Atlanta Braves Not-So-Random Notes

You may have heard of ‘Moving Day’ in conjunction with a golf tournament – where the contenders get into position for the weekend assault for the trophy. Baseball has a mini version of this and it is happening right now.

Teams made a number of moves yesterday as they continue to make off-season roster decisions. Here’s a few observations and thoughts about how some might impact the Atlanta Braves.

Dave Wallace / Dom Chiti

“Sad to see Dave Wallace go. Very grateful for all he has done for me and my family. Any success I’ve had is a credit to [Wallace] and Dom Chiti.”

Those words came from Oriole closer Zach Britton – who’s still waiting to come into their last game. Nice to see that from him… especially given the career year he enjoyed this season.

We reported these hires yesterday. The Orioles allowed the contracts of both coaches to expire – word is fuzzy on whether they would be offered renewals, but both opted to come back ‘home’, which should certainly give our young pitchers a lot of solid voices to choose from in helping them reach their promising levels of potential.

Ironically, Roger McDowell now seems to be a candidate for the Orioles top pitching job.

Charlie Morton

The Phillies passed on a $9.5 million option they had on Charlie Morton. The Braves have been mentioned as possible suitors for his services this off-season.

Morton needed surgery to repair a badly torn hamstring at the end of April. This cost him the rest of the season. Still, it’s a bit surprising that the Phils declined him, given the need for pitching that they – and the rest of the league, for that matter.

Atlanta had Morton on their roster after taking him in the 3rd Round of the 2006 draft. He was traded to Pittsburgh early in 2009 after making a relatively forgettable major league debut (6.15 ERA in 2008). He was part of the ill-fated ’emergency’ deal that brought Nate McLouth in after CF Jordan Schafer fell to an early-season injury.

Morton was traded to Philadelphia 11 months ago. Don’t be surprised if the Braves move fairly quickly to pick him up again now that he is available as a free agent.

Danny Reynolds

MLBTR has some ideas that Dan Reynolds could have something for the Braves, as the team signed him to a minor league deal this week.

While he’s had occasional flashes of brilliance, I’m not as optimistic, as his best successes seem to have occurred either in Independent ball or below the AA level.

Still, we can’t underestimate the projection power of the Braves scouts to find diamonds in the rought… and as just noted, we’re loaded with coaching talent for all who need a boost.

The Mets

The New York Mets are the gift that keeps on giving – adding value to your entertainment dollar.

After obtaining Neil Walker from the Pirates last year, they paid the 30-year-old $10.6 million after allowing Daniel Murphy to be picked up by the Nationals.

So in 2016, Murphy put up near-MVP numbers while Walker … actually had something akin to a career year, smacking 23 homers and hitting .282 while OPSing .823… over just 113 games.

Apparently that is enough for the Metropolitans to make Walker a Qualifying Offer so that he doesn’t walk away. Frankly, while the idea of a longer-term deal would be nice, Walker would do well to take this 60% raise.

The Mets are picking up the option on Jay Bruce – despite his poor summer (.219 for the Mets). This should earn Bruce a “good timing” award. New York has few options, given that Yoenis Cespedes looks to be opting out of his deal, and they will need offense.

Whether that will actually materialize with Jay Bruce remains to be seen, but we haven’t even talked about the pitching dramas that will hit Broadway with high interest as that team will be watching to see how well their vaunted staff can return from their various maladies.

Detroit

I can’t end this without at least mentioning that our pie-in-the-sky Justin Verlander trade scenario is still in play. Yesterday, the Tigers somehow managed to unload Cameron Maybin‘s entire contract, and then announced open auditions for their Center Field position.

Granted, the JV trade idea might have more legs if Mallex Smith had torn it up down in Mexico, but perhaps there’s an evil genius plan going on where Mallex intentionally looks bad to take Detroit’s eyes off of him and on to a different trade target.

If you buy that, I have some beachfront condos in Kansas that I’d like to gauge your interest in.