Source: larrybrownsports.com --- Monday, February 27, 2017
Every year in Baseball, there are a few teams that perform better than many observers would have expected them to. That doesn’t necessarily mean they go from worst to first or jump into the postseason. Some cellar-dwellers take a huge leap forward to respectability and put themselves in contention for playoff spots in years to come, while others see it all come together and surge into the postseason. Here are five teams with varying levels of expectations who may end up impressing in 2017. 5) Atlanta Braves Sometimes a decent indicator of how a team is progressing is to look at how they finished the previous season. On the surface, the Braves were an unremarkable 68-93 team that finished last in the NL East. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll see that their record from Aug. 1 until the end of the season was a much-improved 31-25. Savvy moves from their front office have given them a good base of young talent to work with, with former No. 1 pick Dansby Swanson leading the charge. Swanson joins a core of talented players either entering or already in their prime, with Ender Inciarte, Freddie Freeman, and Julio Teheran forming a strong core. The approach Atlanta has taken for 2017 is augmenting that talent with veteran players while they wait for other young guys to realize their potential. They’ve brought in two forty-something pitchers in R.A. Dickey and the iconic Bartolo Colon, and while neither will give them ace-level pro ...
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