Atlanta Braves: Have a Wealth of Prospects They Should Spend
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Braves rebuild seems to be coming to it’s end with the front office in shambles and in the middle of an embarrassing cheating scandal. It is better for all involved if the Braves show some improvement this season and that may mean spending prospects.
The Atlanta Braves have spent the better part of three years now collecting as many prospects as possible, building a top farm system in baseball. Just as the rebuild seemed to be coming to an end the Braves essentially fired their general manager and are in the middle of a cheating scandal and pending investigation.
At best the Braves will be facing heavy fines while at worst they could lose prospects that they cheated to acquire.
The scandal will likely change the Braves direction and with that in mind they should not hesitate to spend the wealth of prospects they have acquired. It may seem odd to spend what the Braves worked so hard to build but they are prospects who are just that, prospects.
The vast majority of them will fail and many of the rest will fail to live up to expectations. Yet prospects are often favored in trades because of what could be in favor of proven talent.
At the very least the Braves need to explore sending some of their top arms in the system to a team that is willing to give them a proven one in return. The Braves need to consider moving prospects not only because of the likelihood of them turning out but also to help keep a fan base engaged and coming to the park.
Even the best of fans are a bit on edge after enduring a rebuild and a lot of losing, add in managerial changes, trading fan favorite players, and now a scandal that has the brought the Braves back to the spotlight for the wrong reasons and many fans have had enough.
It is time for the Braves to use the wealth of their farm system to bring in outside talent to help build a team that is going to at least appear competitive in 2018. If they choose to stand pat both in trades and free agency it will hurt both the team and in turn what the owners truly care about their bottom line.