TJ Hartnett
Falcons To Soar
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The only team from the NFC South that has made the playoffs the last two seasons, the Falcons are locked and loaded to make another run at that elusive Super Bowl victory.
They will face plenty of challenges from the rest of the improved division but they have the tools to be a force in 2018.
They have some questions as well. With training camp rapidly approaching, let’s take a look at where the Falcons stand now.
First off, the biggest news of the offseason was Matt Ryan’s massive contract extension. Matty Ice inked the richest contract in the history of the NFL to the tune of $150 million. That kind of contract tends to come with an added level of pressure.
However, as his nickname suggests, Ryan will likely be able to go about his business without it weighing too heavily on him. He’s still the elite quarterback the Falcons need to lead their charge.
On less sturdy ground at the moment is Julio Jones. He has been a no-show at all of Atlanta’s offseason preparation events so far in 2018, due to an ongoing contract dispute.
While there is no real reason to doubt that this will be an issue that blows up to the point that Jones ends up in a different jersey, there might be cause for concern with all the time he’s missing.
He may be the best wide receiver in the NFL right now but he also had a year in which he only scored three times and that was after missing significant offseason time with an injury.
A player of his caliber might not necessarily need the practice reps to be good to go for the season but you have to wonder how well he’ll be used if he’s not around to train.
From that we come to Steve Sarkisian. Sark was the scapegoat for a lot of people who saw the Falcons underperform the year after a Super Bowl appearance and it is certainly true that the record-breaking 2016 offense took a step backward.
Despite a lot of noise calling for his head, Sark is going to get another chance to move the stellar offensive pieces he has at his disposal into position in which they can win.
Coaches, and especially offensive coordinators, can get too much blame when things go badly and too much praise when things go well. Sark has got too much talent on his hands to not be overly praised for their success in 2018.
Something to keep an eye on at training camp and the season draw closer is the health of Devonta Freeman. Two concussions and an injury to his knee took their toll on him last season and to put a cherry on top he tore his MCL and PCL in the last game before going into the playoffs.
All signs point to him healing quickly and being ready for the start of the season but having such an injury-plagued campaign in 2017 is concerning and something to be monitored.
On the other side of the ball, drafting Calvin Ridley did not shore up the defense, and the lack of depth at linebacker is still a concern.
De’Vondre Campbell and Deion Jones are a strong duo but beyond the two of them are question marks on question marks.
Duke Riley will likely start the season’s early games and he showed last year that he was still a work in progress.
The defensive side of the Falcons’ game as been a concern for a while now and while the offense can shoulder a lot, the issues of stopping the other teams will likely continue.
There is plenty to be excited about as the end of July nears, especially for a Falcons team that expects and should be expected to make the playoffs a third consecutive time.
Full Schedule
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Despite dropping a big one in their homestand against the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds, the Braves have maintained a steady lead in the NL East over the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals.
It’s a bit a miracle, to be quite frank, because the baseball gods should have made Atlanta pay for losing consecutive series against two last place teams. One of which, the O’s, is the worst team in all of baseball (and outside of Kansas City, it’s not even close).
But the Braves escaped from that abysmal stretch pretty much unscathed and have been plenty appreciative thus far on their current road trip, putting up big numbers in the first two games against St. Louis.
It’s a good sign that the Bravos can still beat good teams, because July is going to be a hell of test for Atlanta. Arguably this is a month that can prove that the Braves are for real or humble them in a big way.
Why? Because of who they are playing. The best records in the National League belong to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Atlanta Braves, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals.
Beginning with the current series against St. Louis and excluding Atlanta itself because, duh, the Braves play every one of those teams except for Chicago and Philadelphia.
Not that missing the Cubs is much of a relief, because instead of that club the Braves are traveling to the Bronx for a three-game set against the Yankees, who have a significantly better record than anyone in the entire National League anyway.
There’s a two-game set against Toronto in the mix as well, but even they managed a split against Atlanta earlier in the season.
So, when I tell you that July is an important month, you can take that to the bank. The Braves have to win these series. Especially, because the Nationals play Miami EIGHT times during the month in addition to a six-game road trip against Pittsburgh and the Mets.
Plus, Philadelphia gets treated to series against those same Reds and Orioles that Atlanta should have stomped. The Phillies get a home series versus the Padres and play the Marlins and Pirates as well.
This would be the time, if I were a writer for a publication in Pennsylvania, I would suggest that Philly needs to take advantage of the schedule discrepancy and put pressure on Atlanta. Especially, considering that the Phillies and Braves won’t play each other until two of the last three series of the season.
On the flip side, that is what makes it so important that the Braves come out of this month not having lost any ground to the teams below them, Philadelphia in particular.
Just as they won’t be able to control their own fate if they are behind, so too will the Braves lack the ability to widen the standings (or worse, make a comeback) in head-to-head matchups until the campaign is almost over.
Atlanta will play Washington in one series per month for the rest of the year, including in July. I would argue it’s actually more important that they keep Washington down by playing well during these dog days of summer.
The Nationals still feel like a sleeping dragon. If they manage to climb to the top of the standings and subsequently start playing at the level at which they are capable, they will be very difficult to unseat as division leaders.
Make no mistake, this is going to be a very tough month for Atlanta and me saying ‘they need to play well’ seems obvious and easy.
However, come October, this may prove to be the most important month of the season for the National League East.
Atlanta Hawks Flying In The Right Direction?
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NBA draft, it’s that magical time of year when professional teams will seek out new stars for their franchise.
It’s that time when players who were forced to waste a year of their lives going to college when they were destined to end up in the NBA anyway finally meet their destiny.
It’s that time when the Atlanta Hawks and all their brethren teams are put under the microscope so we can judge whether or not their choices stack up against logic.
In any pro sport, the team at the top of the mountain will always inspire a slew of imitators. Franchises will reset their entire way of thinking based on whoever has been winning in the league.
For the past several years, the team being imitated has been, of course, the Golden State Warriors. The Hawks, in the beginning stages of their rebuild, are attempting to use the Golden State model to get back to winning ways.
GM Travis Schlenk’s deal that ended with Luka Doncic as a Maverick wasn’t without its critics, but he sees the fruit of that deal. Trae Young is expected to be the centerpiece of Atlanta’s team for years to come. In short, Schlenk has attempted to provide the Hawks with their own Steph Curry. In his only college season, he became the only player to lead the NCAA in both points and assists.
The plan to draft shooters continued later on the first round when the Hawks picked up Maryland’s Kevin Huerter. The comparison there is, if you can believe it, Klay Thompson.
So, the Hawks have their Curry and they have their Thompson but here’s the problem: Trae Young is not Steph Curry, and Kevin Huerter is not Klay Thompson.
On top of that, there isn’t a Kevin Durant among Atlanta’s draft picks either. It’s not that these pieces can’t evolve into top-tier talent, but Steph Curry is an all-time talent. Thompson is an elite player. The Warriors making it to Finals after Finals isn’t just because they have these types of players, but because they have legendary versions of those players.
Neither Young nor Huerter are likely to turn into that. They’ve got upside, but not the kind of guaranteed prospect that Durant was.
Schlenk went after shooters as a priority in this draft, but in doing so picked players who might have a lower ceiling than you might usually find in the first round, especially in the top 5. The Hawks may very well have gotten themselves stuck for the future.
For example, the Hawks picked up Omari Spellman, who can shoot, instead of talents like Khryi Thomas or Keita Bates-Doip, who had fallen back and were available when Atlanta was up at 30.
There were also some questionable choices like trading their #34 pick. Why trade that one pick for two second rounders from Charlotte? Schlenk has never heard that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
At the end of the day, no one really knows for certain how these things will turn out. Even surefire hits turn out to be misses (looking at you Greg Oden). The path that Schlenk and the Hawks have chosen to go down is an obvious one – ape the champs – but it is far from a one that guarantees success.
These draft picks will need to play up to their potential and maybe beyond it every game, and Atlanta will still need to investigate bringing in additional players. It’s not out of the question for Atlanta to have success, but it’s a tough road to navigate.
Braves Pitching The Draft
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The MLB draft is never as hyped up as the NBA or NFL drafts, and that’s somewhat fair because baseball has such an extensive minor league system that it is exceptionally rare that player makes the jump directly from the draft to a Major League roster.
There’s also far fewer safe bets in baseball. Top prospects often never go on to be All-Stars in baseball. It’s much more of a crap shoot. That being said, it is always interesting to see how teams draft, both on the level of individual players and on a macro level of what they were looking to do in a broad sense.
Despite the heavy penalties MLB slapped the Atlanta Braves with at the end of 2017, new GM Alex Antholopoulos had the task of drafting a new crop of talent to add to his already stocked pool last week.
Granted, most of the penalties involved were directed at the Braves’ ability to target international prospects (as that’s where former GM John Coppollela spent most of his illicit energies), but the Braves still lost their third round pick this year.
Those penalties did add a new wrinkle, however, as Atlanta needed to replace the 13 international prospects they had to release into the wild.
So, as to not lose years off of the farm system’s development, the Braves drafted 34 college players out of 39 total picks. Only Carter Stewart in the first round and Victor Vodnik in the 14th came out of high school before the last three rounds, where the final three were selected.
As a top 10 draft pick, all eyes will be on Stewart as he moves through the minors in the coming months and years. He is just the kind of player the Braves have coveted as of late, a prep school hurler with high upside.
Stewart’s prize possession is a nasty curveball, possibly the best in the entire draft class. He also has a fastball that sits in the low 90s, though he’s been clocked as high as 98.
At 6’ 6” and only 18 years old he has room to add muscle and apparently that process has already begun, as he has followed my lead and added on 30 pounds since last August.
He likely sealed the deal as the Braves’ choice with an 18-strikeout no-hitter earlier this year.
There were also some fortunate draft picks by the rest of MLB, leaving a player like right-handed pitcher Tristan Beck available in the fourth round, especially after they had to skip the previous one.
They also adhered to the time honored ideal that there is no such thing as too much pitching. They picked up 22 pitchers in the draft, including five lefties, alongside four outfielders, 9 infielders, and 4 catchers.
That might frustrate some folks, and I can understand why. The Braves are going to need position players in the near future (and right now at third base) and they could have filled those gaps with college batters who will be ready for the majors much sooner.
A third baseman (or someone who could be moved for a third baseman) would have solved an immediate need in Atlanta and before too long the Braves will need to look to replace the likes of Nick Markakis, Tyler Flowers and Kurt Suzuki. However, Atlanta stayed true to their beliefs and picked up pitching in droves.
The last bit of business the Braves completed was a heartfelt one. In the 40th round the Braves drafted Mick Mangan, son of Braves groundskeeper Ed Mangan. Don’t sleep on this pick just because it was a nice gesture. The Dodgers once drafted somebody’s son as a favor in the last round too and Mike Piazza is in the Hall of Fame.
Restocking The Pond
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
There has been more than plenty of hullabaloo about Derek Jeter’s teardown of the Miami Marlins in an attempt to shed money and begin a rebuilding process akin to the one the Royals and Cubs have had recent success with.
During the offseason, the Marlins shipped off the contracts of all their major players except for J.T. Realmuto, who begrudgingly remains a Marlin as of this writing. That was step one. Step two is fast approaching and it’s one the Marlins need to nail if they’re to keep whatever is left of their fanbase buying into Jeter’s vision for the future.
The Marlins will be picking 13th when the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft kicks off on Monday. They will have a fair few good options at that point, including one local prospect that may be a likely choice.
That prospect is Triston Casas out of Plantation, Florida’s American Heritage School. Caas is a first baseman/third baseman who may possess the rawest power out of any high school player on the board.
Casas hit to the tune of .446 his junior year and .387 his senior year, with 28 of his 52 hits combined those seasons going for extra bases.
Plus, there’s the added PR bonus of having a kid in your own backyard as your number one draft pick; it should provide some investment by the Miami community.
There’s also Mason Denaburg, a right-handed pitcher from Merritt Island High School on Merritt Island, Florida. He can touch the upper 90s with potential to develop a mean secondary pitch or two, though he was dealing with injuries during his senior year.
This might be a riskier pick since three or their last four first-round draft choices were pitchers who have been bitten by the injury bug after their signings. Adding a fourth to that list would do the Marlins’ front office no favors in the eyes of the public.
There are older prospects that could be considered for Miami at 13. Alec Bohm, a third baseman out of Wichita State; Jonathan India at Florida also at the hot corner; and South Alabama outfielder Jack Swaggerty all could be big-league ready much sooner than the aforementioned teens.
Bohm, for example, knocked out 16 home runs and drove in 55 while hitting .339 this season. India’s average and power numbers are even bigger. They are good options for Miami if they want players with a little more polish on them, but maybe a little lower ceiling and without the good optics a local high school player would provide.
The safer bets are those two Floridan high schoolers and if Miami does in fact select either one they would have gone with high school players first for five straight years.
It also means another thing: that whoever they pick, hometown prospect or not, he probably won’t be seen in the Majors for a long while. If this is the way the Marlins choose to go, then that rebuilding process may indeed take the better part of a decade.
Can the Marlins survive such a lengthy process? Or would they be completely abandoned by a fan base that only has a tenuous grip on caring as it is?
It would be a gamble, but Jeter and company need to make a statement with this draft one way or another. Half measures will do no one any good. They’ll need to draft the players they think they can build around for the long term and stick with them.
This draft is either going to be the new beginning for Miami, or the last straw before an MLB game is played with less than 1,000 spectators present.
Early To The Party
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The MLB season just passed the quarter mark this week and believe it or not the name at the top of the NL East standings is the Atlanta Braves.
Not the Mets, not the Phillies and most surprisingly not the Nationals. It’s the Braves who have been the standard bearers for the division ever since leapfrogging New York at the end of April. It’s an exciting time for Braves Country and one that seems legitimate, despite it also being ahead of schedule.
They weren’t supposed to be this good. If you need further proof of that look no further than the Vegas odds of Atlanta winning the World Series at the start of the 2018 season: 300 to 1.
That was tied with the Phillies and Oakland and just ahead of Pittsburgh, who held a fire sale in the offseason. 2018 was going to be another rebuilding year, as players like Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna, Jr. developed at the plate and the likes of Sean Newcomb developed on the mound, while Mike Foltynewicz got another year in the rotation under his belt.
Now we’re ¼ of the way through the season and the Braves look like real threats. If you need further proof of that look no further than the current Vegas odds of Atlanta winning the World Series: 30 to 1. That’s quite an unexpected leap.
The reason for that leap? Ozzie Albies, for one. Turns out he didn’t need more time to develop, he needed a platform to become an All-Star. The 21-year-old can’t stop blasting out extra base hits. His power, like the NL-leading 13 home runs, has been unmatched so far this year. He’s truly been a breakout star for Atlanta.
Acuna hasn’t been quite as consistent as Albies, but he too showed up to play. He’s launched (and I do mean launched) four homeruns in his first 21 games on the big-league roster, as well as stolen a few bases to boot. For a player with that kind of production to still be considered “finding his footing,”, that’s something to be excited about.
It also doesn’t hurt that Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis look to be having career years up to this point. Freeman is leading the league in OBP and Markakis is pacing MLB in hits as of Saturday.
Ender Inciarte has also recovered from a relatively slow start and is amassing more stolen bases than anyone else. That’s a lot of different league leaders in one lineup.
On the other side of the ball is Sean Newcomb, who like Albies seems to have taken the next two steps instead of one this year. Following six innings of one run ball on Saturday against Miami Newk is 5-1 with an ERA of 2.39, best in the rotation.
Folty is having plenty of success as well, with an ERA of 2.87. Even the oft-derided Julio Teheran hasn’t allowed a run in his last 13 innings pitched and he sits pretty with a 4-1 record and a 3.49 ERA.
It feels like we’re all waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it might not. The talent is there and it seems like the team is gelling well. If they can continue to produce at this level, they truly will be there at the end of the season.
There are improvements that can be made. Sure, the bullpen could use some fortifying and someone needs to step up at the hot corner but overall this team is the real deal. They were always going to get to this point. They just showed up a little early.
New Lead Hawk
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
A 24-48 season will have consequences. Some positive, like a decent shot at the number one draft pick. Many negatives too, like parting ways with coaches and grouchy fans and the fact that you’ve only won 24 games, which is very bad.
The Atlanta Hawks just suffered through such a season and head coach Mike Budenholzer departed on April 25th (though admittedly, he seemed ready to go anyway. Though a 55 win season likely would have incentivized him to stay).
It was the first season since the 2006-07 campaign, in which the Hawks failed to make the playoffs and afterwards the Hawks have begun the process of rebuilding. So, the question became who would lead Atlanta through the lean times ahead?
Now there is an answer to that question and the answer is Lloyd Pierce.
Atlanta locked up the 76ers assistant coach to a three-year deal on Friday. He’ll be tasked with leading the team’s young contingent through the ups and downs of an NBA season.
It should be a good fit, as prior to his work in Philly Pierce worked in player development for the Cavaliers and Grizzlies.
Core players for the Hawks Dennis Schroder and Taurean Waller-Prince are only 24 years old and there should be a several good young players joining them after the draft. The Hawks will select 4 of the first 33 players.
The Hawks have a plan to get young and unpolished, so a coach with a background of molding players was going to be important and Atlanta believes they have found that with Pierce.
Pierce’s first job in the NBA was that gig in Cleveland, where a young man named LeBron James enjoyed working with him so much that that he continued to work with him (and brought Dwyane Wade along with him) during the NBA lockout in 2011.
He moved from Cleveland to a short stint with the Golden State Warriors, (stunted by that same lockout) where then Director of Player Personnel for Golden State (and current Hawks GM) Travis Schlenk got a look at him for the first time.
The Hawks will be bad next year. They have broken their team down and are completely rebuilding. Schlenk will need to trust Pierce’s wisdom and guidance because the record will be ugly. However, he’ll be aiming to get results in other areas.
The players will need to trust Pierce as they navigate what will be a tough season for them. If they can batten down the hatches and try to work on becoming complete players instead of getting caught up in wins, losses and stats, they’ll have a chance to evolve into a decent unit. Again, it won’t be right away.
That will also be important for the Hawks faithful to realize. They should already be prepped for a down year but take this hiring as a good step.
Don’t take this hiring as a sign that the Hawks are going to surprise the league because their coach works well with young talent.
Pierce’s expertise is in developing talent, not flipping switches from “rookie” to “all-star.” Patience will be key.
That being said, this is an exciting hire – not really because of what will come of it in the first year, but instead of what might come of it in the third.
Matty Ice Cool Dollars
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Recently I wrote an article about the Falcons draft, suggesting that with their first-round pick of talented wide receiver Calvin Ridley, the rich got richer.
The rich being the offense in this scenario. Flash forward a few days and for one key member of that offense, it became literally true as Matt Ryan inked a five-year contract extension with Atlanta that includes a whopping $100 million guaranteed.
I’ll save you the research and tell you that this is the richest NFL contract in history and that Ryan will be the first quarterback to earn $30 million annually.
Matty Ice won’t be complaining, but neither should anyone else. Ten years into his career, Ryan has shown that he is the right guy to lead this Falcons team and the best chance they have of securing a Super Bowl win anytime soon.
Is he worth all that money?
Yes, it’s a lot of money and there are always going to be some concerns with a contract as huge as this one but here the benefits outweigh the literal costs.
There is, of course, some concern that devoting so much money to one player will handicap a team’s ability to spend on other areas of need in the future.
Let’s dig at that a little. Cap space is a much more complicated situation that simply looking at what the players on your team are being paid in any given year.
Teams move money around all the time, paying big bucks up front or deferring payments until later and cuts are being made constantly. Plus, that cap never remains the same – it rises. One big contract for a player like Ryan is not going to debilitate the Falcons’ spending ability. The process is too fluid to allow for that.
Besides, paying Ryan his market value is better than any alternative. Picture the Falcons resetting at QB with a draft pick; while maintaining the talented receiving core that they already have in place.
How many wins have they sacrificed because they didn’t want to pay up for established QB?
Building off of that, how would the Falcons even begin pitching an extension to the likes of Julio Jones if he’s faced with catching passes from an unproven rookie instead of recent MVP Matt Ryan? How much more difficult would it be to sign free agents?
Let’s also not overlook what Ryan has done for this franchise. He was drafted 10 years ago when the Falcons needed a PR win after Michael Vick’s legal woes.
In fact, you might argue that drafting this admittedly talented but pretty bland character out of Boston College was little more than just that; a PR move. But he took the reins of a team in turmoil and led the charge into relevancy.
The Falcons made the playoffs with him as a rookie QB and while they didn’t make the postseason the following year, Ryan led them to a 9-7 record which was the first time in franchise history that the Falcons posted back-to-back winning seasons. Then he led them to three more.
Think about that. Consider how important this guy has been to a Falcons team that in 43 years had never strung together two winning seasons before Matt Ryan showed up and put up five in a row.
The Falcons are as legit a team as there is in the NFL and it is thanks in large part to the league’s new $30 million man.
We’re ten years into the Matt Ryan era in Atlanta, with at least six more on the horizon. Is he worth the money?
Without a doubt.
The New Dirty Birds
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
This is that special time of year when college football and the NFL collide to create the NFL Draft. Fans of both levels of the sport pay close attention; the college fans for validation of their favorite players and pro fans to see how their teams can improve by addition.
Coming off a 10-6 season with a playoff win, the Falcons looked for pieces to help them get over that hump they have struggled with for the past few years and secure that elusive Super Bowl victory. Did they succeed?
With the 26th pick, Atlanta took wide receiver Calvin Ridley from Alabama. Ridley certainly improves the already potent Falcons offense and could even be considered a secret weapon of sorts. Defenses across the NFL will focus on sorting out what to do about Julio Jones, Ridley could be deployed to great effect. If he can figure out the game at the pro level, he and Mohamed Sanu will complement each other to make a big-time receiving threat for the Dirty Birds after Jones.
Matt Ryan can do some real magic with those three if Ridley can step up. He’s athletic enough to do so and to his benefit he won’t need to be the Falcons number one option.
In round two Atlanta picked up cornerback Isaiah Oliver from Colorado. A curious choice because while Atlanta’s defense needs improvement, those improvements aren’t needed at cornerback. With Desmond Trufant, Robert Alford and Brian Poole, the Falcons are more than covered there.
He must have caught Thomas Dimitroff’s and Dan Quinn’s eyes, which isn’t a bad thing.
The real need was at defensive tackle, which the Falcons took care of with their third pick in South Florida’s Deandrin Senat.
He fills a dire need in Atlanta and will be relied on right out of the gate. Quinn has already suggested he’ll be slotted into a rotation at nose tackle. He’s big enough to take care of business against the running game and should be quick enough to stifle the pass. The DT pick came two rounds after I think most people expected, but they ended up with what they wanted nonetheless.
Russell Cage from LSU was taken next and he’s ostensibly a wide receiver but with Ridley going in the first round that is likely to change.
Cage transitioned to WR in 2016 after being recruited as a defensive back but is being looked at to serve as gunner, where he also has experience. A player with a lot of weapons and a solid pick four number four.
So, while the Falcons had a clear need at DT going into the draft, in a way they got to have their cake and eat it too. They waited until their third pick to satisfy that need but still managed to get a serviceable piece.
Instead, they went a different direction for pick number one and the rich offense got richer in Atlanta. It was a gauntlet throw down in a way, as the offense took a step back in 2017 after leading the planet with a potent scoring game the previous year.
Steve Sarkisian has an even bigger embarrassment of riches and he’ll need to utilize them to the best of their abilities. To me, this says that the team expects to be back at the top of the offensive heap in 2018 and anything less might be Sark’s head.
Overall, there weren’t any truly huge gets for Atlanta (thought that’s only because Ridley wasn’t as necessary as a DT was), but it’s a solid draft class for what was already a winning team.
Braving Joey Bats
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Even two years ago, the signing of Jose Bautista would have come with tremendous fanfare along with a hefty price and immediate placement in the Major League lineup of any team; but in 2018, none of those things happened.
The Braves have quietly signed Bautista to a minor league contract that cost $1 million with no incentives.
What a difference two years make. The signing of Bautista, who is 37 years old, weirdly only seems noteworthy because he is Jose Bautista and he’s famous. This shouldn’t be.
In the last seven years, the guy was in the top 10 in MVP votes four times, including 2015 when he slugged 40 home runs and drove in 114 along with a league leading 110 walks. He hit 22 and 23 bombs in 2016 and 2017. He’s Jose Bautista. So, why isn’t this a bigger deal?
I wonder if people have always been waiting for the other foot to drop on Bautista. He was a late bloomer and with the exception of hitting .302 in 2011 his game was always power. That was bound to fade past the prime years of a ballplayer’s career, which he already had in his rearview.
Still, there’s a lot to be excited about with this signing. Especially, given that he costs pennies on the dollar to what he would cost any other year. The Braves have certainly taken advantage of a bizarre offseason with this acquisition.
Another bonus is that Bautista signed a minor league deal, which means there’s no actual pressure to put him on the 25-man roster if it looks like he won’t contribute.
Think back to the signing of Ryan Howard just one year ago. The similarities are plenty, including their age at the time. Howard signed for low money and when he didn’t hit in Gwinnett, he was released and there was no skin off the Braves’ nose.
The same will apply to Joey Bats. Once he finishes up his extended spring training run he’ll head to the Stripers and try to earn his way onto the big-league club.
If he does, then the Braves have a power-hitting righty to man third base in 2018; if he doesn’t, then no harm no foul. It’s the epitome of a no-risk move for Atlanta.
The appetizing part of this whole deal of course is the potential for fireworks if this plays out incredibly well. Bautista isn’t going to knock out 50 four-baggers this season even if he finds the fountain of youth. However, if he can turn back the clock and end the year with 20-25 dingers and can hit for at least a reasonable average (looking for around .250) the difference he’d make in the Braves’ lineup is massive.
Think about what Matt Kemp did in late 2016 when he slotted into the cleanup role and lengthened the batting order. The offense took off. There’s a chance Bautista could have that same effect. Plus, his presence as that right-handed power bat would take the pressure off Ronald Acuna, Jr. when he inevitably makes his debut this year.
So, at the end of the day, Bautista is all upside. He could show off and smash the ball, and that would improve the club. Or he could prove his doubters right and continue his decline, and in that case the Braves would be no worse off than they are now.
That’s what we call a win-win.
