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| Braves lose....again. |
1. No individual game matters. If the Braves win tomorrow, they'll be 19-46. If they lose they'll be 18-47. Eight percentages points worth of suck one way or the other.
2. Almost none of their current players matter. Jeff Francoeur, AJ Pierzynski and Nick Markakis are just filler. The cavalry is coming but it's not here now.
3. The corollary to #2 -- the players who will lead this team to success are mostly elsewhere. Like on the farm -- or in someone else's farm.
4. It's much more important that the young players learn their craft than perform well now. If Matt Wisler and Aaron Blair are the future, they will have to improve.
5. The Braves are in the market to trade veterans for prospects. The young players on other teams should be of more interest to Braves fans than the veteran flotsam and jetsam on their own roster.
One would expect to hear less about the contributions of Erick Aybar, a 32-year-old shortstop, than about the progress made by Mallex Smith, a 23-year-old center fielder. Indeed, listeners should be salivating for news about the progress made by Minor Leaguer Dansby Swanson, the Braves' shortstop of the future, than about anything Aybar does for the team today.
Broadcasters Haven't Given Up
Alas, the broadcasters, though acknowledging their team's futility, are still struggling to accept the full reality. Last night it reached comic proportions with 25-year-old ace Julio Teheran on the mound. Teheran's record tells you everything you need to know about the performance of him and his team: he's the ace of the staff with a 2.93 ERA, 85 K and just 24 BB. And his record is 2-7.
Aside from openly rooting for a timely Atlanta hit or Teheran strikeout, broadcasters Jim Powell and Don Sutton delved into the prospect of a trade of Teheran. The discussion is mostly nonsense.Ain't Gonna Happen
The best player on the team isn't going anywhere. He's 25 and is signed through his age 29 season at a nice discount. What can Atlanta possibly get for the ace of their staff that would make them better in 2018, which is management's time horizon?
If they did decide to swap Teheran, it would have to be for an investment in the future. The announcers proposed that the Braves would only accept a "middle of the order bat, 25 or less and under team control" for their pitcher. Well sure, in the same way that I'm not selling my cat except for a winning Powerball jackpot ticket. That is, it ain't gonna happen. No trade partner is sufficiently stupid.
No, You're Not Getting Bryce Harper
Teheran has been worth 8-9 wins against replacement his first three full years -- about three a year. That's a good pitcher. But it's not what the announcers described -- Kris Bryant or Nolan Arenado, players worth 5-6 wins a season. No contender is going to trade one asset for another in order to acquire the lesser asset.
Any plausible Teheran deal would have to be present value for future value, the kind Atlanta pulled off in acquiring Swanson from Arizona for Shelby Miller. That can only mean Teheran for a boatload of prospects from the low Minors.
Hopecasting
So why are Powell and Sutton entertaining such silliness? Because Teheran is their guy. they like him. They have to see him in the clubhouse after the game. So while they feel compelled to discuss the possibility that he's shipped off, they bloat his value beyond objectivity. They are prayercasting and it's not serving their listeners.
Bottom line, it's the right discussion for the third inning of a meaningless mid-June tilt against the woebegone Reds. It's just a pretty silly conclusion. I'll be listening to see if the Braves announcers improve over the course of the lost season too.
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