Atlanta Braves roster in 2019

The Braves got back to their winning ways in 2018 with a NL East championship. The young core is in tact for years to come with more on the way…..so how will things shape up for 2019?

Position Players

C –

1. Kurt Suzuki: free agent this offseason.
2. Tyler Flowers: signed through 2019, team option for 2020.

1B – Freddie Freeman: signed through 2021.

2B – Ozzie Albies: Braves have control through 2023, arbitration in 2021.

3B – Johan Comargo: Braves have control through 2023, arbitration in 2021.

SS – Dansby Swanson: Braves have control through 2022, arbitration in 2020.

LF – Ronald Acuna, Jr: Braves have control through 2023, arbitration in 2021.

CF – Ender Inciarte: signed through 2021.

RF – Nick Markakis: free agent this offseason

So out of the position players, the Braves are set for a while at every position except catcher and right field, which have expiring contracts. That takes $18.5 million off the payroll.

What should the Braves do in free agency at this two positions?

Right Field: I really like Nick Markakis but he doesn’t provide much power from a power-hitting position. But if you can’t bring in a free agent who does (which Bryce Harper is the only RF with a better WAR than Markakis), it would probably be advantageous to see if he’ll agree to a 1-2 year deal while waiting on prospects to mature. In the minors, outfielders Christian Pache and Drew Waters are 19 years old and neither has made made it past AA yet.

Austin Riley appears to be ready for the show, but he’s played third base his entire minor league career. Could he switch to left field and Acuna to right field? If that’s the case, the Braves could let Markakis walk and just bring in free agents to shore up the bench.

Catcher: This is where the Braves might be willing to pony up and sign a free agent. There’s really nothing in the pipeline at this position for the future and Suzuki is 35 years old. Tyler Flowers is a decent backup and try to sign Yasmani Grandal or Wilson Ramos – who are considered to be the top two free agent catchers this offseason. Worst case, re-sign Suzuki because he’s considered the third best catcher in free agency.

Bench

Charlie Culberson: Braves have control through 2021, arbitration this offseason.

Ryan Flaherty: free agent this offseason.

Adam Duvall: Braves have control through 2021, arbitration this offseason.

Preston Tucker: Braves have control through 2022, arbitration in 2020.

Lucas Duda: free agent this offseason.

Perhaps the most glaring difference between the Braves and the Dodgers in the NLDS was the bench. The Braves just didn’t have the same caliber of players as L.A. did. That was partly due to Culberson having to start with Swanson’s injury, but Flaherty and Duvall were automatic outs when they pinch hit. Hopefully Duvall can rebound and become a solid bench piece in 2019 opposite Preston Tucker. Lucas Duda might not be a bad choice as a left handed power bat but probably not for another $3.5 million.

The Braves have a lot of money to spend in free agency, so that may mean they’ll be in the market for Manny Muchado, Eduardo Escobar or Josh Donaldson at 3B and move Comargo to the bench. Also, adding Austin Riley from the minors could help as well.

Starting Pitchers

Mike Foltynewicz: Braves have control through 2021, arbitration this offseason.

Anibal Sanchez: free agent this offseason.

Kevin Gausman: Braves have control through 2020, arbitration this offseason.

Sean Newcomb: Braves have control through 2023, arbitration in 2021.

Julio Teheran: signed through 2019, team option for 2020.

Brandon McCarthy: free agent this offseason.

I can’t imagine the Braves will re-sign Sanchez or McCarthy. Folty’s $2.2 million salary is going to go way up in arbitration and Gausman’s $5.6 million is likely to go up as well….so they might need that $8 million that’s dropping off the books. Plus, there are plenty of pitching prospects: Max Fried, Touki Toussaint and Mike Soroka each made five starts in 2018. With all these pitchers coming up I’m not sure there’s even room for Gausman and possibly Teheran with his $11 million contract.

Bullpen Pitchers 

Arodys Vizcaino: Braves have control through 2019, arbitration this offseason.

A.J. Minter: Braves have control through 2023, arbitration in 2021.

Shane Carle: Braves have control through 2023, arbitration in 2021.

Jesse Biddle: Braves have control through 2023, arbitration in 2021.

Dan Winkler: Braves have control through 2020, arbitration this offseaon.

Sam Freeman: Braves have control through 2020, arbitration this offseason.

Brad Brach: free agent this offseason.

Jonny Venters: free agent this offseason.

Those are the relievers who pitched the most for the Braves this year. You could also throw a handful of rookies into the mix like: Chad Sobotka, Luiz Gohara and even Max Fried.

The bullpen was the Braves Achilles heel this year. Could it be just because they were filled with rookies or do they need to seriously address it during free agency? Probably a combination of both.

There are so many pitchers in the farm system you hate to just spend a bunch of money. Guys like Kyle Wright, Max Fried, Kolby Allard, Luiz Gohara and Bryse Wilson are all top 100 minor league prospects who got a taste of the MLB this year – will they fit into the bullpen, the starting rotation or be used as trade bait? One of the Braves top pitching prospects, Ian Anderson, didn’t even get the call in 2018 but he could make the jump in 2019.

Craig Kimbrel is a free agent this offseason – would he be willing to come back home to finish his career in the south? There are a number of guys the Braves could get and they have the money to do so from all the room the rookie contracts on the payroll provide.

Overview 

You can see why everyone says this NL East title is just the beginning for the Braves. Will they build upon that in 2019? To me, it’s hard to tell if they will because they might be replacing expiring veteran contracts with more rookies. Also, will a big time free agent like Bryce Harper or Manny Muchado even entertain coming to Atlanta with such a young roster (which sounds silly because they are both 26 years old)? What about the second tier of free agents – and would it be worth it to pay a slightly above average free agent over a cheap rookie with upside?

Here’s my order of priority in free agency:

1. Bullpen
2. Catcher
3. (big gap)
4. Right Field (or LF if you want to move Acuna to RF)
5. Bench

The Braves appear to be set for a while with starting pitching. The question will be, can some of that pitching talent be used effectively out of the bullpen? Or can they trade some of that talent for proven relief pitchers?

I think 2019 will go a lot like 2018 did…..with a lot of ups and downs. But it should still be fun to watch and there’s no reason to believe the Braves won’t be contending for the division every year until Freddie Freeman retires.

Should Mississippi State ever throw the ball again?

Last week, John Cohen called Joe Moorhead into his office and made him write #AlwaysRunNeverPass on the blackboard 100 times. It worked.

I made that first sentence up.

Mississippi State ran the ball 57 times vs. Auburn and threw it only 17 times for a remarkable 77% to 23% ratio.

Against Auburn – one of the best run defenses in the country – the Bulldogs rushed for 349 yards, 6.1 per carry. The Tigers rush D was ranked in the top 10 prior to the game, but State knocked them all the way down to 51st!

MSU’s rushing offense is currently 2nd in the SEC behind Georgia. Really, that’s only because of all the ill-advised passing from the Kentucky and Florida games. I say ill-advised because MSU is 12th in the SEC in passing offense.

Sacks go down as rushing plays in college football, but they are really passing plays. So if you count sacks as passing plays, here’s the breakdown of every game this year (I know Fitz scrambles a lot but I’m not going back to watch every play, plus I’ve scrubbed the UK and UF games from my DVR):

Stephen F. Austin: 37 rush (52%) / 34 pass (48%)

Kansas State: 39 rush (59%) / 27 pass (41%)

Louisiana Lafayette: 45 rush (63%) / 26 pass (37%)

Kentucky: 25 rush (42%) / 35 pass (58%)

Florida: 26 rush (45%) / 32 pass (55%)

Auburn: 57 rush (77%) / 17 pass (23%)

It looked like Coach Moorhead was getting heavier and heavier on the run and then, in the Kentucky rain, he decides passing is the way to go. And in a defensive slug-fest against Florida he decides throwing the ball is the best course of action.

It really makes me wonder if JoMo wanted to beat Mullen his way and not Mullen’s way. Well it back-fired. And everyone in the stands knew the solution, which to his credit he remedied vs. Auburn.

It’s not even all about Nick Fitzgerald’s accuracy issues and the receiving corp’s catching issues – it’s that MSU features the SEC’s all-time leading rushing QB, a couple of really talented tailbacks, and an offensive line that’s much better on the interior than on the edges.

Even when Mullen was at State, he ventured away from the run in 2011 and 2012 and it got ugly at times as the ratios got closer to 50/50. When the Bulldogs are running the ball 60-70% of the time they are winning football games.

The whole idea of elevating the offense with Moorhead’s scheme was predicated upon running the ball with the added element of the deep ball to keep safeties out of the box. Not air raid in lieu of pounding it on the ground. Hopefully we’ve figured that out, albeit too late to win the game we all circled and have any shot at the SEC West.

The season marches on with plenty of opportunities ahead to play big games in special environments and make some memories. Let’s just hope we stick to our bread and butter.