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.
Non-Tender Deadline Looms
Friday is the deadline for teams to tender a contract to their arbitration-eligible players. The Braves have 8 such players, listed below with their estimated salaries for 2019 by MLB Trade Rumors, which has a pretty good track record on this:
OF Adam Duvall – $3.1M
UT Charlie Culberson – $1.4M
RHP Kevin Gausman – $9.2M
RHP Mike Foltynewicz – $5.5M
RHP Arodys Vizcaino – $4.8M
RHP Dan Winkler – $1.6M
LHP Jonny Venters – $1.5MM
LHP Sam Freeman – $1.5MM
Of these the player who seems most likely to be non-tendered would be outfielder Adam Duvall due to a tough 2018 season, especially after the Braves traded for him at the non-waiver deadline last season. The team and the players exchange arbitration figures on January 11; the Braves have an excellent track record for signing their arbitration-eligible players prior to exchanging figures, which the Braves have traditionally looked at as a hard deadline for negotiating one-year deals. A notable exception to this was last year’s Mike Foltynewicz first year of arbitration eligibility, when the two sides failed to reach an accord and ended up being separated by only $100,000 after numbers were exchanged.
Winter League Report
Dominican Republic
With right-handers Jacob Webb and Wes Parsons having returned home to the United States, the Braves only have infielders Luiz Valenzuela and Luis Marte currently playing in the Dominican. Valenzuela has hit a solid .294/.322/.376 while starting for Aguilas Cibaenas, where he has been teammates with former Braves Danny Santana, Christian Bethancourt, and Zolio Almonte.
Marte has been playing sporadically for Gigantes del Cibao, hitting .164/.239/.262 in 21 games. Marte is teammates with former Brave Joey Terdoslavich.
Venezuela
Mississippi second baseman Alejandro Salazar continued his good work for Aguilas de Zulia, collecting 4 more hits, including a double, to run his 10-game slash line to .438/.457/.625. Left-hander Ricardo Sanchez struggled in a start on Thursday, surrendering 2 runs and allowing 6 baserunners in 3.1 innings pitched.
Puerto Rico
After playing a shortened 21-game schedule last year after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, the Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican Winter League is back in business. The only Brave in the league so far is Mississippi catcher Jonathan Morales, who is scuffling along with a .278/.316/.278 batting line after 7 games. Morales hit a game winning 3-run homer for Puerto Rico in last season’s Caribbean Series final.
Australia
The second week of the Austrian Baseball League saw Florida Fire Frogs outfielder Gary Schwartz stay hot for Melbourne with three hits, including his first home run of the season on Sunday. The 2017 winter league home of Ronald Acuna and the 2018 home of Brett Cumberland and Tyler Neslony, Melbourne is off to a strong start with a 6-2 record.
Those two losses came this week as Melbourne visited the cross-province Adelaide Bite this week for a four-game set. One of the Adelaide wins was keyed by a 2-for-3 afternoon by Rome shortstop Nicholas Shumpert. Shumpert has mostly been playing right field for Adelaide, with former Braves draft pick Mikey Reynolds handling shortstop duties.
Minor Transactions
As posted last week by colleague Brent Blackwell, the Braves added four minor league players to the 40-man roster. As expected, right-hander and #13 OFR top prospect Patrick Weigel was added. Also added were #18 prospect right-hander Huascar Ynoa, #21 prospect catcher Alex Jackson, and #45 prospect right-handed reliever Jacob Webb.
In the aftermath, Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper identified Braves shortstop Ray-Patrick Didder as a notable player not protected, while beat writer Mark Bowman pointed out the improved pitching of non-protected right-handed reliever Josh Graham in AA Mississippi later in the season.
And while the Braves (and most of the rest of the league) have been quiet so far this offseason with major league moves, the organization added two minor league free agents this week in addition to former Twins outfielder Ryan LaMarre, as detailed by Brent last week.
Outfielder Connor Lien should be a name familiar to fans that have been following the minor leagues. Drafted by the Braves in 2012, Lien made many prospect lists after his advanced-A 2015 season in which he hit .285/.347/.415 with 9 home runs, 34 stolen bases, and 21(!) outfield assists. Injuries and a free-swinging approach at the plate however conspired to make Lien a below-average player since then however, and last season he only hit .198/.289/.343 as a part-time player for Mississippi. Nevertheless, the Braves appear to be bringing Lien back on a minor league free agent deal. While Lien hasn’t been able to develop as hoped at the plate, he will remain one of the top defensive outfielders in the system, able to play all three outfield spots well, an important consideration in Mississippi’s spacious TrustMark Park.
The Braves also added former Miami Marlins outfielder Rafael Ortega on a minor league deal. Ortega has been up in the majors with the Rockies in 2012, the Angels in 2016, and with the Marlins for 41 games in 2018. The 27-year-old Ortega hit .233/.287/.271 with Miami, but fared much better with AAA New Orleans, where he hit .275/.375/.404 with 2 home runs and 12 stolen bases. Ortega seems likely to take an outfield spot for the Gwinnett Stripers in 2019, which saw Dustin Peterson and Michael Reed leave the organization this offseason while the team has to date not re-signed minor league free agent Xavier Avery.
Rumors, News, and Innuendo
- The big move of last week was the trade of left-handed starter James Paxton to the New York Yankees by Seattle. The Mariners acquired a prospect packaged that included left-hander Justus Sheffield, right-hander Erik Swanson, and outfielder Dom Thompson-Williams and signaled they were prepared for a rebuild. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi this week indicated that the Braves have “checked in” on closer Edwin Diaz though it is expected that the Mariners asking price for Diaz, arguably the game’s best reliever in 2018 and under team control for three seasons, is exorbitant.
- The acquisition of Paxton lends more credence to the likelihood that the Yankees are moving on from right-hander Sonny Gray. This week Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe named Atlanta as one of four teams to have inquired about Gray as a buy-low starting pitcher candidate, as discussed in last week’s Hot Stove report.
- Braves beat writer David O’Brien of The Athletic fanned some flames regarding the level of interest the Braves may or may not have in outfielder Bryce Harper last week on Twitter. Last Monday, O’Brien tweeted “Despite any posturing you might hear now, don’t be surprised if Braves are players in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. I keep hearing things that make me believe they will be. Two hours later, O’Brien followed up with “And having said that, I was almost immediately assured (again) by someone I trust in these matters that the Braves are not — repeat *not* — in on Harper and this person doesn’t think they will be, said no way they’d give 10-year deal, etc. So, there ya go. Quashing my rumor.”. So there you go… the Braves may players with Harper, but probably not.
Your Moment of Zen
So, @statcast said this was the fastest pitch hit for a home run in MLB this year… 99.7 mph.
Johan Camargo, folks. #Braves pic.twitter.com/nxm8zdSB08
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) August 30, 2018
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