The Braves 40-man roster is full as a tick. To make room for all the 60-day IL guys, the Braves parted ways (or passed through waivers) with Kevin Pillar, Sam Hilliard (claimed on waivers), Jesse Chavez, Ben Heller, Andrew Velazquez, Jackson Stephens, Eddie Rosario, Brad Hand, Kirby Yates, and Collin McHugh. AA will definitely be fine-tuning his 40-man over the course of the offseason with comings and goings, the first being Rule 5 Draft protection but who are the first to be moved? While I have no idea what will happen, there’s a fairly large group that likely will be the first to be dropped should a 40-man spot be needed.
The Braves 40-man Roster Pecking Order
- Luke Williams: Picked up as depth, Luke saw 19 PAs in 2023 between 2 orgs and carried a .053 BA. No doubt he’s first in the pecking order.
- Kolby Allard: The Braves got him back for nothing, he pitched one strong game then reverted back to Old Kolby. A shoulder injury sidelined him for the rest of the year and I can’t imagine that AA sees a lot of value in keeping him around for 2024.
- Yonny Chirinos has 0 options and wasn’t very good last year. At this point, the Braves need starting pitch depth, but Chirinos is option-less and that will likely be his doom.
- Chadwick Tromp: Tromp stayed on the 40-man all year and still has an option for the 2024 season, but he’s also a 3rd catcher and those guys are a dime a dozen.
- Allan Winans: Winans has been a superb pickup for the MiLB system and showed that he can be serviceable in a pinch, but I just don’t see the org keeping him around if his 40-man spot is needed.
- Braden Shewmake: Braves will keep Shewmake as SS depth is sacred, but if push comes to shove, he’s not irreplaceable.
- Michael Tonkin: Tonkin is also out of options, but was an effective innings eater for the 2023 season.
- Dylan Dodd: Dodd looked like the 2nd coming in spring training, where his stuff was sharp and his velo was hitting 95. And that’s the last time I’ll trust ST radar guns.
- Jared Shuster: Why is it the Braves traditionally draft better in the later rounds and really blow it in the 1st? Shuster was reportedly hitting 95-96 right before being drafted and hasn’t sniffed it since.
Final Breakdown: The Braves need a LFer, maybe another OFer, a SP, and will likely grab another RP. At the least, 3 of these 9 will be gone. AA could very well try to trade off some of the 40-man fillers to create room, but at the least, 4 on this list will be playing baseball in other orgs come 2024.
I would think Soroka and Wall are on the edge too and may be as high or higher than some of the above. Also, this.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/blue-jays-open-to-adding-primary-designated-hitter.html
I’d sure like to see Ozuna traded for prospects and the Braves sign Soler for the money. I think Soler can better fill in in LF than Ozuna; I was pleasantly surprised at his arm when he filled in for Acuna a couple of years ago.
I’m sorry, am I misreading the article? So we’re saying that Soroka will remain off the 40-man? Is that what the premise is?
I had the same feeling as Roger. Soler had the reputation of being a poor defensive outfielder, but I thought he looked ok out there (two years ago) and had a good arm. It certainly would be easier to root for him than for Ozuna.
I would love to move Ozuna for prospects AND free up his money, and I have proposed this same idea of replacing him with Soler, but to play DA, why wouldn’t the Blue Jays just sign Soler, Hoskins, or Martinez for similar money and keep their prospects?
stampton, that may depend upon the players. Soler might not be able to play in Canada or some such (unfortunately, that may be true of Ozuna, too)
No. He’s already on the 40-man. He didn’t make the first cuts list.
The question with Soroka is whether we offer him arbitration. I would, as the $3M or so he will get is chump change given his potential, but I can see the team deciding that the chance he reaches his potential don’t justify the expense
A lot of these guys should be candidates for MiLB or split contracts once they are off the 40-man roster. The problem is that a lesser team might take a chance on some of them with full MLB contracts.
I would make every effort to keep Winans. We gave a lot of starts to worse pitchers than Winans last year.