Nemesis21's Four Big Failures by Hart & Coppy this Winter....

[Nemesis21]

Let's take a look back to the offseason and see some things that I wanted the team to do, and some of you also wanted done. The playoffs are out of sight on this current season. So here's looking back on the 4 big failure's by the Front Office IMO.

1) Not trading for Chris Sale

We don't really know how involved the Braves were for Sale's services. I made it loud and clear that I wanted to trade for him. The Braves had the prospects to get him. We had a ton of pitching at the time, and still do after this year's draft. To get Sale, it would have cost us Albies, 1 of Allard, Newcomb, Anderson + others. I personally would have held on to Allard and sent one of Newcomb/Anderson(Newcomb at the time was our 5th ranked prospect, Anderson was ranked 4th). This deal also would have been done, before we saw the emergence of Acuna this season thru the Minors, so we likely could have held on to him in a trade for Sale. The Braves drafted Kyle Wright in this year's draft, and he's already rated higher than both Newcomb and Anderson. So really no loss there in trading one of them.

I believe a deal like Albies, Newcomb/Anderson, Wisler/Blair/Touki, Sims and Ruiz for Sale and Dan Jennings, could have got it done. In that deal they would have got 3 of our top 10 prospects( the rankings that they were at the time). Albies our #1 prospect, both Newcomb/Anderson were top 5 prospects at the time and Wisler/Blair/Touki were in the top 10.

The Red Sox ended up trading for Sale, sending the White Sox two of their top 3 prospects in Mocanda and Kopech, they're number 15 prospect Basabe and a non top 30 prospect, Diaz.

The Braves definitely could have got this done, without killing the farm system. And seeing what they did with international signings and the draft this past June, the Braves would still have a top farm system, even if they had went and got Sale.


Just as they were at the trade deadline this year, the Braves will be looking for a contract controlled starter or two, this winter. I think they missed a big opportunity with Sale.



2) Hiring Brian Snitker as Manager over Bud Black

It was down to these two in the race for the managerial job. I also made it loud and clear that I wanted Bud Black, some of you also wanted him. Well he currently has the Rockies at 65 wins(12 more than the Braves) and tied for the lead in the Wild Card race in the NL.

Some of you here on this forum, don't wish to see Snit manage next season and so do a bunch of Braves fans, even posting about it on Social Media.
This is what I was afraid of with hiring Snit, possibly hiring a new Manager after 1-2 years with Snit.





3) Letting Roger McDowell go

It is not known if Bud Black was hired, if he would have wanted his own pitching coach. But I think he wouldn't have had an issue keeping Roger on.






4) Wasting all that money on Bartolo Colon.

Had the Braves traded for Sale(acquired by Red Sox on December 6th 2016), the Braves wouldn't have need to shell out all that money for Colon. We would have been looking at a rotation of for 2017,

Sale
Teheran
Garcia (acquired by Braves on Dec 1st 2016)
Folty
Dickey


That's a hell of a lot better than the rotation we had the first half of this season,

Teheran
Garcia
Colon
Dickey
Folty



Seeing the progression of Folty this season, has been awesome. Folty has arguably been our best pitcher this season. Looking back, I wish the Braves traded for Chris Sale. He and Folty would have been a hell of a 1-2 punch for a few years, at the top of our rotation.

[ATL Boy]

Agree on 2-4, I wanted Black but didn't mind the Snitker retention after the strong finish to last season, firing McDowell was completely stupid from the get-go, but I understand why they opted to sign Colon. Coppy wanted innings eaters for this year and that's just what the Bartolo Colon mission statement was over the winter, nobody foresaw him being so awful.

I don't think your proposed package for Chris Sale matched what Boston gave however. Past Albies and Newcomb/Anderson it's just a lot of quantity. Don't forget that Moncada and Kopech were not only 2 of Boston's top 3 prospects, but also two top 20 prospects in all of baseball, one of whom was the top overall prospect and the other is someone who can regular throw 105 mph.

Hindsight once again being 20/20, I do wish we had thrown the kitchen sink at the White Sox for Sale seeing how dominant he's been this year. But at the time I don't think anyone expected Sale to be putting up such historic numbers, no matter how good he's been in years past. At the time of the trade I was fine with the Braves staying out of it after seeing how much Boston had to give up.