The B.S. Report: Braves believe pitching will lead to success

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The New York Mets were the best team in the National League this past season. It was because of one thing – pitching.

The Atlanta Braves had the best run of success in baseball in the past 50 years starting about 25 years ago. It was because of one thing – pitching. If the Braves are to get back to anything near that level of success, it will be because of one thing – pitching.

Now, there are different ways to skin a cat, different ways to win in baseball. You can do what the Chicago Cubs did and go mainly with position players in your effort to rebuild a team. That worked for them, at least until they met up with the Mets. The Royals, this year’s champions… well, they really took the Braves approach, focusing on pitching and defense and then bringing in strong position players like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon in the draft.

The desire for pitching was at the root of last Thursday’s trade with the Angels sending fan-favorite Andrelton Simmons out west. There are a lot of fans that are mad about the trade, just like a year ago some couldn’t understand why Jason Heyward and Justin Upton and Evan Gattis had to go. Remember – that mix of players did not work in 2013 and 2014. That’s why it was scrapped and the Braves started over. Plus, when they made that decision, Atlanta’s farm system was a mess – the worst shape it had been in decades. The new front office – led by John Hart and John Coppolella – went with pitching as the forefront of their effort to make the Braves great again.

And, why wouldn’t they?

Pitching is what made the Braves so special back in the 1990s. You older fans may remember the 1970s and the 1980s, when the Braves were built around hitters – like Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Chris Chambliss and Claudell Washington. It was believed good pitchers couldn’t make it in old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium since the ball flew out of there. But that changed when Bobby Cox and Paul Snyder made the decision 30 years ago this month to instead focus on pitching. The results were historic, with a 14-year run of consecutive division titles.

For the Braves to get back on track, pitching is the answer. So, when the Angels offered their two best prospects – both starting pitchers – for Simmons, the Braves said yes. Sean Newcomb is a big left-hander who has been compared to Jon Lester, while Chris Ellis is a solid middle-of-the-rotation prospect. The Braves have loaded up on pitching prospects. Some might say they have already gotten too many. Well NO – you can never have enough pitching, and you can never have enough pitching prospects.

The Braves need to keep this up. They need to trade Cameron Maybin, and in the right deal, they need to trade Julio Teheran, and yes, maybe even if they get the right deal, they need to trade Freddie Freeman. The Braves are rebuilding – that’s something many fans have never been through. But they are doing it the right way – by getting as many pitchers as possible. One day they’ll make a big trade to get more offense, but until then, they’re going to get as many pitchers they can get.

Hey, it worked before, so you can’t blame them for seeing if it can work again.