I'm not a firm believer in taking a previous year, adding and subtracting players, and coming up with a win total. Baseball can be somewhat hard to predict because there's more to a team than just a bunch of stats. It's true that last year's team was all about strikeouts and not producing runs but honestly if you look at the two teams that made it to the World Series, I can't say that their respective teams were all that much better than the Braves. I think the Braves simply way underperformed. Look at the Royals. Their big home run hitter was Alex Gordan and the team only hit 95 home runs. They may have scored 651 runs but in any other season but last year, it would be considered terrible. Even their OBP was .314. That's horrible. So why can't the Braves compete? If the Royals could make it with that kind of offense, which was anemic, then the Braves could do the same thing. All it takes is some motivation and sticking to the fundamentals. I think this team can do it. It's younger and more vibrant and they have a bunch of guys who can come up from the minors and make a difference.
Romane - 9 years ago
Last years team had a losing record & a feeble offense, so getting rid of the players we did doesn't seem so bad to me. We know we didn't win with them so why not try some others. Chances are the offense will be better than last year regardless of who plays (just law of average). Only real question marks are left field & catcher as we couldn't do worse than last year in center field & second base. Look for Chris J to bounce back as well as Freeman & Simmons. Starting pitching about the same & improved bullpen. Bench will also be better. I say 80-85 wins & maybe a playoff too.
David R - 9 years ago
.400 baseball sounds about right to me. Fredi has the best job in baseball - 0 expectations.
Floyd Dembo - 9 years ago
The Braves are doing everything they can to reduce its fan base. I have already given up on them. I've been a fan for over 65 years. Can't figure out what they want.
I'm not a firm believer in taking a previous year, adding and subtracting players, and coming up with a win total. Baseball can be somewhat hard to predict because there's more to a team than just a bunch of stats. It's true that last year's team was all about strikeouts and not producing runs but honestly if you look at the two teams that made it to the World Series, I can't say that their respective teams were all that much better than the Braves. I think the Braves simply way underperformed. Look at the Royals. Their big home run hitter was Alex Gordan and the team only hit 95 home runs. They may have scored 651 runs but in any other season but last year, it would be considered terrible. Even their OBP was .314. That's horrible. So why can't the Braves compete? If the Royals could make it with that kind of offense, which was anemic, then the Braves could do the same thing. All it takes is some motivation and sticking to the fundamentals. I think this team can do it. It's younger and more vibrant and they have a bunch of guys who can come up from the minors and make a difference.
Last years team had a losing record & a feeble offense, so getting rid of the players we did doesn't seem so bad to me. We know we didn't win with them so why not try some others. Chances are the offense will be better than last year regardless of who plays (just law of average). Only real question marks are left field & catcher as we couldn't do worse than last year in center field & second base. Look for Chris J to bounce back as well as Freeman & Simmons. Starting pitching about the same & improved bullpen. Bench will also be better. I say 80-85 wins & maybe a playoff too.
.400 baseball sounds about right to me. Fredi has the best job in baseball - 0 expectations.
The Braves are doing everything they can to reduce its fan base. I have already given up on them. I've been a fan for over 65 years. Can't figure out what they want.