Bleacher Bums Forum

Don't the Braves already have multiple pricey long-term commitments?  Maybe they're not financially ready/able to add another one.

Plus they have a young stud in Vaughn Grissom who mostly played SS in the minors and looked great at the plate as a rookie.

If they don't get a shortstop, I don't want them to acquire a second baseman.  Put the money in the rotation and at DH/1B/3B.  Play Morel at 2B.

I agree.  I could easily live with a Hoerner/Morel keystone combo with Rodon on the starting staff.  Morel may well add more offense to the team than Swanson does, and I would like to see him settle in at one position to try to excel at it.  I think this supersub stuff is highly overrated.  There are very few Zobrists out there, and very few teams that really need one.

Im in favor of signing Swanson and think we ultimately will but I also believe the contract will end up bad.

Morel hit .194 with a .645 OPS in the second half and ranked 58th out of 82 in OAA for 2B with at least 50 chances last season.  Penciling him in as the everyday 2B is not a move you make if you're remotely serious about trying to compete.

It is if you believe that the talent he showed in the first half of the season can be brought out in future seasons.  Regardless of the individual half, Morel had a very good rookie season.  It is not at all unusual for a 22 year old kid with talent to struggle in his first year.  I'm glad that the Cubs didn't discard Maddux after he performed poorly his first year.

Morel hit .194 with a .645 OPS in the second half and ranked 58th out of 82 in OAA for 2B with at least 50 chances last season.  Penciling him in as the everyday 2B is not a move you make if you're remotely serious about trying to compete.

Swanson had a .702 OPS in the second half. 


Hoyer at the start of the off season talked about good teams blowing out other teams.  If you bring in Swanson you are looking at a team that is going to try and win 1 run low score games. The error bar on that type of team is huge. The easy answer is we’ll just get the offense at 1B/3B/DH.  Look at Fangraphs and see how many guys had an OPS above .800 and who is available in the next few years.  It isn’t a long list.

Correra or bust.  You then have to continue to add studs the next couple years in free agency or the Cubs are going to have to be really amazing at drafting in the middle/late first round to get those studs.

The easy answer is we’ll just get the offense at 1B/3B/DH.

This is doable, but it's much harder if you've spent $25 on a less-than-offensively-elite shortstop.

Swanson had a .702 OPS in the second half. 


Hoyer at the start of the off season talked about good teams blowing out other teams.  If you bring in Swanson you are looking at a team that is going to try and win 1 run low score games. The error bar on that type of team is huge. The easy answer is we’ll just get the offense at 1B/3B/DH.  Look at Fangraphs and see how many guys had an OPS above .800 and who is available in the next few years.  It isn’t a long list.

Correra or bust.  You then have to continue to add studs the next couple years in free agency or the Cubs are going to have to be really amazing at drafting in the middle/late first round to get those studs.

So a 60 points higher OPS while playing statistically the best defense in the NL at SS is equivalent to a .645 OPS playing among the worst at 2B.  Got it.