Braves 2024 Season Thread

[DannyW]

Now that deer hunting season is over, Minor League and Pro football is done, and MLB spring training underway, there seems to be a little interest in baseball on the forum. And the Braves have a right nice little team.

Like @Duff mentioned in the 2023 thread, I think Fried is playing his last season for the Braves. Ditto for Charlie Morton. Fried is going to be too expensive to re-sign, Morton is going to be too old. I think the Braves hope that at least one of their top farm team pitchers can make the jump and fill the void. But, for this year, the Braves have the best starting staff in MLB. At least on paper, we'll see if they live up to the hype.

The bullpen is loaded. It may be the best bullpen in MLB.

It's reasonable to expect a little regression from their hitters. But face it, even with regression the Braves line-up is still one of the top 2-3 teams in baseball.

Kelenic is a wild card. Can he tap his full potential playing in a line-up where he no longer has the pressure to carry his team? I guess we are going to find out.

Think of this...the LAD committed over $1.2 BILLION dollars in the off-season to produce a line-up as good as the Braves. What does that say about the job AA has done?

As with all teams, injuries, or lack of, will play a huge part in the season. But as we like to say, next man up. They won the 2021 World Series without Acuna.

Will be fun to see it play out over the next 6 months.

 

[Duff]

Thanks for starting the new thread!

Should be a fun year!

Bravos should be a huge favorite to win the East again.

 

[James12]

Acuna showed up early to camp. Sounded positive.


I think he gets re-upped very soon.

 

[DannyW]

Acuna showed up early to camp. Sounded positive.


I think he gets re-upped very soon.

I like it when anybody shows up to spring training early. It did bother me a little bit that he played a few games of winter ball this off-season. Surprised the Braves let him.

 

[ugajay]

Looking forward to the season. I have a weird feeling that Riley is going to be mvp material this year. Hoping that fried lights it up this year on his way out to make a killing

 

[westcobbdog]

Praying we can work out a long term or heck even a 1 year deal with Max Fried.
Otherwise it's his last year here because someone will pay him big.

 

[ucfireman]

Hope Soroka (?) make a comeback, he struggled last year.
Acuna seems to be maturing, becoming a team player hope that continues.
Hope the Braves will put the ball in play and make the defense get the outs, instead of swinging for the fence and striking out.
Plus RUN TO FIRST BASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Hope Soroka (?) make a comeback, he struggled last year.
Acuna seems to be maturing, becoming a team player hope that continues.
Hope the Braves will put the ball in play and make the defense get the outs, instead of swinging for the fence and striking out.
Plus RUN TO FIRST BASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soroka is gone to Chicago.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Hope the Braves will put the ball in play and make the defense get the outs, instead of swinging for the fence and striking out.

Did we watch the same Braves last year?

Braves led the majors in homeruns and were ranked 25th out of 30 on team strikeouts.

Their offense was absolutely electric all year. Right up till the playoff series with Philly.

 

[Duff]

I mentioned in the 2023 thread that the bench seems to be very thin. No quality depth. I saw a interview with AA and he addressed that. He pretty much said, it was hard to find the right fit with those guys. Signing a guy that knows he is going to sit 95% of the time. It usually causes a riff in the clubhouse. He mentioned signing Nicky Lopez last year. He said, the Braves could have signed a more talented player, but none that he thought would fit the role the Braves needed.

AA takes a different approach when signing players outside of the team. He said, he would ask Braves players that had played with a potential signee or trade candidate on other teams, if they would fit in with the clubhouse.

 

[DannyW]

Did we watch the same Braves last year?

Braves led the majors in homeruns and were ranked 25th out of 30 on team strikeouts.

Their offense was absolutely electric all year. Right up till the playoff series with Philly.

You are correct. Homeruns went up and strikeouts went down. And the only player that I can recall having an extended slump was Sean Murphy. Michael Harris had a slow start and then lit it up from the first of June until season end.

And I agree with @ucfireman that Acuna appears to finally be maturing a little. He has somewhat toned down the showboating around the bases after a homerun, but still has a long way to go on bat flips.

After watching him for a few years, I can see that he is just so passionate about the game. But he needs to learn the difference between being passionate, and unnecessarily motivating the other team.

 

[BassRaider]

I thought Ozuna's days were numbered in early '23 but what a surprise he turned out to be!
40 HRs
100 RBI
.274 AVG
Hope he can duplicate this year?

 

[BassRaider]

BTW I can't stand when our relievers walk batters!!!!

 

[Raylander]

Highly unlikely Fried gets extended. If it doesn’t happen during spring training consider him gone. If things go down the tubes early, AA will trade him at the deadline

Acuna and Ozzie will get extended after this season

If this team can stay healthy, they will be VERY good

 

[ucfireman]

Soroka is gone to Chicago.

Did not know that

Did we watch the same Braves last year?

Braves led the majors in homeruns and were ranked 25th out of 30 on team strikeouts.

Their offense was absolutely electric all year. Right up till the playoff series with Philly.

Yes, they started the season hitting singles and doubles and moving runners over.
Then sometime during the season went back to nothing but homeruns.
All I'm saying is a HR gets you 1 run, a HR with a runner or two on base can be a game changer.
Hit the ball, run to 1st and then if a HR happens then great.
I just hate that they depend on the so heavily on the HR.

 

[ucfireman]

BTW I also do not like the DH.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

BTW I also do not like the DH.

I wasn't a fan either. I'm such a baseball purist that I hated the introduction of interleague play.
But now that the DH is here to stay, I embrace it. I would 10,000 to 1 rather watch Marcell Ozuna hitting moon shots into the parking lot than watching a bunch of pitchers striking out pathetically.

 

[Duff]

Highly unlikely Fried gets extended. If it doesn’t happen during spring training consider him gone. If things go down the tubes early, AA will trade him at the deadline

Acuna and Ozzie will get extended after this season

If this team can stay healthy, they will be VERY good

Not sure about that. Acuna’s contract will take him to age 31. Can’t see AA giving a 31 year old $40 million per year at probably 5-7 years. I could see him trading him at 29 and getting a war pension though.

 

[Duff]

But I’m not gonna argue either way ^^^

 

[ucfireman]

watching a bunch of pitchers striking out pathetically.

My thoughts are you should be able to do more than throw. And really throw more than just a 95+ fast ball.
Sure they were never great hitters but at least most would take a few swings.
Plus I don't like the way most don't field the ball, they seem to let the position players get the ground balls.
Hate that as much as hitters not running to 1st, they trot, too good to run. The fielder could misplay the ball, make a bad throw or any number of other things. But if your trotting then you'll probably be out anyway, but if you run there is the chance you could beat it out.