Today was the day that teams had to make decisions on players with options and the Braves had 5 decisions to make. However, between Eddie Rosario, Brad Hand, Kirby Yates, Collin McHugh, and Charlie Morton, and only 1 was retained.
The 4 That Will Be No More
Kirby Yates posted a solid, but shaky looking 3.28 ERA. Still, it seemed like enough to bring him back for the 2024 season, especially considering his 2024 salary would’ve been a mere $5.75MM. Alas, AA chose the buyout of $1.25MM, saving $4MM.
Brad Hand had a mutual option, but Braves declined and Hand received a $500K buyout.
Before Collin McHugh was injured, he was having a down 2023. After the injury, it was apparent that his time in Atlanta had run its course. He will receive a $1MM buyout.
Lastly, Eddie Rosario, one of the biggest heroes during the 2021 Postseason run, had his 2024 $9MM declined. There was no buyout in Eddie’s contract.
Overall the Braves will pay $2.75MM, but those numbers are added to 2023’s payroll, not 2024.
Moreton!
I’m very excited that Charlie Morton will be donning a Braves uniform in 2024 as the club exercised his 2024 $20MM option. Morton, who will be 40 in 6 days time, has provided stability and veteran leadership to a pitching staff that needed both. This will be Morton’s 4th straight year in Atlanta and his 5th overall.
Braves Claim An Angel
In an interesting move that could pay dividends in 2025, the Braves claimed Angel Perdoma off waivers from the Pirates. Perdoma will be on the shelf for the entire 2024 season as he just had Tommy John surgery 2 days ago. Still, it’s a promising arm that AA will likely try to pass through waivers at some point with hopes of retaining him.
Logistical Moves
To fill out the 40-man, the Braves reinstated Kolby Allard, Nick Anderson, Yonny Chirinos, Dylan Lee, Tyler Matzek, Michael Soroka, and Huascar Ynoa. Jackson Stephens was outrighted to AAA. These moves mean very little and the 40-man will be chiseled down over the course of the next few weeks when trades and free agent signings start back up. My guess is Chirinos and Allard are the first in line.
Well, there’s your big free agent pitcher signing :-/
My money is on Sonny Gray being a Brave.
Ryan, you really think the Braves will go for a QO pitcher? I think Michael Wacha is more the Braves’ speed. I think all of Gray, Snell, Hader, Nola are out (and Bellinger).
Maybe we can get a shot at Gurriel or Soler…… (or Teoscar or Kiermeier). I wonder how much better Braves pitchers could be without a noodle arm in LF.
I hope a two-year deal will work out with Charilie to bring down the annual charge. I guess AA is taking a safe route rather than heading for bidding war for two starting pitchers either in free agent or trade market which I can understand. There are so many teams needing SPs.
I am hoping AA to trade Ozuna and Bryce to bring in another SP now that we have Charlie coming back.
I believe Eddie Rosario will be back on the roster before too long.
Think they’ll try Vaughn in LF before swapping for a guy?
Swap Ozuna for a SP and DH a catcher makes sense to me.
If you feel good about Uncle Charlie, then I do.
They should have let him walk and use the money on another pitcher, in my opinion.
Come on, people. Give me some unfounded wild speculation about how AA is going to procure a Glasnow or Trout and keep all, well both, of our young arms. Give me some juicy rumors. It’s the off season after all, and I need fantasy.
Please!
If AA was talking to Ohtani, would that be juicy enough for you? I’m not optimistic about signing him, but as I stated before, I think we will kick the tires.
If we could just hit 350 homeruns…
I think Morton got his option exercised mainly because the market for starters is looking to be expensive this off-season.
Hopefully Charlie’s got enough in the tank for another year.
I think Charlie has plenty in the tank to be our 3rd starter. I worry more about the 4th spot as it looks like Elder is more a 5th than anything else, which is perfectly fine. Having AJ-SS and Waldrep in the wings is good for depth but I would hate to go the Dodd/Schuster route again.
Charlie Morton has gotten more slander by Braves fans even though he’s started 94 games, pitched 521 innings, and carried a 3.77 ERA in 3 years with the Braves. That’s a better ERA than Nola over the same period, and only 58 innings less.
A lot of his underlying numbers have been great, too. Since joining the Braves he’s gotten plenty of strikeouts (10.3 K/9), limited barrels (7.4% barrel rate), and done a decent job of limiting hard contact (88.8 mph average EV). This all amounts to a 91 FIP- (9 percent better than league average).
That’s pretty darn good for a guy in his late 30s. We could do a LOT worse than Charlie Morton as our #3 or #4 starter.
I don’t know about slander. I personally adore Charlie Morton. I followed him since he dominated for a time in AAA for us. I was not surprised to see him become a formidable starter in the bigs, though it took him until his 30’s for a variety of reasons. The problem with Charlie is that he is increasingly erratic in his performances, and he has not been a postseason asset for us. He can absolutely dominate when that slurve is biting and he gets his release point down, and he can gut his way through a start even when he doesn’t have his stuff. I just don’t think you’re ever going to have that shutdown starter who can put you on his back for a playoff series with him. I’m happy to keep him, but I think I speak for a lot of fans here who see it as a tradeoff between paying him $20 million and maybe using that same money to sign an ace. If we don’t have to choose, then fine, keep Charlie around. He is still marginally worth his salary IMO
Who was the last “ace” the Braves signed in free agency? Greg Maddux 30 years ago? Derek Lowe 14 years ago? Get real…..
When was the last time the Braves had a top-5 payroll? We aren’t the same pinch-penny crew from 10 years ago. Conditions have changed. You don’t have to be rude about it. How obnoxious you are.