About 2 weeks ago, the Braves had 48 men on their 40-man roster. Now? 30. Yes, Alex Anthopoulos cleared 18 spots in 2 weeks time. For a man that has discussed time and time again the value of having a full 40-man roster, this was more than odd, it’s something that I haven’t seen from any team at the tender deadline. To recap:
- Claimed Penn Murfee then non-tendered him days later
- Claimed Angel Perdomo the non-tender him days later
- Non-tendered Luke Williams
- Non-tendered Kolby Allard
- Non-tendered Chadwick Tromp
- Non-tendered Michael Tonkin
- Non-tendered Yonny Chirinos
- Declined option for Eddie Rosario
- Declined option for Kirby Yates
- Declined option for Collin McHugh
- Traded Nick Anderson for Cash
- Traded Kyle Wright to the Royals for Jackson Kowar
- Traded Michael Soroka, Nicky Lopez, Jared Shuster, Braden Shewmake, and Riley Gowens for Aaron Bummer
What was once 48, has now turned into 30. It’s wild that Anthopoulos has opened 10 40-man spots, but more importantly than the spots, is the cash savings. It really does look like AA is finally pushing in those chips and it’s an exciting time to be a Braves fan.
AA’s Little Secret Uncovered?
If I’m seeing things correctly, AA’s checklist is LF, SP, and RP. However, AA has never shied away from making bold moves, even if the position seems to already be filled with quality. While I have no sources, I truly believe that Shohei Ohtani could be on the table, although it would be hard to see him turning down what would likely be a more lucrative offer from the Dodgers. Even if it’s not Shohei, the Braves front office looks to be showing signs that this is the time to spend. It also looks like AA might have showed his hand when he discussed an approach that would “shape his offseason”. If you look at the above list of non-tendered players, you will see a common denominator with almost all of them:
- Murfee: Injured
- Perdomo: Injured
- Allard: Injured
- Chirinos: Injured
- McHugh: Injured
- Soroka: Injured
- Wright: Injured
A little birdy whispered to me that one of the main topics discussed at the GM meetings was the manipulation of the IL in 2023. While we know that the Mets have been publicly called out, apparently it’s been a bigger problem across MLB and it will be under the microscope come 2024. So…when AA dropped this nugget…
“As I sit here today – I’m not gonna share it, just because from a competitive standpoint, it’s gonna shape our offseason and some of the things that we do – but I definitely have a specific takeaway in terms of how we might approach the offseason”
…I think he was talking about health.
What to do with the 40-Man Spots?
There were 2 Georgia boys who were on the path to stardom, but were never able to put together sustained success in the bigs. Austin Meadows, the number 9 overall pick in the 2013 draft, now 28, was on his way to stardom before mental health issues sidelined his career. He only played in 6 games in the 2023 season.
Kyle Lewis, once the number 1 prospect in the entire game, had a promising start to his MLB career in 2019, but faded fast and hit rock bottom last year. Now, he’s a free agent and Georgia is his home.
With so many spots available, AA has about 4 that need to be filled for the MLB roster, but what a feeling it would be to find supreme talent at thrift store costs.
Breathe it in, ladies and gents….It’s kinda nice not worrying about the 40-man.
AA settled all family business.
Ohtani won’t be a Braves. You can bank on that. No way Braves give that much money for one player when they have so many other obvious needs
Wins are wins no matter where you acquire them and it is far better to get one player worth 8 wins a season than to get three guys who between them give you the same production. Ohtani definitely fills a need.
OTOH when will be the first time some pundit on the MLB Channel says that open spots on the 40-man are the new market inefficiency?
I kinda disagree on this point having seen what Ohtani and Trout have done for the Angels. I’d rather have three 3 WAR guys than one 9 WAR guy. One guy might be worth a quality 650ABs but three could give you over 1900ABs with reasonable quality. I think the higher WAR have diminishing returns.
It took Mike Minor almost two years to come back from his shoulder issues and that’s probably what Kyle is looking at, unfortunately.
But the Angels had nothing else. The Angels and Braves are 2 different animals.
Meadows/Lewis could be a legitimate LF platoon on the cheap and if one breaks out, you have a real bargain. Plus real competition for Grissom. I do wonder what more AA could do. We have four SPs and a robust competition for 5th (P.S. I like Ynoa for a swingman role). We could possibly use one or two more elite relievers (one to hedge the lefties and one to improve on Kowar) but Daysbel is a reasonable possibility. A good LF platoon would solve one bench spot. The other could be filled from within (Waddell? Wall?). He could pick up a couple of one-year rebuild guys like he is wont to do to bridge until more prospects are ready.
There are bunches of interesting (not top dollar) free agents now. We need a backup catcher. So many I couldn’t list them all. I was going to mention Woodruff but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
It would feel contradictory to go after Woodruff when AA just released Wright.
Depends on how their shoulder injuries compare and return timetables. Plus Kyle wright was only good for one year out of several and Woodruff has been consistently great.
Again, Woodruff is an example but there are so many possibilities including Giolitto, Flaherty, Dakota Hudson, Boyd, Keller, Eduardo. Urias, Wacha, Wood. And that is just part of the SP not every other position. The depth of the reclamation projects is astounding this year.
With Fried and Morton locked in this year, there can be some attention paid to next year beyond the prospects (and Ian Anderson’s return). Not sure, however, what free agent ace might be better than extending Fried. And beyond all this MLBRumors has the Braves at the top of the Dylan Cease trade fit list.
Cease would be great. He would come cheaper than if you had traded for him after his dazzling 2022, and he got BABIP’d a bit last year. He might sign an extension and regardless you’re getting him for what I believe are statistically pitcher’s best years, 28-29.
Somehow I have that feeling that we might lose Ozzie in a SP trade.
Hadn’t considered that. I like Ozzie as a person a lot, but I don’t love him as a player. He swings at pitches a foot outside the zone at the worst possible time. Grissom can probably play second base more adequately than short. The reason I personally would not trade Ozzie though is that he took a way below market deal to stay here through his 20’s and I think you have to reward that with loyalty to him, or it just seems predatory.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/braves-sign-reynaldo-lopez.html
Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. Wish they had gotten him at the deadline last year (or after the Angels waived him). He has both high leverage reliever and swingman upside. And he’s cheap this year…. And the bullpen gets younger.
He was listed at #27 at MLBTR and #37 at FG.
Further, Lopez makes a nice cuff for Ynoa and Bummer for Matzek. If either of those fail or need more time then the Braves are already prepared rather than having to rely on some flotsam or jetsom. Now to resolve one SP and LF (and the bench). Timo may have a point that one of Ozzie or Grissom may be traded…..
I like the signing in a vacuum but I worry we’re pivoting off of some of the free agent starters due to cost.
His numbers aren’t that great as a starter but maybe the front office sees something.
If the Braves were ready to give Nola (with QO) what is quoted in Ryan’s post then I would think one Nola = one Lopez + one Gray. Not to mention that Snell and Montgomery (sans QO) and Eduardo Rodriquez (sans QO) are all out there among many others.
The real question becomes “What about LF”.
Also consider that AA might be wondering what we are doing throwing Elder out there for a playoff start for 2 innings when you could just do a bullpen game. If the bullpen is deep enough it takes some pressure off the starting staff.
I still think we sign a starter, but I like being so deep in the bullpen that we can cover any game when need be.
The word is that the Braves offered 6/$162M to Nola and that it wasn’t their final offer. If true, that’s $27M per, which would have made Nola the highest paid Brave ever on an AAV basis.
Glad that didn’t happen. I think Nola’s best years are already behind him.