Atlanta Braves: The Most Important Baseball of the Year
Our Atlanta Braves traded Brandon Phillips to the Angels last week clearing the way for younger players to play and initiated the most important month of Braves baseball in years.
The Atlanta Braves have been rebuilding now for the better part of three years. We were all there when it started. News that Jason Heyward had been traded to the Cardinals followed by word that Justin Upton was also gone pointed us all in the direction of the waters into which we would sail.
Well, every rebuild has three basic phases:
- Phase 1: Trading established (read: expensive) players for packages of prospective big leaguers.
- Phase 2: Fielding the most competitive team you can while making few or no expensive contract commitments as you wait for the young talent you acquired to get ready for the show.
- Phase 3: Adding the young talent you have developed onto your big league roster and finding out what you have built.
Typically fan-bases checkout on their teams in September when their teams are not sniffing a playoff spot. Down south it is even easier to do now that the Silver Britches are doing things like running out stud 18-year-old quarterbacks. However, this September is the most important and meaningful month of Braves baseball we have had in a while.
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Sometimes when a team you love makes a trade, it says something to you about where the team is, and we just traded Brandon Phillips, who has played very well for us, because we could not keep him and see as much of our younger players as is needed.
In fact, today’s lineup (September 3) featured names like Ozzie Albies and Rio Ruiz, and we sent Max Fried to the bump to make his first big league start. Fried, you’ll remember, was the centerpiece of the package we got for Justin Upton what feels like 10 years ago.
You turn on the Braves right now and you have a 4 in 5 chance that your starting pitcher is a young guy with a lot of promise that we acquired in Phase 1 of this rebuild. You also will see Dansby Swanson, Ozzie Albies, Rio Ruiz, or Johan Camargo, all young players whose contributions figure to be pivotal if we are to move out of the cellar.
We have seen these youngsters trickle in and out of the dugout all season, but the Phillips trade officially declared to us that we have begun Phase 3 of this rebuild.
Next: Atlanta Hawks: Time for Dennis to Take Steps Forward
The future of this team, whatever it brings, now belongs to the kids…And our stellar first baseman. The building is re-framed. It’s time to color it in and see what we have.