Atlanta Braves: Need to find a pitching balance
Heading into June, it’s time for the Atlanta Braves to strike a balance with youth verses experience and find a true direction for the season.
The Atlanta Braves front office is facing a crossroads here. At 22-27 and in second place, albeit many games behind Washington in a weak NL East division, there is hope. However, this hope is followed by a pile of “what-ifs”. For instance, will Matt Adams and Rio Ruiz specifically continue this production? Will Julio Teheran find consistency? Will the bullpen continue its excellent month of May, excluding one to two outliers like the Collmenter disaster? All in all though, if the Braves can turn to youth in the pitching staff and have it pay off, then the rewards later in the year could be immense.
In defense..
For the record, I am in no way predicting the Braves will make the playoffs. I am merely explaining the potential benefits of balancing our youth with experience. I’m not going to bash Bartolo either. Everyone understands the deal with Colon and it seems as though his days are numbered. That being said, when and if Bartolo (or another vet) makes his exit, the Atlanta Braves must turn to Lucus Sims or Sean Newcomb to fill the void. To clarify, picking up a cheap fill in vet via trade or free agency should not be the first answer. As I’ve written it a previous article, I think it should be Newcomb first, but more on that later. To back this up, I turn to the words of John Coppolella himself. In his latest twitter Askcoppy session, he explained that he thinks Sims and Newcomb are “an injury or trade away and that’s exciting for us “. So the reasonable assumption here is if someone like Bartolo leaves the team then the door is open. When this door does open, I believe the team will be improved by this infusion of youth.
The arguments against…
A lot of Atlanta Braves fans cite the crippling effect of Matt Wisler and Aaron Blair last season. In their case, it’s correct how they were not ready for the show and now are suffering because of it. However, I’d like to be blunt for a second. Newcomb and Sims are simply better then Wisler and Blair are. The mental effect won’t be a factor as I believe they won’t suffer the same beatings as Matt and Aaron.
In addition, if Coppy is truly serious about the Braves being able to compete all year, then bringing up youthful impact pitching to replace somewhat inept veteran arms shouldn’t be a problem. This goes beyond the Sean versus Lucas debate as well. Mauricio Cabrera and Akeel Morris will get a shot to join Luke Jackson in the bullpen at some point as well. On the flip side, Ian Krol and Chaz Roe for example have been less then impressive so it’s possible to swap experience for youth at some point in the future this season. The Braves have already done this to a degree by DFAing Josh Collmenter.
To Recap…
All in all, the point I’m trying to make here is that a team doesn’t explicitly need majority veteran experience to win ballgames. The Atlanta Braves have an opportunity to win more ballgames with more youth influence. This of course is not 100 percent certain, but based on a couple veteran performances so far, it’s likely some talented youth can step up and play better. If the Braves go this route, it will benefit the franchise this year and for the future. Finding a confident balance is key to Atlanta’s success.
Any thoughts or comments on this topic are certainly appreciated!