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a number of yrs ago the braves went into a rebuild that lasted for a few yrs...they decided to keep freeman and basically jettisoned everyone else and built a team with trades and from within..the sad truth is rebuilds do not always work but winning 75-80 games season after season isnt appealing...keep adding high upside youngsters and if someone emerges as a guy worthy of extending do it...

jbrach wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 17:40 pm a number of yrs ago the braves went into a rebuild that lasted for a few yrs...they decided to keep freeman and basically jettisoned everyone else and built a team with trades and from within..the sad truth is rebuilds do not always work but winning 75-80 games season after season isnt appealing...keep adding high upside youngsters and if someone emerges as a guy worthy of extending do it...

I can get behind what they're doing now. These last few years have been miserable. Time to change what you are doing.

The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

Whatashame wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:13 pm The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

And what do those players have in common? They were both international free agents. The Cardinals suck badly that last few years in signing international amateurs. The only one on our roster is Herrera. There is an abundance of players coming out of the interanational realm and we seem to be way behind everyone in this aspect. Hopefully Bloom notices this too and does something about it. We recently signed I believe the #8 international prospect. When have we ever signed a highly rated amateur almost never.

Whatashame wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:13 pm The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

Michael Harris wasn't a bad 8 year get either.

brock118 wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:22 pm

Whatashame wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:13 pm The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

And what do those players have in common? They were both international free agents. The Cardinals suck badly that last few years in signing international amateurs. The only one on our roster is Herrera. There is an abundance of players coming out of the interanational realm and we seem to be way behind everyone in this aspect. Hopefully Bloom notices this too and does something about it. We recently signed I believe the #8 international prospect. When have we ever signed a highly rated amateur almost never.

I don’t disagree at all. Our approach to the international market, however you want to look at it, just hasn’t produced much for the dollars that we have spent. I hope Bloom can find us our Acuna. A generational player like that changes everything.

jbrach wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 17:40 pm a number of yrs ago the braves went into a rebuild that lasted for a few yrs...they decided to keep freeman and basically jettisoned everyone else and built a team with trades and from within..the sad truth is rebuilds do not always work but winning 75-80 games season after season isnt appealing...keep adding high upside youngsters and if someone emerges as a guy worthy of extending do it...

$220m payroll. Exactly. That’s the big difference.

jbrach wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 17:40 pm a number of yrs ago the braves went into a rebuild that lasted for a few yrs...they decided to keep freeman and basically jettisoned everyone else and built a team with trades and from within..the sad truth is rebuilds do not always work but winning 75-80 games season after season isnt appealing...keep adding high upside youngsters and if someone emerges as a guy worthy of extending do it...

The key is recognizing that player

And there's a difference between a player that is a) generational on a team vs b) generational for the game

My feeling is that there have been plenty of ridiculous contracts given out to players who are neither

I use the Red Sox as an example. If they had extended Betts (who fits into category b), they could have let both Bogaerts and Devers go without losing any sleep.

The key is recognizing that player, and it's usually exactly one player

I might define "generational" as a once in 25 years type of player.

Players like Pujols, Judge, Trout, Betts... these players are generational for the entire sport.

Players in the Freeman category are right there also, surely once in a generation at least from the standpoint of your own franchise. You're lucky to get this player come through your system once every 25 years.

So I'd say when you have a player like that, you lock him down first. After that, if you want to hand out big contracts to other players consider that a luxury.... players like Bichette, Bregman, Alonso... let's throw Tucker in there too... I wouldn't call these generational players yet they may receive generational type of money. Understand that you don't build a winner based on signing one of these... although you can do it as a complimentary effort...

If the Cardinals discover they have something generational in Wetherholt then they should look to extend him pretty quick. I suppose he's the best chance of anything we have in our organization of fitting that bill, doesn't mean he will be but be prepared.

Yep.

After winning 94 and 96 games in 2012-2013, the Braves won 79, 67, 68, and 72 games from 2014-2017 (was their version of CT having a meltdown for four years because their payroll dropped to 19th, 22nd, and 29th during three of those years?!?).

Then they won 90 in 2018, 97 in 2019, and on from there (inc. a WS win in 2021).

zuck698 wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:27 pm

Whatashame wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:13 pm The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

Michael Harris wasn't a bad 8 year get either.

under .700 ops last year - I was going to list him as one of their ugly extensions

Youboughtit wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:42 pm

jbrach wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 17:40 pm a number of yrs ago the braves went into a rebuild that lasted for a few yrs...they decided to keep freeman and basically jettisoned everyone else and built a team with trades and from within..the sad truth is rebuilds do not always work but winning 75-80 games season after season isnt appealing...keep adding high upside youngsters and if someone emerges as a guy worthy of extending do it...

$220m payroll. Exactly. That’s the big difference.

Winning like the elite organizations do requires cooking with multiple ingredients. Large increases to payroll is one of the final steps in the recipe. Got it?

jbrach wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 17:40 pm a number of yrs ago the braves went into a rebuild that lasted for a few yrs...they decided to keep freeman and basically jettisoned everyone else and built a team with trades and from within..the sad truth is rebuilds do not always work but winning 75-80 games season after season isnt appealing...keep adding high upside youngsters and if someone emerges as a guy worthy of extending do it...

Why? What have they won?

Whatashame wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:13 pm The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

Albies is from Curacao. That money probably makes him the richest man on the island.

Acuna signed after his rookie season. He is great when healthy but has only played a full season twice in seven years since signing the deal.

Youboughtit wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:42 pm

jbrach wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 17:40 pm a number of yrs ago the braves went into a rebuild that lasted for a few yrs...they decided to keep freeman and basically jettisoned everyone else and built a team with trades and from within..the sad truth is rebuilds do not always work but winning 75-80 games season after season isnt appealing...keep adding high upside youngsters and if someone emerges as a guy worthy of extending do it...

$220m payroll. Exactly. That’s the big difference.

Are you still yelling at clouds?

dugoutrex wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 20:15 pm

zuck698 wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:27 pm

Whatashame wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:13 pm The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

Michael Harris wasn't a bad 8 year get either.

under .700 ops last year - I was going to list him as one of their ugly extensions

Down year. 758 ops career. Heck, that would have looked great on the Cards last year.

ScotchMIrish wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 21:20 pm

Whatashame wrote: ↑26 Nov 2025 18:13 pm The thing that helped the Braves immensely is the fact that they found two talents in Acuna and Albies, then got them to sign ridiculously low extensions. Without looking it up I believe that Acuna signed an extension around 8/96 and Albies signed something around a 7/35 deal. Those deals allowed them to pursue other deals while those two all stars were making way below market value.

Albies is from Curacao. That money probably makes him the richest man on the island.

Acuna signed after his rookie season. He is great when healthy but has only played a full season twice in seven years since signing the deal.

I remember reading an interview with Albies and he was questioned about taking such a team friendly deal. He was asked about taking a deal that made him so underpaid. Albies said pretty much that he came from absolutely nothing. Grew up with nothing. That signing a contract that would pay him 35 million dollars to play baseball might seem like a small amount but it seemed like a fortune to him. He could finally take care of his family and at the time he had no regrets.