Kris Willis / TalkingChop 3 hours ago 
Monday open thread
Manager of the Year announcement coming up on Tuesday. Ronald Acuna Jr took home the Rookie of the Year Award on Monday, will Brian Snitker make the Braves 2-for-2 on Tuesday? The NL and AL Manager of the Year Awards will be announced Tuesday night at 6 p.m. on the MLB Network. Snitker is a finalist along with Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell and Colorado’s Bud Black. Who will win? Who should win and why?
TalkingChop 9 hours ago
Braves News: Acuña Jr. named NL Rookie of the Year
The Braves phenom capped off an incredible season by winning the prestigious Rookie of the Year Award. BRAVES NEWS Ronald Acuña Jr. wins NL Rookie of the Year award An incredible season from Ronald Acuña Jr. helped propel the Braves into the playoffs, and that playoff berth helped cement the young outfielder as the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year. Acuña finished ahead of Juan Soto of the Nationals by a wide margin, capturing 27 of 30 first-place votes. Comparing Ronald Acuña Jr. to other young stars historically When a player wins the Rookie of the Year award for either league...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop 21 hours ago 
Ronald Acuña Jr. wins NL Rookie of the Year award
Rookie of the Year Award caps off magnificent season for Acuña. The votes are in, the announcement has been made and Ronald Acuña Jr. is the 2018 Rookie of the Year in the National League. Nationals’ outfielder Juan Soto and Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler were also finalists. The Braves’ delayed Acuña’s arrival until the end of April and he overcame a month-long stint on the disabled list due to a knee injury but put up an incredible second half to help lead Atlanta to the NL East title. Acuna received 27 of the 30 first-place votes. Soto got two first-place votes and 26...
TalkingChop Nov 12, 2018
Looking back on Alex Anthopoulos’s first year as Braves GM
Let’s take a look back on Anthopoulos’s first season running the Braves. The Braves hired Alex Anthopoulos one year ago today. Time flies when the team goes from 72-90 and in the midst of an international spending scandal to 90-72 and National League East champions. To be fair, Anthopoulos does not deserve all the credit for the Braves’ sudden turnaround. Ronald Acuña, Ozzie Albies and Johan Camargo were signed by Frank Wren’s front office. Mike Foltynewicz, Ender Inciarte, Sean Newcomb and Dansby Swanson were acquired during John Coppolella’s tenure. Anthopoulos said from the...
TalkingChop Nov 12, 2018
Debating the great rookie campaigns of Ronald Acuna Jr. and Juan Soto
One of Ronald Acuna Jr. or Juan Soto will win rookie of the year this evening. Which young phenom had the better year? Lets get a few things out of the way. First, Walker Buehler had a legitimately great rookie campaign and I don’t want to discount that. In posting a 2.62 ERA and 3.04 FIP while striking out 9.9 batters per nine on his way to a 3.3 fWAR season, Buehler established himself as one of the better young pitchers in the entire league last season. In almost any other year, he would likely run away with the NL Rookie of the Year title. Big kudos to him. Second, this article is...
TalkingChop Nov 12, 2018
Comparing Ronald Acuña Jr. to other young stars historically
Taking a closer look at how other stars fared in their age 20 season in relation to Ronald Acuña Jr.’s success in 2018. It should surprise no one that Ronald Acuña Jr. is about to be named the National League Rookie of the Year for 2018. The numbers he put up and impact he had on the Braves winning the division even beyond the box score are the kinds of measureables that tend to bring hardware with them at season’s end. So while it’s not a question about Acuña having the best numbers among NL rookies this year, the question is how his numbers stack up to other great players that...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Nov 12, 2018 
Braves News: Rookie of the Year announcement on Monday
Ronald Acuña is one of three finalists for the NL award. Atlanta Braves News AFL Recap: Izzy Wilson homers twice Braves outfield prospect Izzy Wilson got off to a bit of a slow start in the Arizona Fall League but he appears to be finishing strong. Wilson showed off his power this week going 3-for-8 with a double and two home runs. Talking Chop Podcast: Episode 141: GM Meetings, news roundup and more with Eric Cole Brad is joined by TC’s Eric Cole to discuss the GM meetings, the latest news, awards and the hot stove. Rookie of the Year announcement coming up on Monday Awards week gets...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Nov 11, 2018 
Sunday open thread
Awards week is coming up and Ronald Acuña Jr. and Brian Snitker are finalists for the Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards respectively. The winners of the Cy Young and the Most Valuable Player awards will also be announced. For tonight’s open thread, lets discuss who will win, who should win and why.
TalkingChop Nov 11, 2018
Talking Chop Podcast Episode 141: GM Meetings, news roundup and more
TC’s Eric Cole joins us. Happy Sunday, folks. The hot stove is still (relatively) quiet but, as mid-November approaches, things will be warming in the near future and the Talking Chop Podcast is back to chronicle what has been transpiring. Episode 141 features a visit from TC’s Eric Cole and topics include the following: The GM meetings are over and we check in on what Alex Anthopoulos had to say on the record Anthopoulos on keeping the infield in tact and if there is any wiggle room to those comments Reports of an offer in existence for Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto and how to take...
TalkingChop Nov 11, 2018
Atlanta Braves Arizona Fall League Recap: Izzy Wilson hits a pair of homers
Izzy Wilson was doing some good work down in Arizona this week. Cristian Pache 2-11, K, SB, 2 BB, .274/.316/.356 Not the greatest week for Pache as he had just a pair of hits despite getting a healthy bit of playing time. Drawing a pair of walks in his last game this week was a welcome development to be sure as he definitely needs to work on getting his on-base percentage up. Pache also collided VERY hard with the outfield wall late in the week, but stayed in the game. Just stay healthy, Cristian. Isranel Wilson 3-8, 2 HR, 3B, 4 RBI, BB, 3 K, .212/.350/.576 Really strong week from Izzy as...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Nov 11, 2018 
Braves News: Slow news Saturday
Atlanta Braves News 2018 Atlanta Braves Player Reviews Our player-by-player look back at the 2018 season for the Atlanta Braves wrapped up on Saturday with a closer look at Dan Winkler’s season. In all, Atlanta used 58 players to help earn their first division crown since 2013. You can find an article on each of them in the link above. The magic of full counts A deep dive into baseball’s most intense situation. The 3-2 count. MLB News Bryce almost went to Astros at ‘18 Deadline The biggest story from Saturday was a report by Ken Rosenthal which said that the Houston Astros had a...
TalkingChop Nov 10, 2018
2018 Atlanta Braves Player Review: Dan Winkler
Dan Winkler was one of the Braves’ better relievers for the Braves in the first half. The second half was....not as kind. The Braves’ bullpen was quite maligned during the course of the 2018 season, but one of the success stories (at least in the first half) was in reliever Dan Winkler whose future with the team is one of the more interesting decisions the team must make. Winkler was taken with the 20th round of the 2011 draft by the Rockies and began his career as a starter where he excelled in Colorado’s minor league system. He posted big time strikeout numbers and was moving...
TalkingChop Nov 10, 2018
The magic of full counts
Thinking some more about baseball’s most intense count Here’s a fun question: what’s your favorite count in baseball? Given that you read the title of this post before clicking it, you can probably guess mine: the full count. This is probably not surprising — isn’t the full count everyone’s favorite count? When you were a kid, you didn’t recite to yourself, “World Series Game 7, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two outs, down by three, 2-1 count... the stretch, the pitch... and the batter takes a fastball on the corner and it’s now 2-2! Right? Right? No, the full count...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Nov 10, 2018 
Braves News: Ronald Acuña, Austin Riley and more
Rounding up a busy Friday around the majors. Atlanta Braves News Is 2019 time for Acuna to roam center? In his weekly mailbag, Mark Bowman discusses the idea of the Braves moving Ender Inciarte this offseason and shifting Ronald Acuña Jr. to centerfield. Austin Riley is Braves’ best power prospect MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis lists each team’s best power prospect with Austin Riley topping the list for the Braves. Riley’s raw power has always been a known commodity. What’s surprised some is how good he’s been at making adjustments at the plate so he can consistently tap into it....
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Nov 9, 2018 
Friday night open thread
The GM meetings came and went this week with the Braves reportedly participating in a number of discussions but have thus far been quiet this offseason. Things will likely ramp up soon. For now, here is your open thread for the evening. Feel free to discuss the Braves or whatever is on your mind. Happy Friday!
TalkingChop Nov 9, 2018
SBN Offseason GM Simulation 2018-2019: Moves Discussion
Blather about fake moves for a fake team Hello, and welcome back to our discussion of the SB Nation Offseason GM Simulation. For an overview of the process and a summary of what happened, I encourage you to see what could be considered Part 1 of our collective write-up of the goings on. This post, by contrast, contains move-by-move thoughts from any of the braintrust that wished to comment on them. I’ve attempted to place the moves in chronological order so you can follow along with our thought process as it went along, so if you see the narrative jumping around from small moves to large...
TalkingChop Nov 9, 2018
2018 Atlanta Braves Player Review: Luke Jackson
Luke Jackson had a surprisingly solid season after changes in how he pitches - and he looks to continue the solid work into 2019 What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you read the name Luke Jackson? What if I told you his 0.3 fWAR was higher than Jesse Biddle’s? What if I told you his 0.3 fWAR was higher than that of anyone on this list of players: Jose Ramirez, Josh Ravin, Chase Whitley, Wes Parsons, Lucas Sims, Kyle Wright, Evan Phillips, Kolby Allard, and Peter Moylan? When you look at his traditional stats there isn’t too much to like - 1-2 record, 4.43 ERA, 4.65...
TalkingChop Nov 9, 2018
2018 Atlanta Braves Player Review: Brad Brach
Brach was acquired midseason and did OK. In Baltimore, Brach appeared in 42 games where he compiled a 4.85 ERA, 4.4 BB/9, 8.8 K/9 and a 1.769 WHIP. The Braves saw something they liked and bought low on the reliever — with GM Alex Anthopoulos making it known that they wanted to help him tweak a couple of things to get back to where he was during that fantastic 2016 season where he went 10-4 with a 2.05 ERA and 2.92 FIP in 71 games. He was acquired by the Braves in an unusual way, as the Braves traded $250,000 of their international slot money, money they could not use, to get the righty...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Nov 9, 2018 
Braves News: GM meetings wrap up, Nick Markakis wins Silver Slugger Award and more
The awards continue to come in for Nick Markakis. Atlanta Braves News Braves GM Meetings recap: Anthopoulos has options The Braves and GM Alex Anthopoulos wrapped up their stint at the General Manager meetings on Thursday. Anthopoulos told the AJC’s Gabe Burns that the team’s focus at the meetings were on trades and what players are available. “There are some players we weren’t certain would be available in trade before we got to the meetings that we now have information about,” Anthopoulos said. “That does open things up for us.” Nick Markakis wins 2018 NL Silver Slugger...
TalkingChop Nov 8, 2018
Nick Markakis wins 2018 NL Silver Slugger Award
In addition to his first career All-Star Game appearance and a Gold Glove award, 2018 also includes a Silver Slugger award for Nick Markakis. Wow. 2018 continues to be a banner year for Nick Markakis. After earning his first career All-Star game appearance and his first Gold Glove award since the 2014 season, Markakis can add another first to his resume following the 2018 season: Silver Slugger. The 2018 Silver Slugger awards have been announced and Nick Markakis is one of the three NL outfielders to receive recognition for their efforts with the bat over this past season. Markakis...
