Welcome to the Hot Stove Report, your semi-regular capsule of all of the off-season news, rumors, transactions, and winter league action for the Atlanta Braves. Check in with us every Monday through the start of spring training as we sift though everything Braves.
THAT is how you end a ballgame!#TakeKakes: https://t.co/tF2BPq04Q9 pic.twitter.com/DaDnir1czP
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 17, 2018
Hardware Month Starts Out Strong For the Braves
This is start of Hardware Month in Major League Baseball, as the league and their various sponsors hand out awards to often deserving players. To get the festivities started at the odd time of 9:00 PM on Sunday night the Gold Glove Award winners were announced by MLB, ESPN, and Rawlings.
The Braves won three Gold Gloves, the highest total in one year in franchise history. The winners were first baseman Freddie Freeman, centerfielder Ender Inciarte, and right fielder Nick Markakis. Nominated but falling just short were pitcher Julio Teheran and left fielder Adam Duvall. Inexplicably not nominated were shortstop Dansby Swanson and second baseman Ozzie Albies.
For Freeman, this was his first Gold Glove Award and in fact the first ever Gold Glove by a Braves for first base. Markakis was honored for the third time in his career, but the first time as a Brave. For Inciarte, this was his third award and his third in a row.
OFR sends their congratulations to all of the Braves defensive wizards, as well as to former Brave Andrelton Simmons, who picked up his fourth career Gold Glove and his second with the Los Angeles Angels.
The finalists for Most Valuable Player, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year will be announced on Monday, November 5. Then the roll-out of winners will proceed like this:
Thursday, Nov. 8: Silver Slugger Awards
Monday, Nov. 12: Jackie Robinson Awards (Rookies of the Year)
Tuesday, Nov. 13: Manager of the Year Awards
Wednesday, Nov. 14: Cy Young Awards
Thursday, Nov. 15: Most Valuable Player Awards
Braves Trade Cash Considerations For Catching Depth
Cash Considerations continues to be one of the Braves more popular trade assets, far more than second-place finisher Kelly Johnson.
This week Considerations got the Braves some catching depth in the form of 28 year old journeyman Raffy Lopez, most recently of the San Diego Padres organization. Lopez is a quintessential “quad-A” player, showing solid performance at AAA but unable to put it together in the major leagues. Lopez does come with the reputation of a solid defensive catcher, but most importantly Lopez also still has an option.
Last season the Braves employed Carlos Perez, Chris Stewart, and Rene Rivera at different points during the season to fill in for starting catchers Kurt Suzuki and Tyler Flowers when either or both suffered from injury. The reason there are so many names there is the Braves did not have at AAA a catcher that had options and could simply be recalled and then sent back down when not needed anymore. Each time the player would have to have his contract purchased, and when he needed to be removed from the roster he had to go through the waiver process before he could be outrighted back to AAA… if he didn’t exercise his right to become a free agent, as Perez did back in April.
Having Lopez at AAA with his option gets clear of all of that rigamarole. Look for the Braves to add several depth pieces at the AAA level, looking for players that could step in in case of injury and perhaps provide surprising value. Don’t forget that fan-favorite Charlie Culberson was considered a quad-A player before this season.
Free Agency Begins
Saturday, November 3 was the official start of free agency. The Braves declined to make a qualifying offer to any of their free agents. Following is a list of all Braves organizational free agents that are now free to explore opportunities with any team:
Atlanta: RHP Brad Brach, 1B Lucas Duda, IF Ryan Flaherty, OF Nick Markakis, RHP Brandon McCarthy (announced retirement), RHP Peter Moylan, RHP Rene Rivera, RHP Anibal Sanchez, C Kurt Suzuki
Gwinnett: OF Lane Adams, OF Xavier Avery, LHP Chad Bell, 1B Carlos Franco, LHP Jacob Lindgren, RHP Jose Ramirez, OF Preston Tucker, RHP Kelvin Vasquez
Mississippi: RHP Manny Barreda, RHP Enderson Franco, OF Connor Lien, RHP Dan Lietz, 1B/C Tyler Marlette, LHP Tyler Pike, 1B Michael Snyder
Florida: LHP Joe Rogers
Rome: IF Marcus Almonte
Pache, Muller Among Arizona Fall League All-Stars
Saturday was the Arizona Fall League “Fall-Star” Game, a showcase of the best of the top prospects that have been tabbed to play in the league. The Braves were represented by outfielder Cristian Pache and left-hander Kyle Muller, who placed #4 and #16 respectively on the OFR Mid-Season Top 30 Propects list.
Pache went 1-for-2 with a groundball single in the game before being replaced by Orioles prospect Ryan McKenna. Pache would come around and score the third run of the game for the West Stars on an RBI single by Dodgers catching prospect Keibert Ruiz. Pache has had a good season with the Peoria Javelinas, hitting .290/.318/.387 with a stolen base.
Muller pitched the fifth inning for the West Fall Stars and gave up two hits and a walk and an earned run while striking out two. Muller struck out Nationals prospect Carter Kieboom to lead off the 5th before walking Detroit’s Daz Cameron in a good battle. Muller then gave up a bloop centerfield single to Red Sox third baseman Bobby Dalbec; Pache tried to deke Cameron into holding at second base, but Cameron read the ball well and advanced to third. Diamondbacks first baseman Pavin Smith followed with a hard single up the middle to plate Cameron, but Muller ended the frame with an easy fly-out by Angels second baseman Jahmai Jones and a strikeout of Diamondbacks catcher Daulton Varsho. Muller has thrown out of the bullpen for the Javelinas, likely to limit his innings after he threw a career high 140 innings across three minor league levels in 2018. He sports a 1.13 ERA in 8 innings with 12 strikeouts for Peoria.
Also making noise in the AFL is Fire Frogs first baseman Braxton Davidson, who is leading the league with 5 home runs in only 12 games played, hitting .250/.377/.614. Davidson also has struck out 22 times in 44 at-bats.
[SHAMELESS PLUG: Check out the the start of the updated OFR prospect list every Thursday in the month of November, starting last week with prospects #50-41.]
Rumors, News, and Innuendo
- Speculation about the Braves interest in Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto continued to swirl, fanned in part by MLB.com beat writer Mark Bowman, who wrote another article all but advocating the Braves acquire the All-Star. Bowman intimated that talks between the Braves and Marlins occurred around the trade deadline with Braves prospects Mike Soroka and Austin Riley potentially going to the Marlins.
- The trade market got a log thrown on the fire when ESPN.com’s Buster Olney wrote that the Cleveland Indians will entertain trade offers for most of their veteran players. The reigning AL Central champs are reportedly looking to shed payroll, but will also be looking to contend again in the division. Cleveland is reportedly not interested in moving All-Stars Francisco Lindor or Jose Ramirez, but ace pitcher Corey Kluber, star right-hander Carlos Carrasco, catchers Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez, designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, and the the versatile Jason Kipnis are reportedly available. The armchair GMs in the Braves twitterverse, including yours truly, all agreed that the Kluber in particular would be an outstanding addition to the Braves.
- The always-interesting MLB Trade Rumors free agent predictions list was published on Saturday. The Braves were listed as a possible destination for outfielder Bryce Harper and left-hander Patrick Corbin (as long shots), as well as closer Craig Kimbrel, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, outfielder Andrew McCutchen, third baseman Josh Donaldson, and left-hander Gio Gonzalez. However they were listed as the favorites for Cleveland outfielder Michael Brantley and reliever Cody Allen. I listed Brantley as a possible Braves acquisition in a Braves Offseason Priorities piece last week.
Mailbag Q&A
Thanks to readers on the Outfield Fly Rule Facebook forum for questions.
Q: With such a loaded system, are there any prospects in particular you think the Braves would be interested in obtaining more than the norm? – T.J. Alexander
This is a great question, because with the Braves contending window open and the focus understandably on acquiring major league talent, there still could be opportunities to bolster the farm system with targeted acquisitions. Specifically, near-major league players that could be caught in the numbers game could be flipped to teams for upside prospects on the lower rungs of the minor league ladder. Trades for major league assets could also have some minor league components come back to the Braves to “even up” the sides of a deal.
The Braves should continue to be opportunistic to address areas of weakness in those lower rungs, specifically at catcher, middle infield, and starting pitching. For example, a Soroka/Riley for two seasons of Realmuto deal would be, with all due respect to Bowman, an overpay. However, if the Marlins also included 20-year-old infielder Christopher Torres, who rose up to the A-ball level in August, it would help equalize the deal and give the Braves a position player prospect to develop.
Q: If the Braves sign a free agent carrying a qualifying offer this offseason, is their compensation #9 pick in next year’s draft at risk? -Nicholas Lyle
A: No, under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement the first overall pick by any team is now protected even if a team signs a free agent that declined a qualifying offer. After that, the penalty is based on if the team received revenue sharing the previous year or exceeded the luxury tax threshold. As a team that is a revenue sharing recipient and did not exceed the luxury tax threshold, the Braves would be penalized by losing their third-highest selection, which for Atlanta would be their second-round pick, the #61 selection overall.
Seven free agents were given a qualifying offer last week:
- LHP Patrick Corbin
- C Yasmani Grandal
- OF Bryce Harper
- LHP Dallas Keuchel
- RHP Craig Kimbrel
- OF A.J. Pollock
- LHP Hyun-jin Ryu
All seven players are expected to reject the offers.
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