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Anyone who has been paying attention to the league for the last year or so can tell you that the Braves are in rebuild mode. It started last offseason when they dealt Jason Heyward, and has been gaining momentum ever since. They traded away almost every veteran on the team at the trade deadline, leading to one of the worst second halves in baseball history.
Atlanta’s trend continued just a few days ago when they sent star defensive shortstop Andrelton Simmons to the Angels for prospects and Erick Aybar. Now, it appears they’re going to kick things up a notch. According to reports, they’re willing to listen on anyone, a list that includes star first baseman and fan favorite Freddie Freeman.
Even for a team that’s been rebuilding for months now, this drastic of a teardown would be quite the change in strategy for the Braves. Remember, this is a franchise that is moving into a new park in 2017, and ownership has said that they hope to be competitive by that time. Well, uh, that’s next year and trading away anyone with a pulse isn’t going to make that a realistic goal. If they go through with this plan -- and to be fair ownership has denied it -- they risk alienating the majority of the fan base.
This is continuing a pattern that we’ve seen across the league over the last five to 10 years. More and more teams are opting for a complete teardown, bottom out and rebuild through the draft. It’s far from a sure thing, of course, but it’s a process that has worked for the Astros and Cubs recently, and this is a copycat league. Even if it works, it’s a tough trend for baseball fans, as it means teams will be putting almost zero effort (or money) into putting a winning team on the field for multiple years in a row. For the sake of Braves fans, you have to hope Atlanta at least keeps Freeman.
- With this trend becoming more and more popular, the Pirates have to wonder if they should have been this aggressive in their rebuild.
- The Padres just traded one of the best closers in baseball, and now they could be looking to deal a couple more of their best players.
- The good news is they got some very good prospects back from the Red Sox in the Kimbrel trade.
- After seeing all that went back to San Diego in the deal, should the Cardinals shop their great, young closer around the league?
- We’re going to be hearing about the possibility of the Mets trading one of their young pitchers all winter, but they insist Zack Wheeler won’t be that guy.
- After losing Jeremy Hellickson, where do the Diamondbacks find themselves for 2016?
- New Phillies GM Matt Klentak hasn’t been on the job very long, but he just made his first move in acquiring Hellickson and has passed the early tests.
- Mr. Consistent Mark Buehrle is deciding between retiring from baseball or playing for the Cardinals. Same.
- The Cubs need another starting pitcher. Johnny Cueto is a very good starting pitcher. So, good match, right?
- Contrary to the popular narrative, the Yankees actually put together a financially efficient team this season.
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