May 4th 2018, 4:36:29
I wouldn’t be too excited about what happened today (knocking around Jason Vargas, who should have retired a couple years ago. We are probably still a year or two out for your Braves, but that said, you sure do have some exciting prospects. Acuña probably could have been called up early last season, but they waited til this season to secure club control through 2024. I think multiple pubs (Baseball Prospectus, which I follow closely), Baseball America, and ESPN had him as the number one prospect this year. Even last year, he was in the top 30 or so, before he crushed the minors, Grapefruit leagues, etc. A couple others had him only behind Shohei Ohtani, which, quite frankly, there is less of a sample set for, since the comparison between minors and Japanese leagues isn’t apples to apples. I think the Vegas over/under on projected wins was in the low 70s (78 now, as per Fangraphs). I would expect that some of your hitters will regress (Suzuki, Flaherty, and Markakis have exceeded their ZIPS and STEAMER projections), but Acuña, Albies, and Swanson are all on the up and up, and Freeman is a stud—they will be a solid core going forward. Have some patience on Folty—he had bone chips a couple of years ago, so I’m sure they are trying to be careful. Someone that throws that kind of heat shouldn’t go that deep into games a couple years after being so fragile. Here’s to you guys reviving the 1990’s rivalry with my team (the Yankees…). For all of you haters out there, I’m also a lifelong Knicks fan….