The last time the Atlanta Braves lost 95 games was 1990. Their long dynasty began the next season with a trip to the World Series. Can the 2016 Braves have a similar a turnaround? In a word: No. The 2015 club was a disaster, finishing last in the NL in runs (and last in the majors in home runs) and 13th in runs allowed. The Braves went 25-48 in the second half. It's been quite the fall from just two years ago, when the Braves won 96 games and had the youngest average age for position players in the NL and third-youngest pitching staff.
What do they need: The Braves have focused on collecting young arms, both at the major league level and the minors. Andrelton Simmons and Freddie Freeman are anchored to long-term contracts. As for the rest of the team ...
Christian Bethancourt was supposed to be the catcher of the future, but he's fallen out of favor. He did hit better after a demotion to Triple-A and he's currently the only catcher on the 40-man roster, but a .225 OBP with the Braves means his bat is still a question. They acquired Hector Olivera from the Dodgers in the Alex Wood deal to play third base, but team officials recently said Olivera will move to left field. So they'll need at least a short-term third baseman. President of baseball operations John Hart and GM John Coppolella have also said they need to upgrade bullpen depth.
Guy on the rise: Umm ... Jace Peterson? Braves fans tried to tell me he's the answer at second base, but he hit just .221 in the second half and ended up worth just 0.5 WAR. He'll be 26 so there isn't a lot of projection here. Rookie pitchers Matt Wisler and Mike Foltynewicz have been highly rated prospects so their performance disappointed, although Wisler did finish with some quality outings. I guess we'll go with Shelby Miller, who had his best season (ignore the 17 losses and 24-start winless streak) after coming over from the Cardinals.
Prospect to anticipate: Most of the Braves' top prospects are in the lower rungs in the minors. Some of the players they acquired were also injured (Max Fried) or didn't perform (Rio Ruiz). One pitcher who could reach the majors in 2016 is RHP Lucas Sims. He had a good season at low A ball in 2013 at age 19, but his past two seasons haven't been up to that level statswise and he walked 5.4 batters per nine between Class A and Double-A in 2015. A move to the bullpen may be in order.
Winter action plan: With Olivera, Cameron Maybin and Nick Markakis in the outfield, reports from the GM meetings said the Braves are trying "aggressively" to trade outfielders Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher. And opposing teams are aggressively hanging up. Maybe the Braves need to put them in UPS overnight boxes to Nippon Ham; those two could be huge in Japan.
The Braves are getting ready to move into their new ballpark in 2017, so this will be a year to test what they have. Which of the young starters will step up? Can Julio Teheran bounce back? Is Olivera a middle-of-the-order bat? Is Peterson a starting second baseman? Can they find some bullpen arms? They patched up catcher by re-signing A.J. Pierzynski and will have to do the same at third base.
The big drama as the GM meetings closed down: The Braves have reportedly shopped Simmons, asking the Mets for Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom (good luck), and discussed trades with the Padres and Angels as well.