Lack of news has created limited discussion within the Braves blogosphere so let’s have some Atlanta Braves Offseason Fun! In this exercise, let’s assume that the Braves have missed out on Josh Donaldson, but still have ~25 Million to spend to fill what I’d assume is 3 holes:
- 3B or OF
- RP or SP
- Utility Infielder with SS capabilities
While it can be for multiple players, let’s have a rule that you only get 1 trade in this scenario and, obviously, 25 million or less.
Go!
Braves get:
Yairo Munoz, 24, SS-OF, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/munozya01.shtml minimum salary, not yet arb eligible
Matt Carpenter, 34, 3b/1b, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/carpema01.shtml Costs $18.5M each of next 2 seasons, $18.5M for 2022, $2M buyout
Giovanny Gallegos, 28, kickass right-handed reliever, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gallegi01.shtml Minimum salary, not yet arb eligible
$3M cash
Cards get:
Johan Camargo, 26, Utl, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/camarjo01.shtml $1.7M super 2 arb.
Mark Melancon, 34, right-handed reliever, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/melanma01.shtml $14M contract for 2020
This raises 2020 Braves payroll by about $1M. Carpenter is a decent bet for a rebound and Munoz is better than Melancon. Cards get out of a bad contract and get Claude out of the deal while reducing payroll by a smidge.
What hat should Sheffield wear in the Hall?
Assuming he loses his grievance…
Braves get:
Kris Bryant ($18.6MM for 2020)
Cash ($2MM)
Cubs get:
Kyle Wright
Austin Riley
Johan Camargo
AJ Minter
——
Sign Alex Wood to a one year, $7MM deal.
——
Sign Adeiny Hechavarría to a one-year, $1.4MM deal.
Sign Marcell Ozuna to play left. Hech for utility. If Wood is still available and money still left over then no reason not to bring him in. Can’t have too much pitching.
1 — Probably Marlins. Spent 6 seasons there.
My bold prediction will be a little different, since it appears “sdp” stole my idea! … Or, most of it, at least.
Here it goes:
-Sign Aaron Sanchez to a one year deal ~10 mil.
-sign Hechy , 1yr~ 2 mil.
-We miss on JD, and that means AA plays the waiting game for one of two primary positions of need. Johan and Riley will be the plan to platoon at the hot corner. But as the season progresses, the need for a more dynamic lineup becomes prevalent.
AA makes splash trade to acquire Oakland 3rd baseman, Matt Chapman. Braves send Christian Pache, Kyle Wright, Johan Camargo and cash.
I understand that the Braves need a backup shortstop. Dansby may get hurt or suck for a sustained stretch like he has on occasion, and Camargo and Charlie have proven they are not up to being the regular shortstop for any length of time. But it seems like a waste of a roster spot to carry Hech. You’re not going to pull Swanson late in games for a defensive replacement. And Hech is a poor hitter; we can’t expect the kind of offensive production we got from him last year. He’s not someone I’d like to see getting regular pinch hit opportunities.
I’d rather carry a good defensive SS at Gwinnett who can be called up if Swanson goes on the DL. If Dansby gets hurt during a game you can turn to Culby or Johan for a game or two.
Sign Ryan Zimmerman 1 year $3.5M
Sign Steven Souza Jr. 1 year $2.2M
Alright… One trade… Hold my beer:
Braves send:
Austin Riley, Ender Inciarte and $11M to Astros
Mike Foltynewicz, Touki Touissant, William Contreras, Huascar Ynoa to Rays
Astros send:
Carlos Correa and Kyle Tucker to Braves
Roberto Osuna to Rays
Rays send:
Ronaldo Hernandez and Ji-Man Choi to Astros
Charlie Morton to Braves
Why do the Astros do this?
TO GET UNDER THE COMPETITIVE BALANCE TAX THRESHOLD. By moving Correa and Osuna and receiving some cash from ATL, they get just under that threshold. The cost of that? Kyle Tucker, they get plenty of offensive options back between Riley, Ji-Man Choi and an experienced CF option in Inciarte (who could even crank up the power in Houston with the help of the sanitation department.) Also their C of the future in Hernandez
Why do the Rays do this?
BECAUSE THEY ARE THE RAYS. The Rays often do things that don’t make much sense, but let me explain. For the same reason they moved Tommy Pham when his trade value skyrocketed, they will do the same with Charlie Morton. In return they get plenty of arms with which to tinker, because they love to do that too. Contreras replaces Hernandez as their top catching prospect and Choi’s departure makes way for one of their MANY Infield options to actually start at 1B.
Why do the Braves do this?
TO WIN THE World Series. The Braves have a ton of talent and also don’t have a ton of space (roster or financial) moving forward this trade always us to consolidate talent into 3 players, 2 huge bats and a veteran ACE who is interested in coming back to Atlanta. The talent we give up is huge. However we retain all of our 4 top prospects and now have the space to play them when they are ready.
Projected Lineup:
CF Acuna Jr.
2B Albies
1B Freeman
3B Correa
LF Tucker/Duvall
RF Markakis/Tucker
C d’arnaud
SS Swanson
Bench: Markakis/Duvall, Flowers, Camargo, Zimmerman, Souza Jr.
Rotation:
Soroka
Morton
Hamels
Fried
Newk/Wright/Wilson/Anderson
Bullpen:
Smith
Melancon
Martin
Greene
O’Day
Jackson
2 of Newk/Wright/Wilson/Webb/Minter/Dayton/Sobotka
See ya in October!
Mine is a fun one!
Braves trade Camargo, one of Waters/Anderson/Pache, Contreras, and Wilson for Merrifield (4 years/$21M, $5M in 20) and Soler ($7.3M this tear, one more year of arbitration)
Sign Steve Cishek 1/$5M; here’s a quote from mlbtr about him “ this year, Cishek’s average exit velocity of 84.5 miles per hour ranked fourth in all of MLB.”
Sign Hech 1/$1.5M
My idea adds roughly $17M to payroll, meaning OD payroll would stand around $147M. Here’s my full OD roster after these moves.
C- TDA
1B- FF
2B- Ozzie
SS- Dansby
3B- Riley
LF- Merrifield
CF- Acuña
RF- Soler
bench- Markakis, Duvall, Hech, Flowers, Ender (I would expect culberson to fit somewhere in here, maybe ender or duvall would also be traded but for now I’ll just say he starts in AAA to get right after the injury)
SP- soroka, fried, hamels, folty, wright/wilson/touki
bullpen- smith, greene, melancon, martin, jackson, cishek, o’day, newk
Didn’t Cishek sign with the White Sox?
@9
Yes.
@9/10 completely missed that a couple days ago, good catch.
I’ll replace him in my pen with one of the prospects that doesn’t make the rotation or a guy like jeremy walker. Save the money for a big deadline deal.
A point about Hech…
he is not a hitter
he is not a good hitter
he is a clutch hitter…gold dust follows him to the plate in the clutch.
Some here have opined there is no such thing as a clutch hitter. Wrong, here’s one, a classic example of where you actually want a SSS. Forget the 300 AB’s…10 to 12 should be perfect, ab’s in a clutch situation. So how do you know what was a clutch situation? You won’t find any meaningful numbers you can simply, and lazily, look up. Watch him yourself, every at bat, eyes and ears. Record him and study. Cervelli was one too, grossly misjudged him due to injuries, off he went, saved a pittance. Do you remember his first 3 at bats as a Brave?
Eyes and ears. Images and sounds that stay forever in the psyche while written numbers crumble into deserved dust. Nick of course, runners in scoring position. Camargo the same. Their other at bats mean nothing in the scale of things. Bases Loaded(twice), game 4, no outs, ground ball anywhere scores the tying run? The exact opposite – choke city.
Hech would have flied out to deep center.
Donaldson J.
heard so many people say
you do not spend enough time with the literati*
to Italy then, to study, then back with her new Maserati.
*BJ
That’s a good deal for both sides. Wood might be healthy, might not. The Dodgers seem to love collecting lefties with injury risks.
I would’ve liked wood, that’s a good deal for him.
@13, afraid I don’t buy that. Here are his clutch stats, for his career: http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/h86NB
In all clutch situations, his OPS is between .608 and .661. His career OPS overall is .642.
He was great for us last year, like a twenty dollar bill behind a couch cushion. But he’s just as much the guy who put up a .573 OPS in 37 PA in late & close situations in 2018 as he is the guy who put up a .719 OPS in 33 PA in late & close situations in 2019. Be thankful we got the very best of him and don’t make the Ramiro Pena mistake of thinking suddenly he figured out how to hit.
Drop ticket prices by $25 million… Make some outfield section free admission.
New thread!
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2020/01/13/10-for-10s-the-2013-atlanta-braves-season/
The braves have needs at third base, left field and perhaps another veteran starting pitcher. Perhaps a one stop shopping trip to the K.C. Royals could get the job done. My trade proposal is as follows: Braves receive Hunter Dozier, Whit Merrifield and Danny Duffy. The Royals receive Touki Toussaint, Patrick Weigel, Jeremy Walker, A.J. Minter, Austin Riley, Alex Jackson and Adam Duvall. The trade helps both teams and gives Braves control over Dozier and Merrifield, with option for four years each. Duffy has two years left on his contract and has playoff and world series experience. Braves would be adding about twelve million to budget but would get three quality players. Braves would the have have both the National and American league hits leaders in same lineup.
After my blockbuster trade with the Royals, the Braves shock the baseball world by acquiring Francisco Lindor from the Indians, who receive from the Braves: Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte, Bryse Wilson and Huascar Ynoa. This adds about six million more to the payroll. As a replacement for Ender, the Braves sign Billy Hamilton to play center field, until Christian Pache is ready to take over. Billy would add between one to two million more to payroll.