Each year, at least 2 or 3 times, Alex Anthopoulos blows people away. He makes a move and you can’t help but say ‘hunh?”. And then, within a few weeks or a few months you go “how did he figure that out?” Obviously, on this momentous morning, that is all about the acquisition of Orlando Arcia. But it has been 2 years of biding his time to be able to say “See you mere mortals!!”
In 2021 AA traded Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka for Arcia. Sobotka is out of baseball. Weigel is playing for the Kansas City Monarchs. Not the Monarchs of Satchel and Buck O’Neill, by the way. Before 2021 his highest ops for a season was .733. his highest career OPS+ for a whole season coming into this year was 102 last year (for the Braves, get it?). We (DEFINITELY me) thought coming into this year that the Braves probably wouldn’t play high enough on money for Dansby and would go with Vaughn Grissom. I thought MAYBE Shewmake could hit enough to take the position. But Arcia? Surely you jest.
Well the 28 year old Arcia seems to have found out how to hit much more effectively. Granted you can talk about “fluke” and a 166 OPS+ is certainly flukish. But is Arcia probably now an above average offensive player and at least an average shortstop? On that the answer is probably “yes.” So, if so, AA just extended a 2 to 3 WAR player for 3 years for 7. 3 million with a choice of a 1 million buyout or a 2 million option for 1 more year. The odds that Arcia won’t be at least “decent MLB shortstop backup” for that whole time is VERY low.
To the specifics on our game last night. Spender Strider went against Nate Eovaldi. Strider wasn’t his “best self.” After Eddie Rosario‘s 2 run homer in the second, you figure “ahhh!” Well, bottom of 4 Adolis Garcia (brother of our own Adonis) homered. He would do that again, later. 4 straight Rangers reached to start the inning and it was tied. After a strikeout, another hit and it was 3 to 2. in the 8th, the slumbering giant began to stir down 5 to 3. After 2 runs, it was tied. And then, in the ninth, ORLANDO BLEEPING ARCIA hit a one out solo home run. Raisel Iglesias “stuck the landing,” and the Braves once again met the “bobby Cox era standard of “Meat Loaf Ball.” Meat Loaf (as in singer / actor Michael Lee Aday) was from Dallas. Prominently he told us “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.” If you get a chance, you need to catch up on his account of the Kennedy assassination. He and his friends skipped school and saw Kennedy land at the Dallas airport (after a 10 minute flight from Fort Worth, seriously). They drove back into town and approached Parkland Hospital just as the convoy pulled into the driveway. They pulled in and got out and saw the bloody car.
Despite the 5 year run of excellence at Atlanta, I still don’t believe he has ever won “Executive of the Year.” Who are the idiots who vote on that?
Arcia has been magnificent. He was one of the best prospects in baseball. He wasn’t very good for a while, but it seems like he may have still had some of his potential, and he may have tapped into it. Extraordinary.
Thanks, Cliff, for reminding us how terrific Anthopoulos is at his job. It’s easy to take him for granted. Not all of his decisions work out, but he sure seems to hit on a higher percentage than anyone else in the game.
Love the Walker, Texas Ranger reference.
My late fraternity brother, Clarence Gilliard, Jr., insisted on wearing his fraternity ring.
Ok, you had me searching “Bobby Cox JFK” before my reading comprehension kicked in.
I rambled a little on Meat Loaf, so that certainly contributed. Sorry.
I was rambling on a little something else to be fair.