman vs. The Shift. dark
The fallout from these punishments will be a very interesting storyline to watch the rest of the offseason.