The Braves and Twins are finalizing a deal that would send catcher/outfielder Ryan Doumit to Atlanta, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Doumit, who will turn 33 on April 3, is coming off a down season in which he batted .247/.314/.396 and dealt with concussion issues late in the year. However he’s just one year removed from a strong .275/.320/.461 showing with a career-high 18 homers for the Twins.
Though he’s not considered a strong defensive catcher, Doumit would give the Braves a cheap option behind the dish in the wake of Brian McCann’s departure to the Yankees. Doumit is owed jusr $3.5MM in 2014. The Braves have Evan Gattis, Gerald Laird and Christian Bethancourt as internal options at catcher, but Bethancourt could require more seasoning, Laird is a backup and Gattis has serious OBP concerns. He alsos struggled against right-handed pitching (.236/.284/.473), which is where Doumit exceeds (.270/.330/.454).
This post was originally published on Dec. 18.
NL_East_Rivalry
Once again Braves act without any whisper of a deal.
DarthMurph
Neither are even close to being high profile deals. No one was waiting in anticipation for Edinson Volquez to join the Pirates either.
NL_East_Rivalry
I’m not calling Wren a ninja here. I’m just pointing out that the only thing we’ve heard about is the usual “we need to upgrade our bench.” Doesn’t matter how high profile this is, it just seemed to come out of nowhere and was unexpected.
Kent Kimes
Why?
NL_East_Rivalry
Get two people like Gattis and hope one of them is a keeper.
Darrel Nelson
Good question! Doumit isn’t invaluable to the Twins, but his absence will make the current hole at catcher (now that Mauer has been moved to 1B) even bigger.
Jimmy Johns
Insurance in case we need El Oso Blanco to patrol LF because BJ Upton repeats his 2013 numbers. Solid bench piece and we only lose Sean Gilmartin had all the hallmarks of a bust anyways. Got something for nothing, approve of the trade 100%.
Eduardo Medina
to play where? Outfielder? Catcher?
dc21892
If I had to guess it would be a little of both.
Quacktastic_Duck
Signs of a big move to come? I doubt we need 4 catchers and this many outfielders haha. Maybe Bethancourt is on his way out for someone on the infield.
NL_East_Rivalry
3 catchers with two of them having some pop isn’t a terrible thing. This is more for a back-up/bench player that will take over if Gattis doesn’t adjust. Christiaan still needs more time in AAA to figure out how to swing a bat.
Quacktastic_Duck
Laird Doumit Gattis and let Bethancourt develop.. i can live with that.
NL_East_Rivalry
well when you have an all around solid team with no superstars, you need a good bench.
Quacktastic_Duck
Honestly, it’s a backup plan for BJ too in a way.. that guy had a TERRIBLE year. You could let Heyward take CF, move JUpton to right and play Doumit at LF. Always nice to have options. +1 Braves.
BravesNomad
Or perhaps one of those big name pitchers that have been rumored to be of interest to the team.
Torgos_Executive_Powder
That was my first thought, but I don’t see Gattis or Bethancourt amounting to enough of a haul for the pitchers they were initially looking at.
geauxbraves2000
How do I put this as nice as possible? Hmm, okay,….please, please let it be for BJ Upton!
twins33
Kubel is back so apparently you can only have one epic beard, unless you’re the Red Sox.
I’m completely fine with whatever the return is. He was going to be traded by July anyway. He had a down-ish year, but the value wasn’t going to go up very much if you waited until July. Could have easily gone down though.
Patrick Beliveau
Sean Gilmartin headed to Minnesota, per Rosenthal on twitter.
Torgos_Executive_Powder
Rosenthal says it’s Sean Gilmartin straight up for Doumit.
LordOfTheSwings
Not worth giving up Gilmartin for a player we don’t need, in my opinion. I’m not pleased with this trade. Not that Gilmartin looks like he’ll ever be very dominant or anything.
Bob B. 36.
1 for 16 as a PH last year
Guest 3905
“which is where Doumit exceeds” —> “which is where Doumit excels”
LordOfTheSwings
Gattis’ on-base is likely to improve considering his low BABIP
this year, and his career .374 OPS in the minors. Most projections
agree that it will likely improve this year.
Also he doesn’t really struggle THAT much against right-handed pitching. A .757 OPS isn’t shabby, and isn’t significantly worse than his numbers vs. lefties (.808 OPS) considering the sample size.
I’m not crazy about this acquisition.
Zack Autry
There’s the switch hitting bench guy. Good pickup
Tyler Claus Coners
We got Kubel to take his spot so it’s all good… That is if he performs well in ST