{"id":2571,"date":"2016-12-12T15:36:12","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T20:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=2571"},"modified":"2016-12-18T22:05:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T03:05:49","slug":"2017-atlanta-braves-are-the-braves-going-to-be-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2016\/12\/12\/2017-atlanta-braves-are-the-braves-going-to-be-good\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 Atlanta Braves: Are The Braves Going to be Good?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being an Atlanta Braves fan has been a struggle. Since John Hart<\/a><\/strong> took over on September 22, 2014<\/a>, Atlanta has traded away or released many fan favorites:\u00a0Jason Heyward<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Kris Medlen<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Justin Upton<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Evan Gattis<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Craig Kimbrel<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Melvin Upton Jr.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Andrelton Simmons<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Shelby Miller<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Jason Grilli<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>, Kelly Johnson<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>(twice), and Jeff Francoeur<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>,\u00a0just to name a few. Not many players from the 2013 wild card qualifying Braves are left on the roster. The Braves have also changed managers, base coaches, bullpen coaches, bench coaches, and general managers.\u00a0These changes have brought Atlanta a meager 135-188 record (a 42% winning percentage). In short, they have been garbage.<\/p>\n

2017 Atlanta Braves: Are The Braves Going to be Good?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

John Copolella<\/strong>, the Braves current GM has made it known<\/a> that Atlanta has been disappointing. Yet, during this same time period, he has pointed to the teams he has tried to emulate, and the down years those teams suffered through in order to reach perennial playoff contention.<\/p>\n

Coppy has done a good job of making his plan clear. Step 1, rebuild the farm system via trades, drafts, and international signing. Step 2, trade from an abundant prospect pool and acquire top tier, major league ready talent with long term team control. Step 3, develop the talented prospects into phenomenal major league talents. Step 4A, sign free agents that serve as reliable gap fillers until that minor league talent is ready to contribute for the big league club. Step 4B, trade or sign players that are big time major league contributors now. (See Matt Kemp<\/a><\/strong>, Sean Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong>, etc.).<\/p>\n

But Are the Atlanta Braves Actually Going to be Good this Season?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To answer this question, you must first establish what a good\/successful season for this upcoming seasons would actually be. If your expectations are for this year’s Atlanta team to win the World Series in 4 games, your view of success for this team is high. If your idea of a successful season is to win 70 games and finish above the Philadelphia Phillies<\/strong>, your expectations are most certainly low. If they are to be in the hunt for a wild card spot come October, you should be right on par.<\/p>\n

What does that entail? In 2016<\/a>, the New York Mets<\/strong> and San Francisco Giants<\/strong> won 87 games each to reach the NL Wild Card<\/strong>. 2015<\/a> saw the Pittsburgh Pirates<\/strong> and Chicago Cubs<\/strong> claim NL Wild Card spots with 98 and 97 wins, respectively.<\/p>\n

While these may be lofty goals from the outset, “In the Hunt” means having a chance at securing a Wild Card berth\u00a0around the beginning of September. Something Atlanta will have a chance at doing, if a few key players can replicate recent performances.<\/p>\n

What Has to Happen<\/strong><\/h4>\n

To be honest, a lot of components have to fall in place for this team to reach Wild Card contention this season. First, and most importantly, is the starting pitching has to get deeper into games. Copolella has already made it clear that the days of young guns vying for a spot in the starting five are done.<\/p>\n

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We don't. Opportunity time is over in 2017. You have to earn a rotation spot once we add free agents. https:\/\/t.co\/X5yN09A6hy<\/a><\/p>\n

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 13, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n