Interesting, thanks SC. Not much we didn't already know. I think I've just accepted that we are losing Maitan. I did think it was interesting that Rosenthal didn't mention loss of draft picks in that last paragraph. I guess that's some sort of good news, all things considered.
This blows https://deadspin.com/report-braves-will-have-to-give-up-prospects-as-punish-1820494309 The closest blueprint that we have for how the Braves might be penalized is the result of the investigation into the Red Sox’s infractions two years ago, though Atlanta’s violations have previously been reported as “significantly bigger” than Boston’s. The Red Sox were blocked from signing international players for a year and watched five of their prospects become free agents. Those five prospects had signed for a collective $1.5 million—a fraction of what the Braves invested in Maitan alone. But Atlanta’s 2016 international signing class included a dozen other players (including catcher Abrahan Gutierrez, who signed for $3.5 million, and shortstop Yunior Severino, for $1.9 million), so depending on exactly what MLB found in its investigation, there’s no shortage of possible penalties here.
you really think they’ll take Maitan from the Braves? Eno Sarris: I don’t actually. I’m not sure I can really express why, but I just don’t see them making him a free agent. If there were other players bundled with Maitan, maybe they release those guys. Eno Sarris: We’ll see the allegations, but I’m not sure I’ve heard anything that hasn’t been done before, that teams haven’t been caught for before, and isn’t being done by other teams right now. So the precedent is there.
Latest rumor during the AFL game today from Dan O'Dowd was that the Braves would lose Maitan, Severino and Contreras. DOB also reporting that he believes that MLB will announce the penalties on Monday.
Atlanta Braves prospects show dominance in AFL We’ve noted how well Max Fried and Ronald Acuna had been doing out in the desert this Fall… but with all results now in: they took it to another entire level. The Arizona Fall League is an interesting short league. A lot of interesting prospects go there, and for various reasons: refine their craft, get challenged vs. better competition, get in some extra work, and more. The Atlanta Braves decided to take things up a notch this Fall. Ronald Acuna and Max Fried were two Braves’ members of a stacked delegation that played in Peoria for a squad also stacked with other significant talents. In short, they won… Acuna took MVP honors and the Peoria Javalinas took the AFL title in convincing fashion on Saturday. But it was the way in which Fried and Acuna performed that should excite us fans, for they did exactly what you’d want to see happen for players on the cusp of the majors. They Dominated. The Chief Offender Generating a lot of offense – and the other pronunciation/meaning: “offense” – was Acuna. The former use of the term… indicating baseball production at the bat… was clearly there from the numbers: .325/.414/.639/1.053 slash line Tied for 4th overall in hits (27) Tied for 14th in doubles (5) 1st in home runs (7) 2nd in OPS 2nd in slugging Tied for 5th in RBI (16) Tied for 4th in Walks (12) Acuna was 8th in overall AB’s (83), so a lot of these ‘accumulation’ numbers came from extra chances… but others still had more. The latter definition came as a result of this tweet… Now the general attitude of Braves fans reacting to this word on twitter could be summed up as “if you can back it up, it ain’t bragging.” Acuna did exactly what you would think a premium hitter should do against strong competition before hitting the majors. About Harper… For fun, I went back and checked Bryce Harper‘s results from the AFL. That happened in 2011. HARPER vs. ACUNA in the AFL CATEGORY HARPER (2011) ACUNA (2017) AB 93 83 HITS 31 27 WALKS 11 12 K 22 22 2B 6 5 3B 2 0 HR 6 7 SB/CS 4/1 2/1 AVG .333 .325 OBP .400 .414 SLG .634 .639 OPS 1.034 1.053 RUNS 17 22 RBI 26 16 It’s actually kind of eerie just how similar these numbers are. In a month, Acuna will turn 20 years old. Harper had actually been younger at that time – he had just turned 19 before his AFL stint. Oddly, Harper wasn’t quite as good as some of his peers then, but they included names like Gyorko, Myers, and Arenado. Similarly performing names this year included teammate Eric Filia (.408!, 1.088 OPS), Nicky Lopez (.383), and a couple of others with extraordinary batting averages over 22+ games. Austin Riley ended up at .300 with a robust 1.021 OPS; Alex Jackson faded to .263, but held his own. However, none of these players combined both the hitting prowess and the power that Acuna exhibited. So is there any reason for concern about Acuna going forward? After all, Bryce Harperalready has an MVP trophy of his own – the big one – from his age 22 season (2015). Two cautionary points to watch: Strikeouts. Though he matched Harper with 22 in the AFL, that’s a near-25% K rate. It was against very good pitching, but not major league stuff. At the same time, he was also taking his walks: that’s a very good thing. There’s always a Joey T around. Joey Terdoslavich was also in that Class of 2011… and slashed .321/.426/.457/.972 with 3 homers. 3B Mike Olt was there too – on Terdo’s team. He was 2nd in the league in OPS at 1.197 over 106 AB. That said, Acuna has a whole lotta tools to work with, and that raw talent will likely serve him well as he adjusts to the Next Level. How he responds to those challenges will be equally as important. Now the Pitch Spoiler You might have expected a pitcher who already has some major league experience to dominate on the mound in this league. But when he does – and then exceeds most expectations, then that can tell you something as well. Max Fried finished 6th in the league in ERA at 1.73. His WHIP was 4th overall at 0.88. These numbers were achieved over 26 innings on the mound. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but… 26 innings was 3rd-ranked overall (27.2 was #1) Of all those pitchers besting his ERA and WHIP, none had more than 23.2 innings, and most significantly fewer (like half in several cases). More importantly was his K/BB rate. 32 strikeouts (leading the league) and just 8 walks. Only a couple of pitchers bested that K/BB ratio. One was old friend Max Povse (25/6), but his WHIP was 1.32 and his ERA 4.56. The other was Kyle McGowin of the Nationals (27/0!), except that his WHIP was nearly double that of Fried at 1.50, along with an ERA close to 5. Fried baffled batters all along – giving up only 15 hits in those 26 innings… his pitching was just as overpowering as Acuna’s hitting was on the other side of the ball. If they gave out hardware for that role, he’d certainly have been the Cy Young award winner for this edition of the AFL. Think he wants to be in the rotation come Spring? You bet – I think Fried made a statement. The Arizona League is now over for 2017… and Braves’ prospects got a taste of “winning” in addition to these great performances. UPDATE: Just after this was posted, Baseball America posted their last “hot sheet” for the AFL. On it, Acuna was their #1 player with Fried #3. Just more confirmation of what we already knew.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/11/gammons-latest-cobb-machado-maitan-braves-swihart.html The Braves “expect to lose” prized prospect Kevin Maitan as part of MLB’s investigation into the team’s alleged violations of international and domestic amateur signing rules, Gammons hear from a source within the Atlanta organization. Interestingly, the feeling within the new Braves front office (now led by new GM Alex Anthopoulos) is that “Maitan was [not] worth the money or the hype,” so losing him wouldn’t be a major setback for the farm system. Maitan signed for a $4.25MM bonus at the opening of the 2016-17 July 2 international signing period, and he hit .241/.290/.340 in his first pro season, receiving 176 PA in rookie ball. Despite those unimpressive numbers, Maitan came into the season as a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball and is still just 17 years old — even if the new Braves decision-makers weren’t keen on Maitan, they’d still be losing a significant trade chip if the league did indeed void his contract with the team.
It is not uncommon after Maitan's first big league season. Keith Law says he isn't a top 100 prospect. Maitan is still very young, so who knows what the future holds. His first season was disappointing though.
MLB TO MEET WITH BRAVES PLAYERS ON TUESDAY November 20, 2017 By Ben Badler Major League Baseball has informed several Braves prospects that they will meet with them on Tuesday afternoon, according to multiple sources. The players will either meet with league officials in person in the Dominican Republic or be informed of what's happening by phone. MLB has been investigating the Braves' international signings, with the team expecting to lose multiple players they signed in recent years. While few specifics have come out regarding what rules MLB has determined the Braves violated and what sanctions the team will face, given that MLB has called a meeting with the players for tomorrow, those details should emerge soon
I had multiple screens open and posted in wrong one. From Clay Travis thread where we were making fun of Moxin for being cited in a Law Review for slut-shaming
Last regime seemed to have really liked Peterson and Demerritte. Seems The Greek likes them quite a bit less.
Agreed. Also neither of them hit for shit last season, which makes it more likely they’ll sneak through the Rule 5 unprotected.
Can’t imaging carrying Demeritte an entire season with his K rate. That dude would strike out like Gallo and hit like BP.
Let's just all be thankful that Maitan is fat and sucks and definitely won't end up on the Nats or the Mets hitting dingers against us for 15 years.
just texted my buddy about this here i was thinking unc would be the team of mine that gets hammered but instead its the fucking worst team i support that finds a way to get hammered
The whole, "we went to fake classes and majors for 15 years but it's not an NCAA problem". However a kid that transferred to NC State who actually took a real class got suspended.
Fuck all these sanctions about to be handed down. We still Acuna'in Atlanta Braves AFL Season Recap: Acuna, Fried, Riley Headline Stellar Crew Ronald Acuna took home AFL MVP honors, with Austin Riley providing another dominant fall for a Braves prospect. Max Fried was superhuman much of the season, and Alex Jackson played an important role as well The Acuna Fall League was a highlight show for the young star prospect Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports Ronald Acuna .325/.414/.639, 7 HR, 16 RBI, 22 K, 12 BB Every time I feel like Ronald Acuna has reached his limits, or that perhaps we’ve been hyping him up too much, he manages to exceed every expectation set for him. Ronald Acuna, at age 19 years and 336 days, won the Arizona Fall League MVP and became the youngest player to ever do so. Because of course he did. Let’s not pretend there aren’t still doubters, as reports popped up that he sometimes struggled with plate discipline and was often a bit over-eager to impress, but regardless he fought through any problems he had and was the best player in the Arizona Fall League. Acuna led the league in home runs and runs scored, although he was edged out for the league lead in OPS by his teammate. He didn’t run wild like he did during the regular season on the bases, but what he did do was show that he could be patient and work walks once pitchers decided he was the one player in the lineup they wanted to avoid. He crushed left-handed pitching, he crushed right-handed pitching, he crushed anything and everything thrown his way and capped off one of the best minor league seasons for a Bravesprospect in recent seasons. The 23 games in the AFL gave him 162 total played on the season, with 28 home runs, 208 hits, 98 RBI, 110 runs scored, 72 extra base hits, 44 stolen bases, and a .325/.379/.538 slash line. Wow. Max Fried 26 IP, 15 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 8 BB, 32 K, 1.73 ERA Max Fried stole the show for Peoria, finishing 3rd in the league in innings pitched, 6th in ERA, 1st in strikeouts, and 4th in WHIP. A 5 R/ 4 ER hiccup in his second-to-last outing aside, Fried was dominant in each of his outings and was a key piece to Peoria’s run to the championship. In addition to striking out batters Fried also kept the ball on the ground consistently. Taking a deeper look at some of the splits issues that plagued him in the regular season, and they simply weren’t there. He did strikeout slightly fewer right handed batters and had a higher walk rate, but kept the ball on the ground more often as well and neither right-handed hitters nor left-handed really had much of a chance. The 144 2⁄3 innings between the minor leagues, fall league, and Atlanta set his career high, and for him to ride his strong ending in 2017 into a dominant fall league performance despite that workload was a huge boost to the confidence meter going into next season. By all accounts his stuff matched the numbers, and the Braves patience in Fried seems to be trending towards paying off in massive dividends. Touki Toussaint 8.2 IP, 7 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 7 BB, 14 K Toussaint, fresh off a breakout performance in the regular season and a career high in innings pitched, was a bit of a surprise selection for me. Some of that wear and tear showed in the fall, and he showed a lot of inconsistency from game-to-game and didn’t get much playing time especially down the stretch. Unsurprisingly, when Toussaint struggled it revolved around his inability to locate. In the game he allowed 2 runs in showed in him leaving the ball up for 2 runs; in his other two games in which he allowed 5 runs and 3 runs and recorded just one out each he struggled to keep the ball in the zone and quickly imploded and had to be pulled. Still, despite those (mostly expected) growing pains there are mostly positive takeways for Toussaint. For the most part Touki controlled the ball well, and in his other 5 performances he didn’t allow a hit and only walked 2 batters in 7 innings. His strikeout rate was elite and outside of 3 home runs nobody really squared him up. Toussaint proved this fall that his stuff absolutely will play against top level competition, and if he continues to make the strides he did this season towards being a more consistent presence on the mound he should see a successful future with the Braves. Alex Jackson .263/.314/.513, 5 HR, 16 RBI, 23 K, 4 BB It was a tale of two halves for Alex Jackson this fall, as his blistering start to the fall faded down the stretch to an awful ending to the season. Before I even get started with the numbers, Jackson played a career-high 96 games and played 56 games at catcher in his first action behind the plate since high school. He then went to the fall league and played almost exclusively behind the plate in his 20 games. Jackson’s body was tired, and fatigue was likely more a factor for him than any other Braves prospect this fall. Overall, his numbers were outstanding. It would have been nice to see better numbers down the stretch, but an .826 OPS is fantastic and another step forward for the young catcher. Over his first 10 games Jackson was nearly impossible to slow down as he hit .341/.400/.780, but over his last 4 games he failed to draw any walks, his strikeout rate jumped, and he hit just .179/.220/.231. The fall was a microcosm of his entire season, but one that despite his cold streaks was a breakout for him that far exceeded any performance he had with the Mariners. Jackson struggled at times behind the plate both with receiving and throwing out baserunners, but there were reports that he still flashed the talent to play behind the plate and it will simply be a matter of waiting for him to mature before we know if he can stick. Austin Riley .300/.364/.657, 6 HR, 18 RBIs, 21 K, 4 BB Austin Riley had some trouble getting consistent playing time early in the fall league season, but wasted no time earning more playing time at third base and finished as one of the top bats in the league. Riley ranked second in the league in home runs and OPS, and first in slugging percentage as one of the leaders of the top offense (by a long way) in the league. Riley was a consistent presence and never faced a stretch of bad play. As well, reports raved on the progress of his defense which really puts him in a good position to make a splash for an organization who has still failed to find a suitable long term starter at the hot corner. If there is one complaint you could have for Riley, it’s that he did strike out a lot and didn’t draw many walks but with as hard as he hit the ball and as consistently as he made hard contact, his .348 BABIP doesn’t seem all that egregious. He’ll likely never hit .300 over the course of a full season, but if he can maintain a batting average around .260 then he really projects to be a solid starter at third base for the Braves. Spoiler Corbin Clouse 11 IP, 11 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 6 BB, 15 K, 7.36 ERA Corbin Clouse had a roller coaster ride for a fall league, as in every outing he either gave up multiple runs or shut down the opponent. Inconsistencies aside, Clouse was hard to square up and maintained an attractive strikeout rate, ground ball rate, and batting average against. In fact, his numbers outside of his ERA were nearly identical (see below). Clouse’s struggles were the same they’ve been all season-when he keeps the ball in the zone he is a dominant arm, but when his control wavers he gives up hits and he walks batters and can quickly see his day unravel. Clouse’s best performance of the season came in his first game when he pitched 2 innings and didn’t allow a run with 3 strikeouts. Regular Season vs AFL for Corbin Clouse ERA- 2.53 to 7.36 K/9- 11.4 to 12.3 BB/9- 5.4 to 4.9 BAA- .239 to .244 HR/9- 0.3 to 0.8 GO/AO- 1.11 to 1.11 Josh Graham 10.1 IP, 16 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, 6.97 ERA Josh Graham played 9 games in the Arizona Fall League, and was strong outside of two implosions during the season that drastically altered his numbers. In those two aforementioned performances Graham allowed 7 earned runs and walked 2 batters he in 2 1⁄3 innings. In the other 8 innings, Graham didn’t allow any walks and struck out 10 batters with one earned run allowed. Even outside of the 6 hits he allowed in those 2 games Graham struggled to work clean innings with a .356 BAA against overall and a horrific .455 BAA against right handed batters. This is not abnormal for Graham, as his best offspeed is a changeup and he does typically post reverse splits. Graham blew past his career high in innings pitched, so much of his struggles can be contributed to fatigue. He had much more consistent trouble keeping the ball down and avoiding fly balls, something he has done well and the past and would point to fatigue-related command issues. Jared James .250/.351/.375, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 9 K, 8 BB Jared James was a quiet and consistent outfielder for Peoria, and though he didn’t have great numbers overall he always seemed to be on base. His strikeout to walk ratio was among the best in the fall league, and although he didn’t show much power he did enough to keep a reasonably good OPS. It’s clear that James’ offensive limitations with regards to power are going to prevent him from filling a starters role, but his showing that he can put up solid numbers against good competition is a nice step towards him earning a bench role down the road for the Braves. As long as he continues to make consistent contact he should be able to carve out a role in the major leagues even if it isn’t a major one.
We will lose all of them. Contreras and Pache will sting deeply. Maitan is fat and won’t amount to anything. I will make myself believe that.