Atlanta Braves News: Christmas Morning Chop, Matt Wieters Still A Target? Wishing You A Happy Holidays

By Fansided and Jeff Schafer/FanSided via Tomahawk Take
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MLB Trade Rumors

Matt Wieters Among Braves’ Targets

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Come on, Wieters, how about a Christmas discount?!?  The Braves are currently content with the duo of catchers they have now with Tyler Flowers and Anthony Recker (Tuffy Gosewisch as well), but Braves GM John Coppolella said they’re interested in Wieters if his price tag goes down.  

With each day passing, that tag may (or may not) be going down.  Wieters brings a boast in the offensive category, but he isn’t known for being a great framer.  “Framing” is the new craze in baseball and especially with the Braves front office.  Could they over look his framing issues and sign him? We’ll see.  

Flowers has historically been a defensive catcher, but last season many runners stole bases on him.  Alan posted an article yesterday about the Braves payroll for 2017 and it’s the highest we’ve ever been.  Could we add an additional top player?  I’m not sure we can afford it.

Although the Braves have three experienced major league catchers in the fold, free agent backstop Matt Wieters is on their target list, a club source told Jim Bowden of ESPN. Atlanta’s first reported interest in Wieters came back in November, but ESPN’s Buster Olney noted then that the team was unlikely to meet agent Scott Boras’ asking price. It doesn’t seem Wieters’ market has since developed in an ideal fashion for him or Boras, though, which means the longtime Oriole might end up with a lesser deal than expected. That could enable the Braves to add him at a discounted cost and lead to a homecoming of sorts for Wieters, who played college baseball at Georgia Tech.

Baltimore is the only major league organization the 30-year-old Wieters has known, but the club may have closed the door on re-signing the four-time All-Star when it picked up Welington Castillo last week. Castillo had been on the radar of the Braves, who have Tyler Flowers, Anthony Recker and Tuffy Gosewisch on hand. General manager John Coppolella acknowledged Wieters’ ability Friday, but he indicated he’s content with his current trio of backstops.

“Matt (Wieters) is a talented player,” he told MLB Network Radio. “It would come down to price and years. We’re happy with what we have now.”

MLB

Deck the Calls: Braves

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: This is simply amazing…as you’re unwrapping gifts or sitting around enjoying family or friends company, listen to some great calls from the 2016 season.  This is a minute of terrific calls from the greatest moments in baseball history as well as the 2016 season.  You can also click on the MLB video and you’ll get a full 22 minutes worth of great sound.  ENJOY!

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Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note:  Soak in every minute of today, don’t let the day fly by or thinking about “what’s next”.  Remember what the day of December 25th really means and why we celebrate.  Braves members have already gotten on twitter to wish all their fans a very Merry Christmas.  As the day goes on, I’m sure they’ll be ones we missed.  Have a great day!  And Happy Holidays!

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