I was waiting to start a thread on the Braves until I saw the MLB thread yesterday. Didn't know if folks' interest was there yet or not.
Gone from last year are Soler, Fried, Morton, Minter, and Chavez (see ya soon, old friend). After other defections and the restructuring of some contracts, the Braves' payroll has been cut by $71 million this offseason. Without getting into the specifics of the multi-tiered luxury tax, it's obvious the Braves' intentions were to get under one of the tiers. However, I'm not interested in getting into those details as it bores the hell out of me.
So where is the Braves' roster right now? Let's start with the rotation since that is the most obvious area that will be addressed before Opening Day.
Starting Rotation
Sampling of Starting Pitching Options that could be Acquired
Shortstop
If the Braves are going to go cheap, I believe this is where they do it. The hope will be that Arcia can bounce back somewhere in the middle of 2023 and 2024 production while also allowing Nacho Alvarez to get his feet wet. There's just not much out there at the SS position.
Catcher
The hopes here are for Murphy to return to health/form and some combo of Chadwick Tromp/Curt Casali to back up until Drake Baldwin is ready. I would imagine Baldwin stays in the minors unless Murphy goes on an extended IL stint.
Left Field
This has to be the most confounding spot of the offseason. The Braves have a starting OF of Kelenic, Harris, and Acuña. However, Ronald will not be back to start the year and the Braves will want to break him in slowly. On the other hand, Kelenic hasn't proven to be an everyday starter so I feel the Braves need a RH OF and not a lefty as the media has hyped over the offseason. If you get a RH, that player can then shift into a platoon with Kelenic once Ronald is ready to patrol RF regularly.
If the market stays depressed, I'd love a run at Randal Grichuk. He just mashed lefties to the tune of a .914 OPS last year and has done extremely well vs. LHP over his career. He could certainly play fulltime for a month or two before Acuña returns and then fit into a platoon with Kelenic. His $6 mil mutual option was declined so not sure if player or team opted out there. With that said, he wouldn't command much more than that $6 mil for a year.
In my opinion, the Braves priorities at this point are:
Gone from last year are Soler, Fried, Morton, Minter, and Chavez (see ya soon, old friend). After other defections and the restructuring of some contracts, the Braves' payroll has been cut by $71 million this offseason. Without getting into the specifics of the multi-tiered luxury tax, it's obvious the Braves' intentions were to get under one of the tiers. However, I'm not interested in getting into those details as it bores the hell out of me.
So where is the Braves' roster right now? Let's start with the rotation since that is the most obvious area that will be addressed before Opening Day.
Starting Rotation
- Sale
- Strider (when he returns)
- Schwellenbach
- Lopez
- Holmes
- Anderson (probably in the rotation until Strider returns)
Sampling of Starting Pitching Options that could be Acquired
- Dylan Cease - Will be playing on a 1 year/$13.75 million deal with the Padres before free agency next offseason. The Padres have cut payroll and some are saying may significantly cut payroll following the Dodgers unprecedented offseason spending spree following a World Series Championship. Cease is durable and often dominant. The Braves would have to trade some solid pieces AND be convinced Cease would sign a FA deal with Atlanta. The problem with that is Scott Boras is his agent. The other side is Cease is from Milton, Georgia so would he demand that Boras work something out????
- Jordan Montgomery - Montgomery has to go this offseason from Arizona. They are overly stocked in the rotation and he has the large deal that could be spent on other holes. He just had an awful year which should cut down on the trade capital needed to acquire him. He's owed $22.5 mil this year and no team is taking that on. If the Braves could get the D'backs to absorb about $12-13 mil and not request a top prospect, this could be a feasible path for the Braves.
- Erick Fedde - Owed just $7.5 mil next season, it's tough to figure out where the Cards are as an organization. Are they contending or rebuilding? If rebuilding, they could deal Fedde. Formerly a guy you'd rather have pitching batting practice instead of in your rotation, he came back from a year in Korea a new pitcher. The Braves could deal for him and sign him over 3 years for something pretty cheap. (3 years/$36 mil???)
- Jack Flaherty - Had a very good last year after spending a year in that Detroit clubhouse that has obviously figured a lot of things out with their pitchers. (so many have added velocity over the last 2 years) I have a feeling he's going to be asking for too large a deal for the Braves after the season he just had.
- Jakob Junis - The trend in MLB the last couple years has been to take guys out of the bullpen and stretch them out to 5 inning starters. (Jordan Hicks, Lopez, etc.) Junis used to be a big-time prospect that failed in KC as a starter. He turned things around in SF 2 years ago and then had an outstanding year last year in Cincy/Milwaukee. Last year, he fared much better as a starter. This could be a very cheap signing if the Braves go this route. The key with Junis is he could easily go back to the pen when Strider returned to the mound.
Shortstop
If the Braves are going to go cheap, I believe this is where they do it. The hope will be that Arcia can bounce back somewhere in the middle of 2023 and 2024 production while also allowing Nacho Alvarez to get his feet wet. There's just not much out there at the SS position.
Catcher
The hopes here are for Murphy to return to health/form and some combo of Chadwick Tromp/Curt Casali to back up until Drake Baldwin is ready. I would imagine Baldwin stays in the minors unless Murphy goes on an extended IL stint.
Left Field
This has to be the most confounding spot of the offseason. The Braves have a starting OF of Kelenic, Harris, and Acuña. However, Ronald will not be back to start the year and the Braves will want to break him in slowly. On the other hand, Kelenic hasn't proven to be an everyday starter so I feel the Braves need a RH OF and not a lefty as the media has hyped over the offseason. If you get a RH, that player can then shift into a platoon with Kelenic once Ronald is ready to patrol RF regularly.
If the market stays depressed, I'd love a run at Randal Grichuk. He just mashed lefties to the tune of a .914 OPS last year and has done extremely well vs. LHP over his career. He could certainly play fulltime for a month or two before Acuña returns and then fit into a platoon with Kelenic. His $6 mil mutual option was declined so not sure if player or team opted out there. With that said, he wouldn't command much more than that $6 mil for a year.
In my opinion, the Braves priorities at this point are:
- SP
- RP (feel like they'll fill from within)
- OF
- SS
