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.
Outfield, Pitching Remain Priorities
In the wake of the twin signings of catcher Brian McCann (profiled here) and Josh Donaldson (detailed here), Braves GM Alex Anthopoulous said the Braves still had some items on their offseason shopping list to acquire. Talking to MLB Network Radio, Anthopoulos indicated the priorities were adding another outfielder and bolstering both the starting rotation and adding a late-inning option to the reliever corps.
Before that however, the Braves elected to tender contracts to all of their arbitration-eligible players on Friday, which keeps the 40-man roster completely filled. If they Braves add free agents on major league contracts, they will need to release or designate players off the 40-man roster to make room, so it seems that the next moves may be via trade.
Per attendees at an A-list season ticket holder luncheon Sunday afternoon, Anthopoulos indicated he wasn’t impressed with the asking prices for free agents right now, especially free agent relief pitchers. (Thanks to @jondhoward for live-tweeting the event.)
NL East Rival Check-In
Nationals: The Nationals finished 30th and 24th in catcher fWAR over the last two seasons. The Nationals seem committed to remedying this situation. First they signed free agent Kurt Suzuki, and this week they paired him with Yan Gomes, late of the Cleveland Indians. The move cost them outfield prospect Daniel Johnson and two other players. The Nationals are also reportedly courting free agent pitcher Patrick Corbin.
Mets: The Mets have made a big “go for it” trade with the Mariners, dealing two of their last three first round draft selections and three other players for closer Edwin Diaz and veteran second baseman Robinson Cano. Diaz was arguably the best reliever in baseball in 2018 and is under team control for another four years. Cano was tarnished with an 80-game PED suspension last year and is owed $81.1 million over the next five years, through his age-40 season. The Mariners are also sending $20 million in the deal to help offset the money owed to Cano. Cano fills an immediate need at second base, but this was a high-stakes deal for the rookie Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen. Latest rumors have the Mets now engaged with the Indians to possibly add starting pitcher Corey Kuber.
Phillies: There’s been a lot of smoke, but little fire so far, but the Phillies have telegraphed that their owner has soured on their rebuild after the disappointing end to last season and are prepared to spend big. They are also courting Patrick Corbin, and are expected to be in the market for the two biggest free agent targets, outfielder Bryce Harper and infielder Manny Machado. Latest rumors have them discussing a trade for shortstop Jean Segura that could include former top prospect infielder J.P. Crawford headlining the package going back to Seattle.
Marlins: The Marlins are still likely to deal J.T. Realmuto, even though two potential suitors in the Braves and Nationals have now made other arrangements. The Yankees, Astros, and Dodgers are the teams most often connected with Realmuto at this point.
Winter League Report
Venezuela
Mississippi infielder Alejandro Salazar has been putting bat to ball ever since he arrived in Venezuela to play for Aguilas del Zulia. Last week Salazar went 5-for-12 with 2 RBI. Salazar was named as the Braves #42 prospect on the OFR Top 50 Prospects list.
Dominican Republic
Salazar’s Mississippi teammate Luis Valenzuela is making noise of his own, going 10-for-22 with a double on the week, raising his season slash line to .321/.353/.397 for Aguilas Cibaenas. Valenzuela has a 3-game multi-hit streak working.
Puerto Rico
Catcher Jonathan Morales likewise has been on a role at the plate for Criollos de Caguas, going 5-for-14 with 2 walks in four starts behind the dish. After 11 games, Morales is looking for his first extra base hit.
Mexico
Gwinnett reliever Elian Leyva has been starting for Charros de Jalisco and after 9 outings is currently leading the Mexican Winter League in ERA among qualified pitchers (1.99) and is 5th in the league in strikeouts (36). Leyva pitched well as a swingman for both Mississippi and Gwinnett in 2018.
Australia
Fire Frogs outfielder Gary Schwartz had been slowly heating up for the Melbourne Aces over the first two weeks and he helped power the team to a 3-1 series win over Geelong-Korea last week. Schwartz went 5-for-15 with 2 home runs, a double, a walk, and 8 RBI, tallying at least 1 RBI in each of the four games.
Nicholas Shumpert went 3-for-13 with a double and a stolen base for Adelaide.
Rumors, News, and Innuendo
- The player with the most value left on the Seattle Mariners is outfielder Mitch Haniger. After initially indicating that the team would hold on to Haniger and closer Edwin Diaz to build around, it seems that GM Jerry DiPoto will now instead undertake a complete tear-down. While all rumors of a connection to the Braves are at this point purely conjecture, Haniger checks off a lot of boxes for a player the Braves should be interested in: relatively young at 27, under team control through 2022, and an outfielder that both gets on base and hits for power.
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe indicated that former Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel was “high on [The Braves’] wish list”. While Keuchel is a talented pitcher, it seems an unlikely match given that Keuchel is likely only interested in a multi-year deal while the Anthopoulos has demonstrated no appetite for getting into costly long-term deals for free agents. It should be noted that the next offseason rumor about the Atlanta Braves put out by Cafardo that is validated will be the first.
- Making more sense is the speculation by some national writers that San Francisco right-hander Madison Bumgarner could be a fit for Atlanta. Bumgarner only has a year of team control remaining, and combined with two consecutive injury-plagued seasons the cost of acquiring him should be fairly low. That said, there’s been no talks of any conversations actually occurring between the teams.
- Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon revealed that he and the team have been engaged in extension talks for the better part of a year. The Braves have made no secret of their admiration for Rendon’s game, ever since drafting him out of high school back in 2008. Rendon elected to honor a commitment to go to Rice University instead, a move that paid off as the Nationals made him a first round selection in the 2011 draft.
Mailbag Q&A
Q: Any thoughts on a new pitching coach? – M. Jackson
I don’t have any insight or anything. The latest scuttlebutt from The Athletic’s David O’Brien is that former Phillies pitching coach Rick Kranitz made it to a second interview; the irony is that the Phillies fired him this offseason and promoted assistant pitching coach Chris Young in part because other teams, including Atlanta, were interested in Young.
Expect whomever the Braves settle on to be strong in game preparation and comfortable with analytics, two areas that otherwise well-regarded outgoing pitching coach Chuck Hernandez was said to be lacking. This seems like a position the Braves would like to get nailed down prior to the Winter Meetings next week.
Q: To me the signings of McCann and Donaldson were surprises. Were we really rumored to sign them? Who are some more surprising possibilities that AA might acquire in the next month? – C. Clark
There had been lots of speculation about Donaldson being a possible fit for Atlanta as free agency began, but Anthopoulos’s comments about not wanting to get bogged down in a long-term, high-priced free agent contract basically put an end to them. Donaldson’s willingness to sign for one year was the absolute key to making this something the Braves ended up pursuing.
The Braves had an obvious opening at catcher, and McCann was speculated on as well as nearly every other free agent catcher. Most thought McCann would be a fall-back move however, in the case the Braves couldn’t bring in a Realmuto or Grandal. McCann’s willingness, like Donaldson, to sign a one-year deal and to sign at a bargain-bin price of $2 million for the season likely changed the course of the Braves thinking.
So far Anthopoulos has made several out-of-the-box moves. Getting Kevin Gausman, Brad Brach, Darren O’Day, and Jonny Venters at the deadline for mostly international bonus pool cap space was quietly brilliant. I don’t know what will come next, but so far his major moves have been sublime.
Q: Can we talk about Eddie Rosario and whether or not he’s a good fit? – C. Meadows
A: [Dad voice] I don’t know, can we? [/Dad voice]
In some ways, Rosario would be an even better fit for Atlanta than Haniger. A left-handed hitter who crushes right-handed pitchers, Rosario would seem to be a natural fit in the #5 slot, assuming Freddie Freeman and Donaldson bat 3/4. He’s the same age as Haniger and is slightly better on defense. He has one fewer years of team control, eligible for free agency after the 2021 season. The biggest question is what the Twins want to do. There was some indication that the Twins may have a mini sell-off this offseason, but with Cleveland now shedding salary and the rest of the AL Central either going into or just starting to come out of rebuilds, the competitive calculus may have changed for Minnesota.
Q: I’m curious about how the Donaldson contract might affect our ability to sign upper echelon free agent pitching, if at all. If so, what tier could we reasonably be looking at? – E. Skinner
A. I doubt Atlanta was ever that serious about adding high-dollar, long-term free agent contracts at all, and that likely goes double for free agent pitchers. If the Braves do come back around to the market, look for them to go after pitchers that may want shorter-term deals in order to hit the market quicker, presumably after they rebuild their value with Atlanta. In this sense, a pitcher like left-handed reliever Zach Britton could make some sense on a high-dollar, short-term deal.
Q: Who is our next biggest target? – C. Churchill
A: I think outfielder will be addressed next, and I think it will be via trade. In addition to Mitch Hanigar, some options could include Corey Dickerson of the Pirates, Nomar Mazara of the Rangers, David Peralta of the Diamondbacks, and George Springer of the Astros.
Q: Are we interested in any of the non-tenders? Luis Avilan and Shelby Miller both had success here. – N. Lyle
A: First off, check out Friend of OFR Tommy Poe’s excellent non-tender free agent analysis at The Sports Daily. To be honest, there’s not much there that looks better than what the Braves already have on hand. Relievers Blake Parker and Xavier Cedeno were surprise non-tenders and will command a lot of attention, and thus probably get priced out of Atlanta’s comfort zone. To some degree that’s probably true for Avilan too.
Miller will likely go somewhere that’s thin enough in starting pitching depth that they are willing to give AAA starts to Miller to see what he’s got left in the tank. That doesn’t sound at all like Atlanta.
One player that does interest me is former Rockies prospect Jordan Patterson, who is just looking for an opportunity after a strong minor league career. The lefty bat would make a good bench/platoon partner with Adam Duvall.
Q: I am curious about the pitching coach and right field position. Also are we really looking for a closer? – M. Thorton
A: Going into the season with Arodys Vizcaino and A.J. Minter to share high-leverage duties at the back of the ‘pen wouldn’t be the worst plan. Not the sexiest idea, but it really is better to grow your own closers than to buy them off the rack, to mix a metaphor. I do think the Braves add one more reliever that has experience in high-leverage situations however.
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