The Braves, in desperate need for a bat, looked over the flaws of a gloveless outfielder and traded for Jorge Soler. It worked before so why could it not work again? Well, before he took the field in his 2nd tenure with the Braves, Soler hadn’t played the field since September 27th of 2023. However, AA was willing to look over that fact and gave it a run because the bat was worth playing. And it was true, the bat was worth playing as Soler carried an .849 OPS in 182 PAs with the team.
But the glove *YEESH*. The glove was worse than the worst outfielder in the game. In his 49 game sample with the Braves, of which he was pulled late in almost every game for defensive purposes, he racked up -8 Runs Above Average (which feels weird to say, especially when starting with “Runs Above Average”).
I understood what AA was trying to do and I admired the effort. It did bring in a good bat that could extend the lineup. And while I put a lot more value into the offensive side, there were at least 2 games that Jorge Soler‘s “efforts” in the field proved to be the daggers, not that it really mattered.
The Trade
The Braves traded Jorge Soler to the Angels to clear some $, but it was obvious that it was likely more than that and the negative glove, alongside the fact that the Braves already have one of the best DHs in the game, made it an easy decision.
But we will always have this moment. Thanks Jorge Soler.
It had very little chance of working out, but now that it’s over, turned out to have low cost. It’s not like we could’ve run Eli White out there every night.
I was worried about the long-term salary effects more than anything. But I should’ve known AA would take care of it.
I still don’t understand why we didn’t go after Winker, or really anyone else. The Mets got Winker for a fairly anonymous pitching prospect who’s viewed as a potential back-end starter and who’s now in the back half of the Nats’ top 30 prospect. Winker isn’t a terrific player – he’s a low average guy with pretty bad defense – but at least he can play nine innings. I would’ve been fine with Mark Canha, too; the Giants got him for a similar 40-FV prospect, pretty much the same market cost as Winker and Soler. The Rays got Dylan Carlson for a 10-year veteran reliever with a career ERA over 4.00. Wh
I guess I could see Soler as a marginally more high-upside play, but his upside really was nullified by the fact that they had no plan for him to DH at all.
Looking at the deadline deals this year, it felt like the market actually wound up being a lot less hot than people thought it would be, and it felt like Alex Anthopoulos was caught on his back heels.
I think the real problem here is depth at the minors. At this point, there’s just not a lot of Braves MILBers that are going to pull a good player at the deadline, so the team has to go other routes and buy a player. They did that with both Sale and Soler.
Ryan, we got Soler for Sabin Ceballos and Tyler Matzek, it wasn’t just a straight salary dump or cash purchase.
Ceballos is a 40-FV prospect, exactly the same caliber of prospect as the A’s received for Canha and the Nats received for Winker.
Everyone was asking the for the Moon for any trades AA was trying to make because they smelled desperation. Giants just wanted to clear payroll.
Looks like we traded for Nick Allen who is an improvement on Zach Short
I mean, at this point, Martin Short would be an improvement on Zack Short. The bar is low. Here’s hoping.
I lol’ed at Martin Short
Guy can play defense and has speed, but that is about it
I think Arcia’s time of being even replacement level is running out, and he could be one of the worst starters in baseball next year. Nick Allen is probably insurance on insurance. Let’s hope we find someone decent to play short so we won’t have to entertain either of these options.
Yup, we just acquired a SS who looks to be somewhere between Tom Veryzer & Craig Robinson.
Between Veryzer and Robinson, the two of them combined for nearly 4000 plate appearances and -6.4 WAR! Allen’s got some extraordinary shoes to fill, that’s for sure.
Craig Robinson is my neighbor!
OK here’s what I think we should do. We should trade for Garrett Crochet and sign him to a long-term deal. If Ha-Seong Kim can’t be had for a reasonable 1-2 year deal, we should punt the SS decision to 2025. We should sign a stop-gap shortstop like Iglesias to share time with Nick Allen and Arcia’s corpse. When 2025 rolls around, maybe Nacho will have improved or we can be a player for Bo Bichette. Failing that, there’s Tommy Edman.
The only problem with my plan is having 2 Iglesias on the club, and then you have to make sure they’re the same denomination.
“The only problem with my plan is having 2 Iglesias on the club, and then you have to make sure they’re the same denomination.”
Bravo.
What about Roki Sasaki? I think “officially” no team can promise anything more than “their bonus pool” and the pre FA payment schedule. But, is there a way to “unofficially” promise more (like Coke, Home Depot, UPS, Georgia Pacific stepping up on endorsements?) Can you promise to spend payroll (on Adames? On a big outfielder, on a couple of plus relievers)?
IF Braves go get Sasaki, then you have enough payroll room left to really fill out the roster and make Braves a contender equal to Dodgers, Yankees, etc.
I’d love for us to be players for Sasaki, but I have to imagine that the disappearance of Kenshin Kawakami has to weigh hugely negatively against us, notwithstanding the very good performance we got from Takashi Saito (I had forgotten his name so I had to look him up, so I doubt he’ll redress the balance too heavily).
Having said that, I am hugely concerned about his health and definitely worry about the potential for him to have a Matsuzaka-esque stateside career. I’m sure his raw talent is greater, and it could well be that an enlightened organization would be better positioned to get the most of his talent and health, though everyone sort of expects him to go to Los Angeles, and though they might be the best-run franchise in baseball, Lord knows that the Dodgers haven’t been able to keep their own pitchers healthy.
The Dodgers are going to be good for a while. But all these lengthy expensive contracts they are giving out will blow up in their face eventually
Well, maybe – but they’re richer than Croesus and can pretty much print money!
Maybe so, but you can only sign so many players until you have no more room
I’m not sure how well he can play shortstop, but of all the rumors I’ve heard, Gleyber Torres sounds like a good option. He had an off year with only 1.8 WAR and 15 hrs, but he’s only 27 and should get back up to about 20 home runs and about a 2.5 or so war. If he can play decent at ss, I think he would be affordable and may have 2 or 3 more solid years left.
Braves sign Charles Leblanc. Who? And why? It is a minor league deal but no bat guy.