2018 Atlanta Braves Preview Part 1 - Starting pitching

Is this the most boring offseason of all time? Yes, well I guess unless your a Yankees or a Brewers fan. God forbid your one of the 16 Marlins fans in the world, if you are just know I feel for you. But alas Winter is releasing it's cruel grasp on the world and we are only 2 weeks out from Pitchers and Catchers reporting! Of course that immediately starts the all too long Spring Training schedule but hey at least there's no WBC this year so it'll be 5 painful weeks until Opening Day instead of 6!

The Braves are loaded with young major league ready talent and that should keep the veteran retreads to a minimum this year. Gone are the Adonis Garcias, Erick Aybars, Bartolo Colons and Jonny Gomes' of the world. Enter Ozzie Albies, Luiz Gohara, Ronald Acuna (maybe not just yet, but soon) and Max Fried amongst other top prospects ready to showcase their talents in the Show.

With so many free agents still standing in the unemployment line and the Braves payroll hovering right around $100 million one or two signings could drastically change this outlook but I believe FanGraphs' ZIPs projections had Atlanta as a 79 win team. Not bad but not going to catch the Nats either. Let's take  a look at who will lead us to a glorious 80-ish win season! Playing the Marlins, Phillies and Mets 57 times should help!

ROTATION

Julio Teheran - The Braves ace and former top prospect has suffered something akin to prospect fatigue at the big league level. Braves fans are a fickle bunch and if they see the words "Number One Prospect" they expect superstar or bust and while a superstar Julio is not he's a 2 x All Star who recently passed Steve Avery in career bWAR. I know, I know Avery had shoulder issues and never got a chance to live up to his potential but the point is Teheran is better than Braves fans would have you believe despite the fact he'll probably never be a true ace. For his contract however a number 2/3 pitcher is just fine. The guy has a career 3.59 ERA (shoot me) and is going to give you a solid start every 5 days.



Mike Foltynewicz - Another former top prospect Folty as he's known around these parts was actually the Braves most valuable pitcher last season recording 1.8 fWAR. Steamer has him projected at 1.6 this year which seems about right, the guy has all the talent in the world as he runs it up to the upper 90s with ease he just has to put it all together. Everyone and their mother wants to ship him to the bullpen to be the "closer" but he's most valuable as a starter and that's where he'll stay for the time being. This will be his fourth season with the Braves, his 3rd as a full time starter so maybe he can turn the corner.

Brandon McCarthy - He would've been the Braves best pitcher last year if he were on the team producing 2.4 fWAR. He came over in the MASH unit trade with Kazmir for Kemp and others and should slot in the 2nd or 3rd slot in the rotation.

Sean Newcomb - A cold weather arm from Baaaahston, Newk will be entering his 2nd MLB season and seems to have a leg up on the competition for a rotation spot having spun exactly 100 inning last year. Like Folty he has all the stuff in the world but will strike out the side one inning then walk the bases loaded the next. Frustrating stuff but the fact is the guy has only pitched 450 professional innings and like I said was a cold weather arm. Which is why the Braves are still so high on him, I ran into now MLB pitching coach Chuck Hernandez in 2016 when he was the Braves roving minor league pitching coordinator at a backfield game in Lakeland and he was nice enough to answer a bunch of my stupid questions and we chatted for about 5 or 10 minutes about all the studs the Braves had in the minors at the time, out of all them he seemed most excited about Newcomb because of the raw potential. I am really high on the kid and am looking forward to what he does with a full season at the big league level.


This is where it gets tricky.. Luiz Gohara seems to have the inside track for the 5th starter spot after coming up late last year and showing off his ridiculous stuff, he was the hardest throwing LH SP in the major leagues last season after all but he's just 21 and has a stable of horses right on his tail for that very same spot.

Luiz Gohara - CC Sabathia Jr. makes 99 look easy as can be, and while he "only" has 2 pitches from talking to him after his Florida State League debut last season he actually throws 3 different versions of his slider according to the man himself. A hard slider, a softer version of it and a slurvy version depending on the batter and situation. The guy has barely over a 100 innings above A ball and could probably benefit from some time in Triple A if he were to struggle in Spring but he has as much raw talent as pitcher in the system and clearly has the stuff to put away big league hitters.

Max Fried - Now 2 full seasons removed from his Tommy John surgery, Fried had a rough start to 2017 in Double A but silenced all the doubters once he made his major league debut and looked great in doing so with 26 solid innings. He then went to the Arizona Fall League and absolutely dominated there, so he'll be coming into Spring Training with all the confidence in the world. While my money's on Touki Toussaint, Fried is not far behind for best curveball in the system and his fastball seems to have returned all of it's velocity. Unfortunately he suffered a few hiccups due to blisters last season so hopefully those don't pop up again.

Lucas Sims - Drafted all the way back in the stone ages - 2012 when men were men by God! Anyways Sims is a starter for now but has been pegged by several publications as destined for the bullpen. After 6 seasons as a full time starter though I doubt the Braves ship him out there just yet especially after he showed flashes last year in the bigs but then again with the guys listed before him and Soroka, Allard, Wright and a whole bunch more on the way it would not surprise me if he didn't head out to left field.


OK I was going to blaze through this tonight but it's midnight so I will make this a 3 parter instead with Position players tomorrow and bullpen whenever the hell I feel like it.



PS- Aaron Blair and Matt Wisler also still exist...

30 Clubs In 67 Days

Sure every sports website in the world will be doing this concept over the next 2+ months, but what better way to get a feel for the upcoming season than by writing about every club in that span?

Maybe you'll read it maybe you won't but I'm going to write it damnit. Don't worry there will be cardboard planted within each post. 

Could the Twins be this year's Mets/Cubs with thier glut of young talent?

The NL Central will be stacked and competitive all year. I'm going to try and hit 3 new Grapefruit League Stadiums this year plus the usual 2 or 3 games at Disney but will try and incorporate those into my posts with some pictures. May have some guest posts as well for help with prospects and the like.  Anyways thanks for reading, i'll be back! 

PS - All of the above cards are already packed up to other homes. 

There's Gold in Them Hills

Well I'm still waiting on 2015 Bowman Draft to show up in Target, I thought I had read online that it was going to  be retail this year but oh well. I signed up for a box break on Instagram for the Braves and a couple of other teams so I'll just wait to see what I got out of that before ordering any more cards because in the mean time..

I got my first Dansby Swanson card in the mail the other day. I ordered this almost immediately after news broke that the Braves had acquired the 2015 1st Overall pick in a blockbuster trade with Arizona.

Chrome too! As I have said on this blog before Dansby is from the same town - Marietta - as me. The last time the Braves had a #1 overall pick on their team he was also a young shortstop from the south named Chipper Jones. Hopefully Dansby can come even close to the player Chipper was. The Braves just hired Chipper yesterday to be a special assistant to the GM. 

I've got a couple more Swanson cards on the way but it looks like I'm going to have to wait a while for an auto as prices are a little high ---- EBAY

Sticking to first round picks and the Diamondbacks here's a Distinguished Debut of Touki Toussaint from 2015 Pro Debut. Touki was the Diamondbacks #1 pick just last year and the Braves basically traded cash for him. Looking forward to seeing what the South Florida boy has as he supposedly has a verrrry high ceiling.

Is this a Diamondbacks blog? No the Braves have just ransacked the Diamondbacks system over the last year or so. Here's a 2015 Inception Auto of 2013 First Round Pick Aaron Blair who could debut for the Braves this year.

2014 Bowman Chrome Draft Scouts Breakout Die-Cut Refractors #BSBAB Aaron Blair

Die-cut refractor from last year's Bowman Draft will have to do. I never type out the full name of cards but check out how long this one is...

Here's my first Chrome card of new Brave Ender Inciarte. He should be the Braves everyday CF next year and a huge upgrade over Cameron Maybin. 2015 War - Maybin 1.0, Inciarte 3.3

This here is my first 1951 Bowman, crease and all I love it especially the little hut in the background. The Earl of Snohomish hit .292 with 24 homers and 92 RBI in '51 and got a few MVP votes but somehow Jim Konstanty beat out Stan the Man to take the title.

I have other '71s but this is my new favorite. Would be cool to have a copy of this card unsigned just to get it really signed if that makes any sense. This card is pretty much perfect I'd say.

Getting close to having all the flagship Sutton's with this one, I still need his rookie card and one or two more now.

The 2016 Braves will probably not be good. Maybe I will be wrong and they have some 1991 miracle season but I don't see Terry Pendleton and Steve Avery on the roster but I could be wrong. All three of these guys could make their debut next year and we'll find out.

What can I say? I like Heritage Minors. Everybody's excited for Christmas and I'm excited about pitchers and catchers reporting in 2 months! 2016 MLB Spring Training Countdown

I need to buy a blaster of this stuff. Glad Panini brought Contenders back to baseball. 

Albies is 18, Allard is 19. Whole bunch of baby Braves in this post, hopefully this card foreshadows great things.

Like this, can't believe I had missed this one from Stadium Club last year. Though I'd like to forget the '96 World Series.

This is my new favorite Deion card, there are others like it but this one is mine. Plus it's a Members Choice parallel, now I just need the base to go with it.

Saw that Deion basketball card on Tim's blog not long ago and was stoked to add it to my cart for 50 cents or so. The Clear Vision is a perfect example of why I like buying singles online. I would never bust a whole box of that stuff but it's a really cool acetate card for less than a buck it's a really cool addition to my Primetime PC.

Wisler Time: Another Debut

Matt Wisler, acquired from the Padres with Cameron Maybin for Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. amongst others on Opening Night, will be making his Major League debut tonight against the New York Metropolitans in a critical series if the Braves really want to contend for the division this year.

I don't have a lot of his cards, he's only been a Brave for about 2 and a half months but I like this one in a camo jersey. He has a plus fastball (93-95mph) with a good enough curve ball and a decent changeup according to scouting reports. He had pitched well in AAA, earning 2 International League player of the week nominations, up until his last start where he gave up 7 earned runs in only 3.2 innings pitched.

I'm just excited to see what he's got against a so-so Mets offense who have been terrible away from Citi Field, if you have any cards of Wisler's not shown here I want them and will trade for them.