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(Non-GT)Atlanta Braves Baseball....new beginnings

As it stands, the Braves are set to enter the 2017 campaign with Julio Teheran atop their rotation, but the outlook behind him is decidedly less certain. Mike Foltynewicz has likely pitched his way into a spot, and former top prospect Matt Wisler logged 156 1/3 innings despite a lackluster 5.00 ERA. Fellow top prospect Aaron Blair also struggled in the Majors, so he’s probably not guaranteed anything heading into Spring Training next year. Other internal options for the Braves include John Gant, Tyrell Jenkins, Williams Perez and Rob Whalen, but as noted above, Coppolella appears set on deepening his team’s rotation picture with the addition of at least two starters (either via trade or free agency).
 
Braves have been adding some 3A reinforcements with experience, and....

Braves Showing Interest In Sale, Archer, Gray
By Jeff Todd and Steve Adams | November 15, 2016 at 10:03pm CDT

Though the Braves already added R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon this winter, it seems they aren’t quite done shopping for starters. They have joined the division-rival Nationals, and probably a sizable portion of the rest of baseball, in reaching out to the White Sox about lefty Chris Sale, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. Atlanta is among the organizations “trying hardest” to pry Sale loose from Chicago, per the report, with some around the league believing that he could change hands this winter. Of course, yesterday’s report regarding the Nats also suggested that the South Siders have yet to engage in serious chatter as of yet, and the Braves are looking at a variety of options, so it’s a bit soon to dwell heavily on the Sale/Braves connection. Atlanta has also inquired with the Rays on Chris Archer and the Athletics on Sonny Gray, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman notes.
 
Jason Castro has been the most frequently discussed free-agent catcher to this point, and multiple reports today have continued to shine a light on his market. Earlier today, ESPN’s Buster Olney again linked Castro to the Twins and added that there’s an expectation that Castro will get “at least” a three-year deal in free agency. Olney followed up that report with a tweet indicating that the Braves are among the “most serious bidders” for Castro’s services. That’s not the first time that Castro has been tied to Atlanta, but Olney’s report carries more conviction than previous links between the two sides.

SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo reports (Twitter links) that five teams have joined the incumbent Astros in the mix for Castro right now, which seems to reflect the lay of the land. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reported last week that Castro had offers from three AL clubs, and the Twins have been reported to be interested but haven’t made an offer, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports (Twitter link). Adding them and the Braves into the mix makes five clubs, though the identities of the other interested AL clubs remains unknown.
 
Jason Castro, bats LH:

BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
2010 23 HOU NL 67 217 195 26 40 8 1 2 8 0 0 22 41 .205 .286 .287 .573 58 56 4 0 0 0 2 2
2012 25 HOU NL 87 295 257 29 66 15 2 6 29 0 0 31 61 .257 .334 .401 .735 99 103 8 1 2 4 2 2
2013 ★ 26 HOU AL 120 491 435 63 120 35 1 18 56 2 1 50 130 .276 .350 .485 .835 130 211 4 2 0 4 3 2D AS
2014 27 HOU AL 126 512 465 43 103 21 2 14 56 1 0 34 151 .222 .286 .366 .651 84 170 11 9 1 3 1 *2D
2015 28 HOU AL 104 375 337 38 71 19 0 11 31 0 0 33 115 .211 .283 .365 .648 79 123 5 2 0 3 1 2
2016 29 HOU AL 113 376 329 41 69 16 3 11 32 2 1 45 123 .210 .307 .377 .684 88 124 9 1 1 0 0 *2/3
6 Yrs 617 2266 2018 240 469 114 9 62 212 5 2 215 621 .232 .309 .390 .699 93 787 41 15 4 14 9
162 Game Avg. 162 595 530 63 123 30 2 16 56 1 1 56 163 .232 .309 .390 .699 93 207 11 4 1 4 2
AL (4 yrs) 463 1754 1566 185 363 91 6 54 175 5 2 162 519 .232 .308 .401 .709 97 628 29 14 2 10 5
NL (2 yrs) 154 512 452 55 106 23 3 8 37 0 0 53
 
NOV. 17: The Braves have now announced the signing of Colon to a one-year deal. “We are thrilled to add a veteran of Bartolo’s caliber to our club,” said GM John Coppolella in a press release announcing the move. “He will be valuable to us both on the field and in the clubhouse and it will be exciting to watch him chase baseball records during a historic season for the Braves franchise.”

Adding Colon and Dickey on one-year commitments also lessens the need to rush prospects such as Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis to the Majors, and it can also give Blair and/or Wisler further opportunity to hone their skills in the minors after struggling through their brief big league tenures thus far.
 
Though the Braves have been connected to several top young starters, their focus is on trying to work a deal with the White Sox for Chris Sale, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It’s still unclear just how hard Atlanta will push to pry him loose, and certainly Chicago isn’t in a position where it needs to move its affordable, excellent, and still-youthful ace. And as O’Brien notes, the Braves have signaled previously that they aren’t interested in emptying their farm to move toward contention — though there may be an added willingness to give up some premium assets in this case, as would certainly be necessary to get something done.
 
Rule 5 draft coming up, Braves are protecting-
The Braves say they’ve moved to protect southpaw Max Fried, righty Lucas Sims, and infielder Johan Camargo.
 
The Braves have acquired catcher Tuffy Gosewisch from the Diamondbacks, the MiLB Roster Tracker Twitter account first reported (Twitter link). Specifically, he was claimed off waivers, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets.
BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
2013 29 ARI NL 14 47 45 1 8 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 8 .178 .174 .222 .396 8 10 3 0 1 1 0 2
2014 30 ARI NL 41 132 129 6 29 8 0 1 7 0 0 3 24 .225 .242 .310 .553 53 40 6 0 0 0 0 2
2015 31 ARI NL 38 138 128 9 27 6 0 1 13 2 1 8 23 .211 .261 .281 .542 46 36 2 1 0 1 0 2
2016 32 ARI NL 33 99 90 8 14 1 1 3 7 0 0 7 22 .156 .224 .289 .513 33 26 1 1 1 0 0 2
4 Yrs 126 416 392 24 78 17 1 5 30 2 1 18 77 .199 .237 .286 .522 41 112 12 2 2 2 0
162 Game Avg. 162 535 504 31 100 22 1 6 39 3 1 23 99
 
The Braves have struck a deal to acquire outfield prospect Alex Jackson from the Mariners, per club announcements. Righties Rob Whalen and Max Povse are headed to Seattle in the deal, in which Atlanta will also pick up a player to be named later. The Mariners designated righty Ryan Weber to create 40-man roster space.

Apparently the Mariners were not sold on Jackson's potential in their system. I wonder who the other player will be?
 
The Braves have struck a deal to avoid arbitration with catcher Tuffy Gosewisch, according to a team announcement. Terms of the deal were not announced; MLBTR projects him to command a $600K salary.
 
The Braves have been one of the most active teams of the offseason thus far, and that continued on Thursday as the team struck a deal to acquire veteran lefty Jaime Garcia from the Cardinals in exchange for minor league infielder Luke Dykstra and young right-handers John Gant and Chris Ellis.
 
The Braves put in a strong pursuit of righty Edinson Volquez before he went to the Marlins, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted yesterday. The team’s interest in Volquez came after it had already landed both R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon, but the Braves have been said to be focused on acquiring short-term assets in the rotation or front-of-the-rotation arms that would require enormous trade packages. As such, it’s possible that Atlanta only had interest in Volquez on a one-year deal, but he received two years and $22MM from the Marlins. Atlanta acted quickly to grab another short-term rotation commodity with tonight’s Garcia trade.
 
I'm hearing Folty could be the centerpiece of a Chris Sale deal....

The Nationals, Astros, Red Sox, Rangers and Braves are at the forefront of the Chris Sale market, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman in his latest notes column. However, an exec with one of those clubs that spoke to Heyman still said he’s not sure that Sale is moved at all due to the exorbitant nature of the White Sox’ asking price. The Nationals, for instance, have been asked for Trea Turner as part of the package but have balked at the idea, Heyman notes, with one Washington source calling the budding star “too valuable” to part with. It’s similarly difficult to envision a player like Alex Bregman or Dansby Swanson being moved for Sale as well. The White Sox do like Dodgers prospect Cody Bellinger, writes Heyman, but L.A. has yet to show a significant inclination to pursue Sale, he adds. (And, from my vantage point, the Dodgers would need to add quite a bit more than Bellinger to a Sale package anyhow.)
 
The Braves are still looking at trading for an ace even after adding Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia to their rotation this winter and are specifically focused on White Sox lefty Chris Sale and Rays right-hander Chris Archer, per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (all Twitter links). The Braves prefer Sale to Archer despite the potentially higher asking price and shorter amount of club control remaining on his contract, Crasnick adds. Atlanta is receiving quite a bit of interest in top prospect Ozzie Albies (in general and not specifically from the White Sox or Rays), Crasnick adds, but they’re expressing a good deal of reluctance to part with him. The Braves don’t seem especially enamored of Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray on the heels of a down season in 2016, according to Crasnick.
 
Lefty Paco Rodriguez avoided arbitration with the Braves for $637,500, Heyman tweets. It seems likely he’d have been non-tendered had he not taken that contract, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter), which helps explain why he took less than his projected $900K.
The Braves agreed to a $800K figure with catcher Anthony Recker, Heyman tweets. The veteran receiver had projected at $1MM, but will settle for less to take his place in a still-uncertain catching mix. Atlanta also recently acquired and tendered Tuffy Gosewisch, and also has Tyler Flowers under contract. Recker hit a surprising .278/.394/.433 last year, albeit over just 112 plate appearances. While he lands a bit shy of his projected number, Recker won’t have to settle for a split arrangement; instead, he’ll receive a full big league deal.
 
The Braves have already added three starting pitchers in Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia early this offseason, and they’re now trying to swing a trade with the White Sox for ace Chris Sale, according to Fanrag’s Jon Heyman. However, there’s competition in the form of the Astros, Nationals, Red Sox, Rangers and Dodgers, writes Heyman, who notes that Los Angeles is lagging behind because it’s hesitant to deal any of its top prospects.
 
The Braves have announced a one-year major league agreement with left-handed reliever Jacob Lindgren, whom the Yankees non-tendered Friday. The 2014 second-round pick briefly cracked the majors in 2015, but elbow issues limited him both that year and this past season. Lindgren threw just seven innings in 2016 – all with the Yankees’ High-A affiliate – before undergoing Tommy John surgery in August. The 23-year-old could miss all of next season while recovering from the procedure, but the Braves will retain his rights beyond then if he’s on their 40-man roster, as ESPN’s Keith Law notes (via Twitter).
 
The Rangers asked the Braves about Ender Inciarte but talks “went nowhere,” Evan Grant tweets. Inciarte has drawn trade chatter ever since the Braves acquired him as part of the Shelby Miller trade with the D’Backs last offseason, but it is clear Atlanta regards the defensive standout as a building block in center field.
 
The Braves have agreed to a deal to re-sign veteran lefty Eric O’Flaherty to a minor league deal, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation writes (Twitter links). O’Flaherty is a client of MVP Sports Group.

The 31-year-old O’Flaherty struggled in 2016 in Atlanta, posting a 6.91 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 28 2/3 innings. He was one of baseball’s better lefty relievers from 2009 through 2012, then had Tommy John surgery in 2013. After a promising return in 2014, though, he has struggled with slightly diminished velocity and control issues. Perhaps promisingly, he retains a very high ground-ball rate, with a 54.0 GB% in 2016.
 
Chris Sales is heading to Boston. I haven't seen the trade yet, but morning radio said they gave up a bunch of high level prospects to make him a Red Sock
 
The Braves inquired with the Orioles about the availability of right-handed setup man Brad Brach but found the asking price too high, tweets Sherman. Per his report, Baltimore asked Atlanta for young outfielder Mallex Smith in return. Brach has been nothing short of outstanding with the O’s over the past two seasons, compiling a 2.39 ERA with 10.3 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 in 158 1/3 innings of work, and he’s under club control for another two seasons. Smith won’t turn 24 until next May, though, and comes with five years of team control. He appeared in 72 games last season, his Major League debut, hitting .238/.316/.365. While those numbers don’t stand out, Smith has blistering speed and is considered a plus defender capable of playing all three outfield positions. He’s also performed fairly well in the upper levels of the minors, though he looks to have a limited role in 2017, when Atlanta will trot out Matt Kemp, Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis to the outfield grass.
 
The Braves also asked about Quintana and thought the White Sox’ price was too high, writes David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The problem seems to be that the Braves don’t feel Quintana is as valuable as Sale was, even though Quintana is controllable for an extra year. “We don’t have needs in starting pitching,” says GM John Coppolella. “Do we want a No. 1 starter, is Chris Sale a No. 1 starter? Yes. Do we want Jose Quintana? I don’t think Jose Quintana is Chris Sale.”
 
The Braves have announced that they’ve released starting pitcher Williams Perez. The move clears a spot on their 40-man roster for the Rule 5 Draft, which is about to start.

The 25-year-old Perez has made 31 starts for the Braves over the past two seasons but has mostly struggled, with a 5.18 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 170 1/3 innings. Last season, he pitched 53 2/3 innings in the big leagues and posted a 6.04 ERA, also fighting through shoulder and elbow troubles. The Braves now have ample starting pitching depth of the type Perez provides and therefore could afford to lose him.
 
With Teheran, Dickey, Colon, Garcia, and Folty/Wisler, the Braves have a very respectable starting rotation that doesn't tie them up with a bunch of exorbitant, long-term contracts (e.g.- Hampton, Lowe, Kawakami). I'd put the money into a great set-up guy and look to get Kimbrel back from the Sox.

Now that the Braves are looking somewhat like a contender again, the thing that separates the real contenders from the pretenders is a top-shelf closer... the guy that changes the outcome in 8-10 games per year. The difference between a wild card and a division champ, home field advantage, closing out another top-shelf team in the playoffs. They need a Kimbrel-type back.
 
The Rangers and Braves have agreed to a trade that will send lefty Brady Feigl and righty Tyrell Jenkins to the Rangers, according to reports from Tommy Stokke of Fan Rag (via Twitter) and Keith Law of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Righty Luke Jackson is heading to Atlanta, Law adds on Twitter.

It seems fair to characterize this as something of a change-of-scenery swap involving two similarly situated young righties. The 25-year-old Jackson and 24-year-old Jenkins each drew a fair amount of attention as prospects and reached the majors only recently. In both cases, limited exposure to the big leagues has led to questions as to whether (and in what role) they can stick.

Taken with the 45th overall selection in the 2010 draft, Jackson brings a big arm to the table but hasn’t yet found his bearings at the game’s highest level. Over 18 MLB innings in the last two years, he has allowed 17 earned runs on 27 hits and ten walks, while retiring just nine batters via strikeout.

Though he has shown swing-and-miss stuff at all levels of the minors, and delivers a mid-to-upper-nineties fastball, Jackson has also long struggled with control. He has walked 4.6 batters per nine in his minor-league career, and a full-time shift to the pen hasn’t really helped much. In his 46 1/3 innings at Double-A and Triple-A last year, Jackson issued 32 free passes, though he also racked up 59 strikeouts.

For Jenkins, who joined the Atlanta organization as a part of the Jason Heyward-Shelby Miller swap, the results have been good in the upper minors over the last two years. But that has come in spite of a lack of strikeouts and uninspiring peripherals. Last year, for instance, he struck out 5.9 and walked 3.8 batters per nine over 83 2/3 Triple-A innings. He did end with a 2.47 ERA, though, in large part because he limited opposing hitters to just three home runs.

The dinger suppression did not continue when Jenkins hit the majors. He was touched for 11 long balls in his first 52 MLB frames. Over eight starts and six relief appearances in 2016, Jenkins worked to a 5.88 ERA while allowing 33 walks and striking out only 26 hitters.

There’s another piece being chipped in by the Braves, in the form of the 25-year-old Feigl. An undrafted product of Mount Saint Mary’s University, Feigl has been limited to 72 1/3 professional innings — mostly in the lower minors — as he fought through Tommy John surgery. He has shown well when healthy, though, posting a 2.74 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
 
The Braves have acquired lefty Tyler Pike from the Mariners as the player to be named later in the recent trade between the organizations, per club announcements. The late-November swap sent righties Rob Whalen and Max Povse to Seattle in exchange for outfield prospect Alex Jackson, who’ll now be joined by Pike.

A third-round pick in the 2012 draft, Pike has twice reached the Double-A level, but spent all of 2016 at High-A Bakersfield. In his 125 2/3 innings there, Pike worked to a 4.01 ERA with 9.6 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9. While that’s obviously a rather hefty walk total, it’s actually just below his career levels. Clearly, he’ll need to lock in his command to earn a shot at making the Braves’ MLB staff at some point in the future.
 
The Braves have a minor-league deal in place to bring back infielder Emilio Bonifacio, Cotillo tweets. Now 31, Bonifacio has played in the majors in ten consecutive seasons. But his opportunities have dwindled of late, and he spent most of 2016 at Triple-A. In his 471 plate appearances at Gwinnett, Bonifacio slashed a solid .298/.356/.369. He could conceivably challenge for a utility role next spring.
 
LEFT FIELD
M. Kemp
M. Smith
J. Peterson
S. Rodriguez
Ender Inciarte

CENTER FIELD
E. Inciarte
M. Smith
C. d'Arnaud
Nick Markakis

RIGHT FIELD
N. Markakis
E. Inciarte
C. d'Arnaud
S. Rodriguez

SHORTSTOP
D. Swanson
C. d'Arnaud
S. Rodriguez


2ND BASE
J. Peterson
C. d'Arnaud
S. Rodriguez

1ST BASE
F. Freeman
S. Rodriguez

ROTATION
1. J. Teheran
2. R. Dickey
3. B. Colon
4. M. Foltynewicz
5. J. Garcia
6. M. Wisler
7. A. Blair
8. J. Collmenter

CATCHER
T. Flowers
A. Recker

3RD BASE
A. Garcia
R. Ruiz
S. Rodriguez

BULLPEN
J. Johnson (CL)
I. Krol
D. Winkler
A. Vizcaino
M. Cabrera
J. Ramirez
C. Roe
S. Simmons
A. Rivero

Paco Rodriguez(LHRP-DL)
 
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