Ton's of $$$ in the game. $ 11 billion plus. Historically teams have spend 50% of revenue on the on field product. Which would mean average payroll should be $ 183 million per team. We are $ 50 million below historical norms and the fans are paying the price for Tony Clark being bad at his job. Braves have revenue of $ 442 million and are using that $$ to fund real estate dev. Payroll of $ 110 million for the Braves is an embarrassment. Braves if they cared about winning a WS have the resources to put together a championship contender. The focus for the Braves is utilizing baseball money for real estate dev. #fireAA.
https://sports.yahoo.com/brave...ren-t-160548142.html
https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019...eir-fans-are-idiots/
More than half the Braves roster is made up of young guys still playing under the rookie contract. That gives them flexibility when the young guys need to get paid and if they're still in the hunt come July, to trade for a pitcher with a big price tag. Keuchel and Kimbrel are still out there as well.
This is the same team that made the playoffs last year with a bunch of rookies. They're in pretty good shape now and moving forward. If they can get back to the playoffs with only spending 110, why would they not do it? Spending more money ≠ a championship.
One of the articles mentions starting pitching as a priority. There weren't many good options this offseason. Corbin was the best option. Next year there is Cole, Bumgarner, Wheeler, Porcello, and possibly Strasburg. And if Donaldson doesn't prove himself, that is an extra 23 million freed up. A good case can be made that the Braves have one of the better situations in baseball. Far from embarrassing.
They aren't in a bad spot but the phillies improved big time and the nats also didn't get worse despite losing Harper.
They are young but the phillies have probably overtaken them and the Nats probably will bounce back too.
Not saying they should have paid 300m for machado but they shouldn't have let the phillies pass them without a fight and a good reliever would have helped with that. Projections of fangraphs see the braves as a 4th place team after winning last year.
They definitely could've made some moves this offseason. I think they know they have a good young core and don't want to give out any long term deals. But I still would've went hard after Realmuto.
There wasn't much of a pitching market this offseason. Corbin wasn't going to save that rotation. There just weren't enough options. I don't there there were enough FA starters that would've made that rotation significantly better.
As far as the Phillies and Nats. Not a great situation, but you also have to think of the long term plan, not just spend recklessly for unproven players or overpay Harper. Without sounding too much like a Braves employee I think they make some moves the next two years and the young guys step up and round out the lineup. A lot of FA in the next 3 years.
