The 2017 Braves of the White-Flight Cobb County Outskirts of Atlanta

barves are being super-aggressive promoting their prospects and it seems to be working?

yesterday they promoted 19yo ronald acuna to triple-a; he homered in his second at bat. he's hit .317.366/.516 across three levels this year, the lowest of which he is four years younger than average

19yo pitchers mike soroka (and to a slightly lesser extent) kolby allard are doing *really* well in double-a

if dansbae stops sucking they're gonna really have something

.500!

weird

https://www.talkingchop.com/2017/7/17/15986998/benching-dansby-swanson-is-a-mistake-atlanta-braves-sigh

p sure the Mets will take him

Dansby demoted!

Eagerly awaiting "Dansby to play his swansong" headlines in the future

albies (and sims) up!

poor dansby

Straight into the frying pan for Sims.

albies will be the first mlb player born in 1997

ffs

wait...matt adams has been playing in LF again? i always thought he seemed like a nice guy, what did he do to deserve this? freddie freeman is arguably the better option at 1B though

.500!

― Cannibal Adderley (WilliamC), Sunday, July 16, 2017 5:58 PM (three weeks ago)

lol

This might be the smallest crowd Gohara has ever pitched in front of. And it's his MLB debut. #Braves #Rangers pic.twitter.com/fFqBVBr8Wl

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) September 6, 2017

Resignation of Coppolella believed to stem in part from issues with #Braves’ talent acquisition in Latin America.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 2, 2017

further...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/10/mlb-investigating-braves-kevin-maitan-signing.html

wtf, Coppy, it's MLB not NCAA

Illicit activity in the international market is rampant enough in baseball that contract agreements with players as young as 15, technically illegal, are accepted as industry standard and signed when the player is 16. Bundling of bonuses and bringing players to the U.S. to work out before signing are considered egregious enough for the league to crack down with sanctions . . .

Agents across the game said Coppolella is particularly aggressive in trying to cut pre-draft deals with amateur players, a practice in which other teams engage but is frowned upon and, taken in concert with other violations, could deepen the team’s penalties. (passan)

lol 'accepted as industry standard'

idk it kind of sounds like coppolella pushed the envelope but that his main problem was being an asshole whom no one liked

yeah, guy sent 2000-word texts

who knew the two front offices that made acquiring Matt Kemp a priority would be the most fucked up

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) October 3, 2017

At least one or two other team officials were believed to be in the crosshairs of the investigation. It’s unclear if more heads will roll either before or after MLB announces its findings and levies penalties that could include a heavy fine for the Braves, potential loss of players if rules were broken in their acquisition by the team and major restrictions on dealings in the international free-agent market, where the worst of the Braves’ alleged offenses occurred.

Meanwhile, word spread around the Braves’ offices soon after Coppolella’s forced resignation that he has hired a lawyer (or lawyers) and that lawsuits might be forthcoming. That’s surely caused plenty of sweating in certain departments with the Braves, as some fear that Coppolella might bring down others while attempting to show he, or he and Blakeley, didn’t act alone.

Underscoring that concern was a weekend report by the Macon Telegraph’s Bill Shanks, who wrote that he was told Coppolella was offered severance pay by the Braves. If true, that would seem a highly unusual step taken by a company with an employee forced to resign due to allegations of wrongdoing – even if, as president of baseball operations John Hart said in announcing Coppolella’s resignation, the offenses strictly involved MLB rules and not a criminal matter.

http://atlantabraves.blog.ajc.com/2017/10/16/plot-thickens-in-braves-scandal-investigation-nearing-end/

https://deadspin.com/cobb-county-proposes-cutting-libraries-after-dumb-decis-1822781704