#50

I correctly picked 7 of 10 playoff teams, though I did have a few in the wrong spot.

My NL playoff teams: Dodgers, Cardinals, Braves winning divisions, Nationals, Giants as Wild Cards
Actual NL playoff teams: Dodgers, Cardinals, Nationals winning divisions, Pirates, Giants as Wild Cards

My AL playoff teams: Athletics, Tigers, Red Sox winning divisions, Rays, Royals as Wild Cards
Actual AL playoff teams, Angels, Tigers, Orioles winning divisions, Athletics, Royals as Wild Cards

Without further adieu...

Playoff predictions:

Wild Card Games:

Athletics over Royals

Giants over Pirates

Division Series:

Tigers over Orioles in 3

Athletics over Angels in 4

Dodgers over Cardinals in 4

Giants over Nationals in 5

League Championship Series

Athletics over Tigers in 6

Dodgers over Giants in 6

World Series

Dodgers over Athletics in 5

My awards ballot:

NL MVP

1.       Clayton Kershaw

2.       Andrew McCutchen

3.       Johnathan LuCroy

4.       Giancarlo Stanton

5.       Anthony Rendon

6.       Paul Goldschmidt

7.       Russell Martin

8.       Yasiel Puig

9.       Jason Heyward

10.   Juan Lagares

AL MVP

1.       Mike Trout

2.       Josh Donaldson

3.       Alex Gordon

4.       Michael Brantley

5.       Adrian Beltre

6.       Corey Kluber

7.       Jose Abreu

8.       Jose Altuve

9.       Kyle Seager

10.   Felix Hernandez

NL Cy Young

1.       Clayton Kershaw

2.       Jordan Zimmermann

3.       Johnny Cueto

4.       Adam Wainwright

5.       Jake Arrieta

AL Cy Young

1.        Corey Kluber

2.       Felix Hernandez

3.       Chris Sale

4.       Phil Hughes

5.       Jon Lester

AL Rookie of the Year

1.       Jose Abreu

2.       Collin McHugh

3.       Yordano Ventura

NL Rookie of the Year

1.       Jacob DeGrom

2.       Billy Hamilton

3.       Ken Giles

#49

			Arb #	FA After	1st Arb
C	Gattis	0.6		2018	2016
1B	Freeman	8.5		2021
2B	La Stella	0.6		2020	2017
3B	Johnson	6		2017
SS	Simmons	3.2		2020
LF	J Upton	14.5		2015
CF	B Upton	14.45		2017
RF	Heyward	7.8		2015
BN	Bethancourt	0.6		2020	2017
BN	Gosselin	0.6		2020	2017
BN	Pena	1.2	2 of 3	2016
BN	???	0.5
BN	???	0.5
SP	Teheran	0.8		2019
SP	Wood	0.6		2019	2017
SP	Minor	4	2 of 4	2017
SP	Hale	0.6		2019	2017
SP	???	0.5
RP	Kimbrel	9		2017
RP	Walden	3	2 of 3	2016
RP	Russell	2.5	3 of 3	2015
RP	Carpenter	1.5	1 of 3	2017
RP	Varvaro	0.6		2018	2016
RP	Avilan	0.6		2018	2016
RP	???	0.5
xxx	Uggla	13
	TOTAL	appx    95
	Free agents
	Santana	14.1
	Floyd	4
	Doumit	3.5
	Bonifacio	2.5
	Laird	1.5
	Harang	1
	Likely nontenders
	Medlen	5.8
	Beachy	1.45
	Venters	1.625

The Braves lose a decent amount of salary off the books- Santana, Floyd, Doumit, Medlen, etc- but almost all of that is eaten up by arb raises and salary increases to the locked up players. Most of the extensions Wren gave are heavily backloaded. This works well if our payroll goes up (as it presumably will once we get to the new park) but if it doesn't we're essentially playing musical chairs with ourself.

I'm assuming payroll next year will be around 100 million. That was this year's figure before we went significantly over to sign Ervin Santana (remember that the next time you bash Liberty). Given attendance and tv ratings are both down, it's hard to imagine us going much over budget again.

If the Braves let all of their free agents walk (I've included Medlen and Beachy in this group) and tender contracts to all arb eligible players they're at approximately 95 million. That gives us the same team we have with pretty much no room to improve offense or make up for 

Moving BJ and CJ would be ideal, but given the awfulness of their contracts it seems highly unlikely we'd be able to do much than swap our bad contract for someone else's.

Pena will likely be nontendered, and Russell  might be as well. This will save a few dollars, but not enough to make a big difference. Minor will be an interesting case. With a team desperate for offense and short on cash will shell out 4-5  million for an injured, underperforming starter is questionable. IT will depend on how his shoulder reacts, but I wouldn't 

#48

A history of Braves clinches- for and against- in the Turner Field era. A few of the Braves celebrations were delayed- such as 2010 when we had to wait for the Padres to lose- or muted- a few years we clinched on an off day. 

Braves clinch at Turner Field: 11

Braves clinch on the road: 6

Visitors clinch at Turner Field: 10

Visitors clinch at their home park: 3

1997 NL East- Braves clinch at Turner Field

1997 NLDS- Braves clinch in Houston

1997 NLCS- Marlins clinch at Turner Field

1998 NL East- Braves clinch at Turner Field

1998 NLDS- Braves clinch in Chicago

1998 NLCS- Padres clinch at Turner Field

1999 NL East- Braves clinch in Montreal

1999 NLDS- Braves clinch in Houston

1999 NLCS- Braves clinch at Turner Field

1999 World Series- Yankees clinch in New York

2000 NL East- Braves clinch in New York

2000 NLDS- Cardinals clinch at Turner Field

2001 NL East- Braves clinch at Turner Field

2001 NLDS- Braves clinch at Turner Field

2001 NLCS- D’Backs clinch at Turner Field

2002 NL East- Braves clinch on off day/during homestand

2002 NLDS- Giants clinch at Turner Field

2003 NL East- Braves clinch on off day/during homestand

2003 NL DS- Cubs clinch at Turner Field

2004 NL East- Braves clinch at Turner Field

2004 NLDS- Astros clinch at Turner Field

2005 NL East- Braves clinch at Turner Field

2005 NLDS- Astros clinch in Houston

2006- none

2007- none

2008- none

2009- none

2010 Wild Card- clinch at Turner Field

2010 NLDS- Giants clinch at Turner Field

2011- none

2012 Wild Card- Braves clinch at Turner Field

2012 Wild Card Game- Cardinals clinch at Turner Field

2013 NL East- Braves clinch at Chicago

2013 NLDS- Dodgers clinch in Los Angeles

2014 NL East- Nationals clinch at Turner Field
2014 Wild Card- Pirates clinch at Turner Field