Atlanta Braves center fielder B.J. Upton (2) looks on from the batting cage prior to a game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Stage 3: Bargaining
We have all these horrible contracts! Who can we sucker into taking these albatrosses off our hands? We’re totally going to get better by shipping these guys off, right? Additional by subtraction, am I wrong? Do you want the Upton Brothers? We’ll give youCraig Kimbrel. DoesJason Heywardsound good to you? Do you like whatChris Johnsonbrings to the table? CanJim Johnson,Alex Wood,Kelly Johnsonor anybody help your team? Stauskas?
If there is one thing the 2015 Atlanta Braves needed to do this year, it was to unload all the bad contracts in place by former GM Frank Wren. Atlanta had to salvage something from diminishing returns and players that would have walked in free agency anyway. Is Jason Heyward worth a 42nd overall pick in the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft? Same thing forJustin Uptonwho was hitting free agency, too.
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Trading away starters for prospects decimated the Atlanta Braves’ perceived power in their lineup. The team couldn’t score runs via small ball and had to rely on homers to win games in 2013-14. While big bats put fans in the seats for 2013-14, it didn’t yield a championship or a playoff advancement, did it?
John Hart had to get the Atlanta Braves back in the black with regards to the ledger. While it cripples the on-field play disastrously in the short run, perhaps the Number 2 rated farm system in baseball will once again provide the Atlanta Braves with the homegrown talent they’ve lived off for decades. When the well dries up, you have to get yourself a new water supplier or dig yourself a new well. The Atlanta Braves are trying to inject life in a dying farm system for the sake of the major league club in the long run.
Next: Stage 4: Depression
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