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| It was an eventful off-season in Atlanta as they acquired both B.J. and Justin Upton, who look to combine with Jason Heyward to make one of the best outfields in baseball. |
Key Additions:
CF B.J. Upton
RF Justin Upton
Key Subtractions:
LF Martin Prado
SP Tommy Hanson
Which New Guy Will Help
the Most?
Of all of the new faces that the Braves have added to the
mix this offseason, I have to go with Justin Upton as the player that will help
the most. Not that his elder, B.J. won’t help out a lot, but Justin simply has
a higher upside as evidenced by his monster 2011 season in which he finished 4th
in the NL MVP voting, when he was worth 5.7 rWAR . I expect Justin to put up numbers in between his 2009 and 2011, as he is entering a little more of a pitcher friendly ballpark and has
a new team, but still, I expect big things from this 25 year old slugger
(something in the 4 WAR range). He'll adjust to playing in a star studded lineup this year, but in 2014 and beyond, there is little doubt in my mind he could be one of the top outfielders in league year in and year out.
Spring Training
Battles:
In Atlanta, there really isn’t a lot of competition for any
spots on the diamond other than 3rd base since Martin Prado was
dealt to Arizona in the Justin Upton blockbuster, which is between Juan
Francisco and Chris Johnson. Both of these guys have shown flashes of
brilliance so far in their careers, but have failed to do so consistently over a
full season, which is why I see this ending up as a platoon with Francisco
playing against RH Pitching and Johnson against LH Pitching. Other than this
battle though, there really isn’t much else to speak of in terms of Spring
Training battles to watch out for over the next three weeks. It's not an ideal situation for the Braves, especially because they haven't had to worry about the hot corner for years due to future HOF and recently retired Chipper Jones.
Questions Heading Into
the Season:
Do the Braves have enough to overtake the Nationals
for the NL East crown?
My answer to this in no and this is simply because
of how complete the Nationals are as a unit. They really had no holes heading
into the offseason, but still went out and traded for CF Denard Span to be
their everyday CF’er and leadoff hitter and signed CL Rafael Soriano to a 2yr/
$26 MM deal in February to solidify an already stacked bullpen (they have 3
closers now!). Pair that with a full season of Stephen Strasburg, Jason Werth,
and Byrce Harper, and this team could be deadly comes playoff time. As much as
the Braves have improved this offseason, the Nationals are still the better
team.
What will Kris Medlen do for an encore?
This question is a much tougher one to answer as really
your guess is as good as mine. Medlen went 10-1 with an unheard of ERA of 1.57
over 138 innings of work. Will he be able to repeat that level of success again?
Probably not. Is he still a more that capable starting pitcher in the Big
Leagues that has a chance to turn into one of best pitching finds of the last
decade? Yes.
Prospect who could have
the Biggest Impact in 2013:
So much has been made about SP Julio Teheran and how he hasn’t
lived up to expectations. Let’s give this guy a break, he just turned 22 and
although he has a career ERA of over 5, he is still one of the more highly
touted young arms in the game, so let’s see what he can do this year before we
make any judgment of him. Some might argue that C Christian Bethancourt could
have a major impact this year, and that could be the case, but even with Brain
McCann missing the first month of the season due to injury, Gerald Laird is likely
to become the starter and the Braves don’t want to rush their young catcher at
all. I see Teheran posting a line along the lines of a 3.90 ERA, 155 SO,
170 IP which is not too bad considering how young this guy is and how much
potential he has.
Projected Roster:
Projected Starting Lineup
1.
Andrelton
Simmons (SS)
2.
B.J. Upton (CF)
3.
Jason Heyward
(RF)
4.
Freddie Freeman
(1B)
5.
Justin Upton
(LF)
6.
Dan Uggla (2B)
7.
Chris Johnson/
Juan Francisco (3B)
8.
Gerald Laird
(McCann out until Mid- April) (C)
9.
Pitcher
Projected Bench:
Chris Johnson/ Juan
Francisco (3B)
Paul Janish (UTIL)
Jordan Schafer (OF)
Reed Johnson (OF)
Christian Bethancourt
(until McCann is back) (C)
Projected Starting Rotation:
1.
Tim Hudson
2.
Kris Medlen
3.
Mike Minor
4.
Paul Maholm
5.
Julio Teheran
Projected Bullpen:
Craig Kimbrel (CL)
Jonny Venters (SU)
Eric O’Flaherty (SU)
Jordan Walden
Christian Martinez
2013 Projection: 93-69 (1st Wild Card)
Other than the Blue Jays, no team in baseball has
had a more productive offseason that the Atlanta Braves and I believe that that
will show on the field. From signing FA Outfielder B.J. Upton to a 5 yr/ $72.5
MM deal back in November, to acquiring his younger brother Justin in a trade
with the D-backs back in January, the Braves really filled their RELATIVEly(get it?) few
holes very effectively this offseason. While Georgia’s team may not have enough
to take over the best team in baseball, the Washington Nationals, they are
certainly front-runners for a wild card spot and a very well positioned to
return to the post-season, only this time for a little longer than 3 hours.
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