We’re 12 days into December, and the Braves have been pretty active in the market. Let’s take a look at the offseason’s moves thus far and gauge the Braves 40-man roster to see who could be the first to go should a spot need to be opened.
Braves Offseason Transactions
- Signed free agent RF Abraham Almonte.
- Traded SS AJ Graffanino and 2B Greg Cullen to Baltimore Orioles. PTBNL in Tommy Milone trade.
- Signed free agent RHP Josh Tomlin
- Signed free agent LHP Drew Smyly.
- Signed free agent RHP Emmanuel Ramirez to a minor league contract.
- Selected the contract of LHP Kyle Muller from Mississippi Braves.
- Claimed 2B Jack Mayfield off waivers from Houston Astros.
- Signed free agent RHP Charlie Morton.
- Signed free agent 2B Kevin Josephina to a minor league contract.
- Signed free agent RHP Jason Creasy to a minor league contract.
- Braves tendered a contract to Luke Jackson
- Braves tendered a contract to Johan Camargo
- Braves non-tendered Adam Duvall
Breakdown:
Almonte, Tomlin, Smyly, Muller, Mayfield and Morton were all added to the 40-man roster which now sits at 38. With little room left on the 40-man, and additional moves to make, let’s take a look at who could be on the chopping block should Anthopoulos need a spot.
Braves 40-man Roster
Pitchers
- Ian Anderson
- Tucker Davidson
- Grant Dayton
- Jasseel De La Cruz
- Max Fried
- Luke Jackson
- Chris Martin
- Tyler Matzek
- A.J. Minter
- Charlie Morton
- Kyle Muller
- Sean Newcomb
- Phil Pfeifer
- Will Smith
- Drew Smyly
- Chad Sobotka
- Mike Soroka
- Josh Tomlin
- Touki Toussaint
- Jeremy Walker
- Jacob Webb
- Patrick Weigel
- Bryse Wilson
- Kyle Wright
- Huascar Ynoa
Breakdown: Chad Sobotka still sticks out like a sore thumb here and is likely the first pitcher dismissed should Braves need a spot. From there, my eyes are on the 2 non-guaranteed contracts: Luke Jackson and Grant Dayton. Barring a trade, the rest of the group seems to be safe.
Position Players
- William Contreras
- Travis d’Arnaud
- Alex Jackson
- Ozzie Albies
- Johan Camargo
- Freddie Freeman
- Jack Mayfield
- Austin Riley
- Dansby Swanson
- Ronald Acuna Jr.
- Abraham Almonte
- Ender Inciarte
- Cristian Pache
Breakdown: Jack Mayfield is the type of pickup one sees nearly every year as he’s the guy that when 40-man rosters start to get their stockings stuffed, Anthopoulos will quietly pass through waivers, but promise Mayfield a Spring Training invite, of which he’ll likely take. From there, Ender Inciarte might finally be released should Anthopoulos be unable to find a poor contract swap. However, it’s worth noting that Cristian Pache needs to spend about 3 weeks at AAA for the team to grab an extra year of service from him, so this thought could be pushed back a bit and that’s downright scary. Johan Camargo and Abraham Almonte are worth keeping an eye on, but they’ll likely make it to spring training. Almonte, due to the nature of his contract being split, will likely stick on the 40-man past spring training and into the regular season getting regular playing time at Gwinnett as a *break glass in case of emergency* type option. It could very well be that he’s got a built in opt-out as is so common with these types of contracts.
Thanks for reading on Braves 40-man Roster. If you enjoy this piece and love the roster speculation, check out this piece in which Jeremy and I had a lot of fun speculating on Ender Inciarte Trades.
Thanks Ryan. So Jack Mayfield is the new Pete Kozma?
I count 14 guys that, based on role, I am optimistic about for the pen. I exclude Weigel, Sobotka, Pfeifer, and De La Cruz based on having seen nothing positive recently with them, though Covid may have hurt De La Cruz. So 14 guys for 8 spots, and I’d love to get one more established reliever if possible. If that happens, then that is an objectively better collection of relievers than we had even last year.
RE: Newk
I was very early in support of giving Newk the 5th spot because I thought he earned it and he had the highest upside of the contenders. I thought they’d give him a legitimate shot, and if he failed, they’d stick him back in the pen. They gave him a legitimate shot, but then buried him when there was 2 months left in the season (including the postseason). There’s obviously something we don’t know, but would you rather have the lefty Newcomb facing Bellinger in the 7th inning of Game 7 or Martin?
Last post: I know that Morton and Smyly are on one-year deals, but Anderson, Fried, and Soroka aren’t, and that’s 3/5 of our rotation. Wright, Wilson, Muller, De La Cruz, Davidson, and to a lesser extent Ynoa (since he seems to be a reliever at this point) seem to be redundant. Keeping them period is probably a waste of resources, but especially now all occupying spots on the 40-man, I think I’m finally ready to say that there’s a “crunch”. In year’s past, I’ve been hesitant to say there’s a “crunch” since there’s usually a couple-few guys that would either pass through waivers or we wouldn’t miss if they didn’t. But the list I just provided is a list of pitchers we would not want to lose for nothing.
The trade proposals I’m interested in are about what from our backfill of pitching prospects could fetch in a trade, and who are the ones that you would be most likely to trade.
Wanted to share this with you guys! 😊
Great clip. Kids rocked.
@2 Newcomb really blew it in that start against Philly. It was start #3 or 4 for him. The previous ones were all laborious affairs. The team really needed him to at least go out and eat innings, and instead, he got lit up Folty style. It was close to ten runs down before the second inning. As he had had two seasons worth of starts under his belt at that point and the best he could do was that — with the fastball and curve that he has — you can’t blame the organization for getting the message and hanging up the phone. The bullpen was stacked with lefties like I’ve never seen in 50 years of following this team. There was no place for him there.
Who is Pfeifer, again?
And are we absolutely sure Ziggy Sobotka is worse than Jeremy Walker?
@8
Pfeifer came a long way and was a downright K-machine after some adjustments at AAA. He might not have a spot on this team but he’s definitely not DFA material (IMO).
Sobotka’s never been able to duplicate his ridiculous spin in that small sample in 2018. If he doesn’t have that, he’s just a velo guy that can’t throw enough strikes.
To me, Walker is the best kind of middle reliever. He comes in, throws strikes, and keeps the ball on the ground. He’s going to have his share of Ks too. Think poor man’s Chris Martin.
The Cleveland Indians will change their name.
Might I recommend a moratorium on buying Atlanta Braves apparel? Atlanta’s days as the Braves are numbered.
Welp, Cleveland’s doing it. C’mon Atlanta, do the right thing and get on with it.
Hammers? Skinks? Bravos?
If they change their mascot to the Grits, can we kidnap Gritty and make him out own?
Braves Journal ahead of the game. I’m telling y’all, the Hammers are coming to an ATL near you!
I’m glad I already have my Hammers shirt. Y’all need to get one–they’re great shirts!
Amen!
I don’t buy the equivalence between Braves and Indians. Not convinced our FO will either, but obviously that’s the question that matters.
“The Atlanta Hammers Presented by Home Depot” will be a struggle to fit on the home unis, IMO.
@ 14,
And not many people think there is an equivalence between Redskins and Indians.
And, with the other professional teams starting to settle, the focus will shift to south Cobb County, now. So, I suspect some type of “we are reviewing our branding to determine our future path” to come out before Spring Training.
Redskins was blatant, Indians a little less so. But if the Florida Gators’ “Gator Bait” chant, which has a historical connotation that 99.99999% of people were unaware of until told, got the axe, then the Braves will have a new name.
As will the Blackhawks, Chiefs, and any other mascot referring to any singular group of people.
It would be the Atlanta Truists.
Retire all the Native American branding and imagery, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping “Braves” in my opinion.
LOL, Smitty.
@ 17,
Yeah the turnover chain at Miami always seemed like a lot more of a racist symbology than saying “Gator Bait.” And Liberty Media has too much at stake not to move on this, but also they have too much at stake to move without thought to their path. That is why I think tfloyd needs to trademark Hammers because it is a “new name” that would still please a lot of the people who might want to hold on to the old name.
@17, I expect a fair percentage of older Southerners know the connotation of “gator bait.” I remember reading in the mid-1970s a Bob Gibson autobiography in which he mentioned being called that while in the minors, I believe in Columbus, and I’ve come across the phrase once or twice since then. I doubt my 17-year-old son has heard of it, though.
New thread, new contest!
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2020/12/14/2020-atlanta-braves-season-review-ozzie-albies-and-worst-name-challenge/
Mid-1970’s was 45 years ago. So yes, maybe if you’re aged 60 and up, you remember the connotation. Maybe. So, maybe 5-7% of the people in the stadium or watching the broadcast have any idea. Just not sure that’s worth dumping a chant. I personally don’t care — my fandom goes beyond a team name or a chant or a logo — but I understand why people would say that was an overreach.
The one thing about the Braves that continues to be the thing I will miss the most is the warchant music. But I’ve said that many times, so I will digress. But I find unique music to be a powerful thing in a stadium, and I think the warchant is the most powerful thing within the brand of the Braves. I will always remember looking around the stadium and feeling in my bones the impact the warchant had on the stadium after Ronald Acuna hit his grandslam off Walker Buehler. I’m sure most Braves fans have that memory of the warchant erupting after a big moment in a big game they attended in person.
I know Jonathan Hyde remembers because he was there and he almost caught the ball — if you’re reading, hey Jonathan! — when Eric Hinske hit the pinch-hit go-ahead home run in the 8th inning of the deciding game of the 2010 NLDS. Now, that game ended in despair and doom in the next inning, but that’s another moment I remember when damn Turner Field felt it was shaking and the warchant was blaring. I dunno man, this is just something I don’t think you want to lose from the Braves brand.