It seems like AA is just going to keep trading and trading until he finally covers the cost of that Seattle trade. Late last night, AA swung a deal with the Angels in a 4-player swap.
Once again, AA makes a trade that is motivated more by cash rather than the name. Max Stassi, who sat out all last year due to his son spending most of 2023 in the NICU due to being born prematurely, will be ready to go in 2024, but it won’t be for the Braves as Peanut already dropped the truth bomb:
David Fletcher, a super utility player, is the 2nd part of the deal. Fletcher had a good offensive run in 2019 and 2020, but has since been all defense and little bat. For now, Fletcher will be the Braves backup in nearly all facets, but I’m not sure he won’t be moved as well.
The Braves sent Evan White and all his remaining baggage back to the Angels along with Tyler Thomas, who spent very little time in the Braves org as he was picked up in the AAA portion of the Rule 5 draft.
With so many moving parts from the original Mariners trade, then the trade of Marco Gonzales to the Pirates, things have gotten a bit crazy on the financial side, but luckily there are people out there that know more than me. My friend Boggy will have an update what all this madness means to the Braves payroll and I’ll have an update later.
Some Interesting Tidbits…It’s Probably Nothing
Something to keep an eye on, but the Tyler Glasnow thing is definitely more to watch than Shohei Ohtani. Glasnow’s trade value hovers around $13MM and that’s definitely more palatable, especially if the Braves can send Max Stassi back to them.
Otani to the Dodgers for seven years and 700 million. We sure as hell we’re paying that no matter how many of his friends we put on the team.
I reckon that will hold him for a while.
I read 10 years, $700MM
There is a 40% chance he never pitches again.
No opt outs and a lot of deferrals I guess
I think the insurance the Dodgers will buy on that contract will annually exceed the A’s payroll.
Indeed.
Would’ve loved to see him go to Toronto. But I always suspected it would be LAD.
OK, focus… More pitching, please…
We will get Lugo and Kelenic while the Dodgers get Ohtani and Yamamoto
And we still have the better offense and pitching.
Agree with Ryan, Just go look at the post-Ohtani projected WAR at Fangraphs. Braves still better on both offense and pitching.
I wonder which team bid $699 million.
And just like that, Stassi is gone. Still wondering what kind of PTBNL we will get from either Pirates or White Sox. As Ryan mentioned, not only do the Rays need a backup catcher but so did the White Sox and the Brewers. I did think that he could be a piece in a Glasnow, Cease, or Burnes trade. I do have to wonder if the Braves and White Sox already have a tacit deal for Cease and the White Sox are playing coy to try and extract more. I’m not sure AA would have traded Stassi so fast unless something was already brewing with the White Sox.
I gotta believe that AA solved the LF issue with Kelenic and Util with Fletcher, but had to pay the price to get there. I am still holding my breath for an ace. There are a lot available both on the trade market and FA market.
Stassi, Gonzales, White – will go down with past Braves greats like Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, Carlos Quentin…
$700 million! $700 million buys a bunch of raw fish, bubba.
and a few small countries.
There are a couple of factors to the dodgers detriment. One is that their pitching is still in shambles. Two is that Ohtani may not pitch again. Three is that they are heavily invested in players on the wrong side of thirty. The Mets got hit with that last year and eventually it will catch up with the dodgers
And the Braves continue to get younger. When Morton and TdA retire, we will get younger still.
Signing Ohtani goes beyond improving the roster. This is also about branding, marketing, merchandising, etc. There’s a significant chance Ohtani ends up being a $70M DH/outfielder for a big chunk of that contract. But the money is irrelevant to them.
Interesting note on PTBNLs: GMs have 6 months to choose from a list. In both cases this year, AA has sent a lot of $ to the team with the trade and the expectation is that the list to choose from won’t be a normal scrub list.
Okay, so maybe this is how we restock the minors a bit in anticipation of signing a FA and losing a pick?
I know it’s been said, but this just seems like AA is playing the game where you begin with scraps and end up with a nice piece.
Wasn’t there a TV/Netflix show that went along those lines. Start with a rusted muffler, but trade after trade, and before too long you’ve got the keys to a mint ‘67 Camaro.
Give AA someone like Nicky Lopez and see what he can do. I’d watch that show! Haha