As much as I hope for a +.500 season, I really don’t expect it. As you guys said, we’re not very deep (position player wise at the moment) so when injuries occur we won’t be able to cover them. Regression could take a fair hit off the offense.
Pitching wise I do feel much better about the team. We should be markedly better than last year, and have many exciting prospects up soon. So all in all, I would bet on a 76-78 win season. Which is still 9-10 game improvement. It’s 2018 I feel will be really exciting.
I agree that 2018 will be better. Fried, Newcomb in the rotation. Folty should be even. better. Maybe Dustin Peterson and Austin Riley on the club, too.
Depth is extremely important and I don’t feel the bullpen depth is there enough for the Braves to win more than 80 games at the most. Pitching depth is also in question and you could also add offensive depth to the equation.
I feel we’re looking at 70 wins at the low end and 80 wins at the high end for this season. I’ve already stated that 2019 will be a winning season. 2018 will be 81 wins at the high end, as far as I’m concerned. I predict 72-90 for this season (with most wins coming in the first half of the season…I predict they will stick around until July).
Freddie Freeman is a solid player for the Braves…but nobody should expect anything more than a Billy Butler type of career from him. While he looks great today….I see him dropping in the ranks of the Braves’ best players in the next few years.
March 13th, 2017 at 6:21 am
As much as I hope for a +.500 season, I really don’t expect it. As you guys said, we’re not very deep (position player wise at the moment) so when injuries occur we won’t be able to cover them. Regression could take a fair hit off the offense.
Pitching wise I do feel much better about the team. We should be markedly better than last year, and have many exciting prospects up soon. So all in all, I would bet on a 76-78 win season. Which is still 9-10 game improvement. It’s 2018 I feel will be really exciting.
March 13th, 2017 at 1:11 pm
I agree that 2018 will be better. Fried, Newcomb in the rotation. Folty should be even. better. Maybe Dustin Peterson and Austin Riley on the club, too.
March 22nd, 2017 at 8:23 pm
Depth is extremely important and I don’t feel the bullpen depth is there enough for the Braves to win more than 80 games at the most. Pitching depth is also in question and you could also add offensive depth to the equation.
I feel we’re looking at 70 wins at the low end and 80 wins at the high end for this season. I’ve already stated that 2019 will be a winning season. 2018 will be 81 wins at the high end, as far as I’m concerned. I predict 72-90 for this season (with most wins coming in the first half of the season…I predict they will stick around until July).
Freddie Freeman is a solid player for the Braves…but nobody should expect anything more than a Billy Butler type of career from him. While he looks great today….I see him dropping in the ranks of the Braves’ best players in the next few years.
March 22nd, 2017 at 8:26 pm
I was meaning starting pitching depth is also in question for the Braves (in addition to bullpen depth).