Braves Franchise Blog

[IXI DECAY IXI]

Welcome,

I'm going to be running a simple little Braves franchise blog to share the successes and failures of my Atlanta Braves franchise.

Just a little bit of information about this franchise before we get started. I will play every single pitch of every game. I will be using Armor's slider set and will adjust accordingly if stats seem to favorable in certain areas.

A little history regarding this franchise. I simmed the entire 2017 season because I couldn't make it even half a season pitching with Colon and Dickey. Lol. The team did pretty bad through simulation so I did become a seller at the deadline and sold players such as Dickey, Colon, Jim Johnson, and Brandon Phillips.

I'm a few games into 2018 and I will give a brief description of how the season has gone so far and what the roster, rotation, and lineup look like.

I hope you enjoy as I share my season with the community. I also stream all of my games on Twitch. The username is ixidecayixi. I would love it if people joined in on my streams and ask questions/offer advice and comments regarding the team.

Thanks and enjoy!

[IXI DECAY IXI]

2018 Opening Day Roster

I'm going to provide you with my 2018 opening day roster and a few notes on how I got a couple players that I have on my roster. Enjoy!

Pitching Rotation

Julio Teheran (86 Ovr)
Mike Foltynewicz (81 Ovr)
Jeremy Hellickson (80 Ovr)
Jaime Garcia (79 Ovr)
Shohei Otani (75 Ovr/Rookie)

*** The first thing that pops out is the addition of Jeremy Hellickson. We have some decent pitching in the Atlanta farm system but they are not quite ready for the big leagues so we did sign Hellickson to a 1 year deal worth 4.5M. He is a great addition to the team to help us make a run this year. We also signed Jaime to another 1 year deal worth 4.5M as well. Both of these pitchers could become trade pieces if we have to become sellers at the deadline.

*** Otani is also a pretty nice piece we added during the off-season. A 23 year old pitcher with A potential who is already a 75 overall is going to be a piece of this rotation for years to come.

Bullpen

Yaisel Sierra (77 Ovr)
Josh Goleski (73 Ovr/Rookie)
Akeel Morris (75 Ovr)
Ian Krol (73 Ovr)
Rex Brothers (77 Ovr)
Jason Motte (68 Ovr)
Arodys Vizcaino (79 Ovr)

*** Ian Krol will serve mostly as our lefty specialist and should have a ton of appearances against Bryce Harper. Lol. Brothers and Motte will serve as setup guys for Vicaino to close things out. Sierra and Goleski will serve as Long Relief guys. We could even see Goleski receive a spot start or two this season.

Lineup

Ender Inciarte - CF (86 Ovr)
Dansby Swanson - SS (82 Ovr)
Freddie Freeman - 1B (92 Ovr)
Todd Frazier - 3B (86 Ovr)
Matt Kemp - LF (83 Ovr)
Nick Markakis - RF (80 Ovr)
Tyler Flowers - C (77 Ovr)
Alex Todd - 2B (74 Ovr)

*** Obviously the biggest addition was Todd Frazier. Once we saw a power hitting 3B on the market we had to do whatever was needed to land him. Frazier really rounds out the Braves lineup and adds the power piece we really needed while also providing some good defense as well.

*** Alex Todd is a 2B we drafted in the 2017 draft. He's 21 years old and has a B potential so we can either use him long term or bring up Albies and use Todd as a selling piece but we may take the other route and use Albies as a trade piece if we become buyers at the deadline.

Bench

Matt Adams (73 Ovr)
Ronald Acuna (67 Ovr)
Chris Ianetta (72 Ovr)
Danny Santana (72 Ovr)
Tetsuto Yamada (76 Ovr)

*** Nothing really stands out on the bench. We were able to trade Adonis Garcia for Ianetta once we landed Frazier to give us a decent backup catcher. Santana is our current utility guy and can play almost any position. Yamada could offer some competition at 2B for Alex Todd and give Swanson a day off here and there. Acuna is a Rookie OF who could play an important role later in the season or find his way back in the minors.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about this team. I think we have all the right pieces to make a playoff run this year.

[IXI DECAY IXI]

As of right now, I'm heading into my 8th game of the season which is the second game of a 2 game series against the Phillies.

Our first series of the season was against the Marlins in which we completed the sweep. We won game one 5-2, game two 10-3, and game three 5-0. We then headed to Washington for a three game set in which we lost two of the three game there. It's going to be a fun adventure against Washington this year. I can feel the rivalry bursting from my screen.

Game one of the Phillies series was awesome. Both team had 3 hits a piece heading into the bottom of the 9th when Tyler Flowers belted a single to left field to score Acuna for the 1-0 walkoff win in the Braves first game in front of the home crowd.

Game two will feature Jeremy Hellickson who will make his first start against his former team and he will face off against Jerad Eickhoff.

[IXI DECAY IXI]

Jeremy Hellickson's first game against his former team was a success. Hellickson was able to get the Win after going 6 innings giving up 2 run (1 earned) on 6 hits, and 2 walks.

The Phillies jumped out to an early lead when they put up 2 runs in the top of the 3rd inning. The Braves answered back with a Nick Markakis 2 run HR in the bottom of the 4th. Tyler Flowers hit the go ahead 2 run HR in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Jason Motte, Rex Brothers, and Arodys Vizcaino were able to pitch a flawless 7th, 8th, and 9th to give the Braves the two game series sweep.

The Braves will now host the Nationals for a 4 game series at home.