Braves Winning WS Should End Tanking Philosophy

[M2]

I do not think tanking works in baseball if the goal is to get a high draft pick, but rebuilding can work if you have valuable pieces that can be moved from a team that is not close to contending. The direction the Reds are going, I think they should explore moving Winker, Castillo and Mahle if they can get real value in prospects in return. The Reds are not contending now, and unlikely to pay them as FA's....so what is the point in holding onto them?

They literally have been in contention each of the past two seasons. Now you want to blow it up for a plunge into another lost decade? Hard no.

[JFLegal]

Should also show what actually going for it in July should look like. The Reds could have gotten a couple pretty good outfielders for very very cheap.

this^^^

the braves when out and traded for four (4!) legit outfielders near the deadline. i don't think i've ever seen that before. duvall, soler, rosario and peterson.

[RedsManRick]

I do not think tanking works in baseball if the goal is to get a high draft pick, but rebuilding can work if you have valuable pieces that can be moved from a team that is not close to contending. The direction the Reds are going, I think they should explore moving Winker, Castillo and Mahle if they can get real value in prospects in return. The Reds are not contending now, and unlikely to pay them as FA's....so what is the point in holding onto them?

This 100%. Unlike the NBA or NFL, it's not about tanking for a top draft pick. Rather, it's about reallocating payroll and playing time to maximize the chances of developing the next core and having the financial flexibility to time trades/FA as soon as that core is ascending.

However, like other leagues, there's a growing appreciation of the downsides of stripping things down too far including degradation of culture (habits of mind, training, etc.) due to loss of focus & leadership and creating a negative reputation about the team's commitment to winning that makes it more difficult to acquire top talent when the time is right.

One thing that I think gets under-appreciated in this discussion is the degree to which there is uncertainty about player potential across the talent spectrum. Yes, cutting down can give you more shots at the players most likely to be the next absolute studs. But trying to stay competitive (in the right way) can also give you shots at that. We've seen a good number of "post-hype" players breakout fairly well into their careers: Castellanos, JD Martinez, Justin Turner, DJ Lemahieu, Brandon Woodruff, Nate Eovaldi, Kevin Gausman (still mad we let him go), Wade Miley, Charlie Morton, etc. While relying on those breakouts when you're going for it is not a strategy (looking at you Reds front office), there's more variance and thus more potential value in those types of players than the standard rebuild logic allows for. Furthermore, if a prospect or two hits early, it's nice to have a decent base already in place so you can hit the ground running with them rather than either wasting their cheapest years or scrambling to get competency everywhere else.

[klw]

FWIW the Reds did not have a great need for outfielders at the deadline. Winker was not yet hurt. RP was the need.

[traderumor]

The Braves did not employ a strategy, they hit a straight flush in five card draw after drawing three cards. Good for them, but not sure if there's a lesson there.

[Bob Sheed]

Only a salary cap and floor, or relegation will end tanking.

[RedTeamGo!]

Only a salary cap and floor, or relegation will end tanking.

Relegation will never happen. There needs to be a floor.

[M2]

The Braves did not employ a strategy, they hit a straight flush in five card draw after drawing three cards. Good for them, but not sure if there's a lesson there.

I think the main lesson is do something, maybe it will work.

[traderumor]

I think the main lesson is do something, maybe it will work.

doing nothing is doing something, hard to say when one is better than the other. The Braves reap the benefits of a low odds trifecta, so I guess we could say "I drew a deuce hitting on 19 because I wanted to do something!" by this reasoning. I'm probably just jealous because my teams never pull off such lucky breaks.

[M2]

doing nothing is doing something, hard to say when one is better than the other. The Braves reap the benefits of a low odds trifecta, so I guess we could say "I drew a deuce hitting on 19 because I wanted to do something!" by this reasoning. I'm probably just jealous because my teams never pull off such lucky breaks.

The Reds' needed to draw a Starling Marte.

[wlf WV]

You no longer get much return for trading established valued players, teams just don’t let their minor-league stars go as they did a few years ago. You free money and hope, and hope doesn’t win competition. It’s about who’s pays the money, with very rare outliers .

[Redsfan6272]

Reds plan to tank for the next 5 years.. Who cares what the fans want is thier motto!!