Just left a meeting with my guy with the M Braves. He just got back from winter meetings and the consensus is that we are getting Bryant and letting JD go.
Did he mention what we’re giving up? I just want to make sure he’s heard the same stuff that I’ve been hearing.
i am a proponent of expansion as much as the next guy but two mlb teams with the same name seems like a poor marketing strategy
Spoiler SAN DIEGO — Like most others at the Winter Meetings, Braves manager Brian Snitker said he has no idea where Josh Donaldson will end up. But he knows there’s a pretty good chance it won’t be back with Atlanta, as much as Snitker and plenty of others connected with the Braves wish that wasn’t the case. The Braves are looking for a cleanup hitter, preferably — but not necessarily — one who plays third base. “I’d love to have Josh back,” Snitker said Wednesday at the Winter Meetings, which will conclude with the Rule 5 draft Thursday morning. “He’s one of those guys that you kind of grow attached to. I mean, what he brought, what he did for our club. (But) I understand how the business end of this works, too.” Donaldson signed a one-year, $23 million contract with the Braves just more than a year ago, then hit 37 homers with 94 RBIs, a .379 on-base percentage and .900 OPS in 155 games while playing exceptional defense. He was voted National League Comeback Player of the Year last week, turned 34 on Sunday and has drawn serious interest from at least a half-dozen teams, including the Braves, who’ve shown no inclination toward giving him the four-year contract he seeks. Many at the Winter Meetings believe Donaldson, the second-best free-agent third baseman available this winter, will end up getting that fourth-year guarantee. And it could come sooner rather than later after the best free-agent third baseman, Anthony Rendon, reportedly signed a seven-year, $245 million contract Wednesday with the Los Angeles Angels. With Donaldson the best unsigned free-agent third baseman, some of the remaining teams in need of a third baseman — the Rangers, Dodgers, Nationals, Phillies and Braves — presumably have a greater sense of urgency to sign one and not be left scrambling to fill their need with a far lesser player than Donaldson. Among teams pursuing Donaldson, the Rangers might view it as less risky to give him four years than would an NL team, because he could always move to the designated-hitter role with an American League team if he were to slow down or otherwise be unable to play defense on a regular basis at some point. The DH rule might come to the NL with the next collective bargaining agreement in two years, but that’s not a certainty. Snitker was asked if he had been in contact with Donaldson during the offseason. “I texted him a couple times, and I would have anyway,” Snitker said. “You go through a season with a guy like that and what he did, and like I say, he grows on you. He’s a good man. He’s a great player. I’m pulling for him no matter where he’s at.” Snitker and Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos talk frequently, particularly when things are as busy as they have been this winter for Atlanta. The Braves made a flurry of moves in the opening weeks of free agency, including signing the best available free-agent closer, Will Smith, to a three-year, $40 million deal and replacing retired catcher Brian McCann by signing Travis d’Arnaud to a two-year, $16 million deal. So far in San Diego, the Braves have watched other teams make moves at the Winter Meetings but made none of their own. “I think Alex so far in the offseason has done a great job,” Snitker said, after being asked about the need to get a cleanup hitter. “And I think (getting) that bat, it’s a big deal. Whether we can do it, I don’t know. If we don’t, we’ll be fine. We’ll piece it together somewhere else. It’s not as easy as wanting it, I know that. “But I’ve got every confidence in the world in what he’s doing, what his (front office) team’s doing, as evidenced already by what we’ve done this offseason.” Anthopoulos calls meetings productive Even though the Braves had yet to make a trade or sign a free agent at Winter Meetings, Anthopoulos said he and his staff had accomplished plenty already at the event. “It’s been productive,” Anthopoulos said. “I don’t anticipate us completing anything here, but it feels like it’s been very productive and very active. There’s a lot of things that we’re interested in doing that have a chance to come to fruition. I’m not trying to create expectations of foreshadowing or anything like that at all. “Sometimes you’re at these meetings, and you’re trying and just can’t get any traction. It felt like there’s been really productive discussions — that I do not expect to lead to a result here, but it’s been more productive than in years past, in my estimation.” If Donaldson goes elsewhere, the Braves will have a glaring hole to fill. Not just at third base, where Anthopoulos insists they could get by with what they have — Johan Camargo and Austin Riley — but especially at the cleanup spot behind Freddie Freeman. After moving from the second spot in the batting order to cleanup in early May, Donaldson provided Freeman with better protection than he has enjoyed in years, and the Braves’ offense surged and helped the team take a commanding lead on its way to a second consecutive division title. There is some concern that if the Braves don’t re-sign Donaldson or add another big bat to hit cleanup, Freeman might get walked 150 times in 2020. Asked whether it was imperative for the Braves to acquire a cleanup hitter, Anthopoulos said Wednesday, “Snit does the lineup. Obviously, I don’t think you ever want to go into it with ‘We have to’ (get a cleanup hitter). That’s where you can get into trouble in terms of doing deals and things like that. … “I don’t know, with the lineup, the cleanup spot, with what we have today — obviously, the roster’s not complete. I don’t know from an offensive standpoint what it’s going to look like, if we’re adding or not. But I know this: We’re just looking to get good players.” At that point, Anthopoulos recalled his first major trade as the Braves’ GM, in December 2017, one month after he was hired to replace former GM John Coppolella, who had been forced to resign amid an MLB investigation into international free-agent violations by the Braves. “I know when we first got here there was a lot of angst about (Matt) Kemp hitting behind Freeman and if (Kemp) is traded, what happens?” said Anthopoulos, who traded Kemp to the Dodgers in his second month on the job, a multi-player megadeal done almost exclusively to allow each team to dump an onerous contract. “Freddie Freeman’s one of the best players in the game — stating the obvious there — and I remember looking at the 2017 numbers at the time (after being hired by the Braves). I know it’s a small sample, but if you looked at Freeman’s numbers when Markakis was hitting behind him and when Kemp was hitting behind him — and Kemp had a good 2017 — they were arguably, or maybe factually, better with Markakis. “Now, I’m not saying that’s a result one way or the other. I know people want to have protection and so on, but I think we’re just always focused on just getting good players wherever we can. The guy hitting first for us (Ronald Acuña Jr.) is an MVP candidate. So we’re just looking to make our offense as strong as we can. And I understand the lineup stuff.” Anthopoulos paused before continuing lightheartedly. “Snit didn’t win Manager of the Year (in 2018 for nothing),” he said, smiling. “He has the gift. He’s gonna be able to do it, one way or the other, no matter what we give him. He’ll find ways to win the division.” That said, the Braves know there is a real need for a solid cleanup hitter, and moving Acuña back from his preferred leadoff spot to cleanup is apparently no longer viewed as an option. The Braves tried that in April and it didn’t work. While he’s good in the cleanup spot, Acuña is a pitcher’s nightmare in the leadoff spot, an aggressive speed and power force who can start a game with a home run if a pitcher dares to leave a hittable pitch near the strike zone. Acuña has 53 home runs, a .380 OBP and .945 OPS in 858 career plate appearances in the leadoff spot, while his next highest homer total is seven while batting cleanup. In 2019, he had 34 homers and an .893 OPS in 118 games batting leadoff and seven homers and an .854 OPS in 36 games batting cleanup. Asked about the possibility of moving Acuña to cleanup again, Anthopoulos said, “I don’t think so. Just in talking to Snit, he doesn’t have any plans on doing that. Again, he’ll make the decisions there. But from just talking to him a little bit (this week), I think he really likes him in that spot. It’s hard to argue. The results have been great.” So, are the Braves more likely to find a cleanup hitter on the free-agent market or in a trade? “You know what? I don’t know,” Anthopoulos said. “We’ve been very transparent — we’d like to add another bat in some form, if we can. I don’t know that we’ll be able to get it done. You have to believe in the deal, whether that’s a signing or the trading of a player. We’d like to add a bat. Hopeful that we can do it. We can’t guarantee that we will. And I don’t know right now — we’re looking in all areas. We’re engaged in all areas. “Any way that we can acquire talent, we’ll have dialog.” The Braves have had discussions with teams and agents about potential trades and free agents, including third basemen as well as outfielders. At least one candidate is a player with experience at both positions — the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year and 2016 MVP, a power hitter who’ll have two years of contractual control before free agency unless an arbiter rules in his favor and declares he is under contract for only more one year. There also were reports this week that said the Braves were interested in free-agent outfielder Marcell Ozuna, but that interest is believed to have been exaggerated. “There are players available that we just have to be able to line up on, whether it’s to sign them or to trade for them,” Anthopoulos said. “And obviously we haven’t been able to. And I can’t tell you right now — we’re not close to doing anything. And I can’t tell you we’ll be able to do it. Obviously, we have the ability to say yes at any time. But we’re only going to do that when we actually believe in the deal. I can’t tell you that we’ll get to a deal that we feel comfortable doing. I hope so.”
So he took 5/$70m ($14m AAV) plus $15m deferred. I actually might have done that too as a gm. Little chance of huge loss of value over course of the deal.
I heard this morning Markakis has the second most hits in MLB for the last decade behind Robison Cano.
I mean.. If he calls and is going to sign with Nats for 4/90.. We have to give him 4/100. Or 3/90? Fuck.
wanna feel really old? it’s already been more than two months since Gin Buckets cost us a pennant and he still hasn’t expressed an ounce of remorse
to feel even older just remember it’s over two months plus one day since the entire thread told him that his going would cost us a likely title and he did it anyways wow talk about feeling old
the fact that the nats are pushing so hard for jd and can't get anything done makes me think he really wants to be back here and is just going to wait it out for us to up the offer