The Braves are “definitely not done” trading this offseason following yesterday’s trade of Jason Heyward to the Cardinals, reports MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (on Twitter). Both Justin Upton and Evan Gattis could still be on the move. Upton seems the more logical of the two, given that he’s under control for just one more season and could fetch further pieces to bolster the team’s long-term outlook. Gattis, however, figures to play in left field with Atlanta, where his value will be diminished from his negative defensive contributions, so it’s possible he could be moved even with four years of control remaining. Yesterday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today listed the Mariners as a “strong suitor” for the younger of the Upton brothers. Of course, the Braves figures to continue looking for ways to shed B.J. Upton’s contract as well, but that will be far more difficult.
Here’s more out of Atlanta…
- Heyward tells David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had hoped to be with the Braves for a long time. However, according to Heyward, the Braves only engaged him and his agent in contract talks for about 10 minutes back in 2012. Heyward notes that the two-year deal was suggested by his side to avoid the arbitration process this year, but he’d made it clear that he hoped to remain in Atlanta well beyond 2015. The two sides reportedly discussed (O’Brien reporting in October) an extension that fell well shy of Freddie Freeman’s $135MM extension, and Heyward was believed to be looking for significantly more than the team had in mind.
- ESPN’s Keith Law writes that he likes the Heyward/Shelby Miller trade for both sides (subscription required and recommended). Law feels that Heyward instantly makes St. Louis four to five wins better while Jordan Walden will give them 50 to 60 innings of quality late-inning relief in each of the next two years — both of which fit the Cards’ win-now mode. Braves president of baseball operations John Hart, meanwhile inherited little Major League pitching depth and an even thinner farm but improved both with this deal, Law opines. Miller, who Atlanta controls for four seasons, is a “mid-rotation starter at worst” with the upside to become a strong No. 2 arm thanks to his delivery and improved approach to attacking hitters. Tyrell Jenkins becomes Atlanta’s best pitching prospect and looked to be fully recovered from his shoulder troubles when Law saw him in the Arizona Fall League last month.
Buster Olney just said the Braves are meeting with Lester later this week
Braves going back to the 4 Aces approach from the 90s, I guess.
Minor an ace???
Terhan, wood, miller and lester is what i think he means
that would work, but we just dont have the money for lester. Our bench is pathetic.
I think that will anger the braves fans a lot. U trade away gattis and Upton, Just to sign Lester? ( I know that’s not what u said) but between the report on top and ur report the braves confuse me
That doesn’t really anger me. I think we could have gotten a bigger return for Heyward, but he and/or Upton have to be traded. There is no way we are re signing both of them, especially with the ludicrous contract Heyward wanted. I would rather have Upton out of the two anyway.
He’s in it for the free lunch.
So we’re trying pitching again. Let’s just throw everything in a blender and see what hits the fan.
lester wont come to the braves, he wants to win now!
Jenkins becomes ATL’s best SP prospect? Better than Lucas Sims, who is still very young, but was listed as our best overall prospect in 2014.
I asked Law on twitter and he said that he definitely ranks Jenkins above Sims because Sims regressed while Jenkins took a big step forward last year.
I am sure the meeting with Lester is just meaningless due diligence on the braves part…
Who do the Brave plan on having play RF in they trade J-Upton?
probably will sign or trade for another outfielder
Torii Hunter!
is that the same hunter we have in AAA? that hunter was hitting the ball great in 3A.
Mariners get J. Upton. Braves get Saunders and Walker.
5 years of Walker for 1 year of Upton? Yikesarooo! Miller and a prospect got Heyward and a MLB RP. I think 5 years of Walker should be worth more, not less than Upton for one year.
Why? The mariners were down for trading Walker and his 6 years of control for 2 years of Upton. They have plenty pitching and I bet they would trade Walker for J Up in a heartbeat.
It was 3 years of Upton and Walker was in double A. Big difference from now on both sides.
Three years of upton and he was in AA but they were also throwing in Nick Franklin, Charlie Furbush, and Danny Hultzen
It would have been one of Walker, Hultzen or Paxton. Dbacks agreed to Walker. At that time Nick Franklin had less than 1/2 a season under his belt in AAA.
So, that trade for three years of Upton was for a
top AA prospect pitcher, a decent AAA 2nd baseman and two relievers. Upton now has one year left on his contract and Walker is now a top major league prospect. Does it make any sense to think they would do a Walker for Upton trade now? the M’s could easily find a team willing to trade a player of Uptons caliber who has several years left rather than a one year rental.
Yeah, what Bradly said. LOL
Still don’t see how its a long shot. Walker hasn’t exactly proven anything. Mariners need offense. Especially if the Braves include Gattis? I bet Walker is in the deal. But we will see.
Including Gattis changes the deal quit a bit.
Can’t see the Braves including Gattis unless the M’s include Peterson and Wilson along with Walker.
:O
It’s funny how we all over value our own guys.
You can argue small sample size, but he is ML ready, has already shown what he’s capable of, and the M’s are dependent on him to start next season. They need another starter as things stand. Trade Walker, and they’ll need two.
They do need offense. Everyone knows that. But trading away a needed cost-controlled piece with high potential makes little sense for one year of Upton.
I can still see a deal getting done, but I would bet it wouldn’t include Walker.
Seattle is looking to upgrade its hitting but, according to the FanGraphs depth charts using current rosters, the Mariners are projected to post the eighth-highest hitting WAR in all of baseball next year (and post the highest overall WAR in the American League).
I think when you said J Up, my pea brain was thinking you typed “straight up”. Oops.
I can see Walker going in a Upton deal, I just think based on the Heyward deal, the cheap cost controlled MLB ready pitcher is worth a bit more than on year of Upton.
Adding 2 and 2, I see one of my favorite players in Michael Saunders as a need for the Braves with the departure of Heyward and Upton.
Walker and Saunders is worth a bit more than Upton so there needs to be a balance. Another need for Atlanta is catching. The M’s have a very near MLB ready catcher in Hicks. Hicks is a solid defender and decent with the bat.
There is a good match in there somewhere.
Taijuan Walker, who has 142 days of MLB service, remains under team control for six more seasons.
Im not convinced J-Upton is enough of an upgrade over Saunders to warrant trading away 2 years of Saunders and 6 years of Walker.
Upton is a major upgrade offensively, and slight downgrade defensively over Saunders
Keep in mind, J-Up only hits in months that begin in “A.”
I would hope the Braves would want position prospects in return for JUpton, they don’t really need more pitching IMO.
It would take a lot more than that to get Walker.
One already good outfielder with a similar batting line to Upton’s, plus a highly talented cost-controlled starter who could be an ace, for just one year guaranteed of Upton?
No thanks. Not that kind of deal. But I’d love to see Upton acquired another route.
Two years ago Seattle apparently thought three years of Justin Upton was worth Taijuan Walker, Nick Franklin, Charlie Furbush and Stephen Pryor.
One year of Justin Upton should be worth proportionately less to the Mariners.
The Steamer600 projections for 2015 have Upton at 3.0 WAR and Michael Saunders at 2.5 WAR. Upton remains under team control for only one season at a salary of $14.5 million while Saunders remains under team control for two seasons working off his projected 2015 arbitration salary of $2.9 million.
J. Upton and Gattis for Peterson, Saunders and Austin Wilson.
that would do, then we will have to keep gattis. were stuck with b.j. for a year or so.
Whats the point in having a meeting with lester? To get us excited just to crush our hopes and dreams?
Why would anyone actually want the Braves to sign a 30 year old pitcher in a rebuilding year, especially since they just traded a great young homegrown kid that they supposedly could not afford??
I’m not one to cash in a season before it starts, but if there aren’t any impact youthful players coming to the Atlanta lineup (as Epstein has done in Chicago), this team is going to resemble a Houston team of the last 10 years. I believe in Hart, but he needs to salvage this upcoming season as to not end up in the cellar.
With the Braves pitching staff, they will be in most games. The problem is scoring enough runs to actually win games.
I agree that the pitching staff will keep them in most games, as long as Medlen, Beachy, and Minor are healthy and in good form. I believe McDowell is worthy of accomplishing that. But, as you pointed out, they need to score runs. They scored 700 runs in 2012, 688 in 2013, and 573 this past season (The fewest by the franchise since 1994).
It will be interesting to see where Upton lands. Looks like Hart is mailing in this season and rebuilding to be competitive when they open their new stadium. I’m guessing he’s looking for AAA or AA high end prospects with lots of team control for Upton for his rebuild. Not a bad strategy when the Nationals probably have the division locked up for the next couple of years, especially after trading away Heyward.
It’s never smart to assume things in baseball, like two years ago when Washington was suppose to run away with the division. With Desmond, Fister, and Zimmerman set to become free agents after next year that division is wide open, except for the Phillies
I would agree that if the Mets and Marlins continue to improve will contend in the division especially with all the talent the Nationals might lose. Not as high on the Braves as of right now and obviously the Phillies are the Phillies.
Miller a no. 2 pitcher? Good luck with that braves…
JUp to Texas please. JUp, Hamels, and Liriano would be a killer offseason for us. Then maybe Texas and SD could pair up for a Grandal swap.
Who’s Texas sending back?
Exactly, I don’t think they have enough for both deals.
Why would the Rangers need Grandal? If Alfaro is going to be ready come 2016, why have another catcher that is going to take away from him being able to play most of the time (since I am sure Grandal would not want to be relegated to back-up) when the Rangers could just have Chirinos provide veteran leadership and back up duties (and with a similar bat too)? Also, I doubt Texas could pick up both Justin Upton and Hamels with how cleaned out the farm is now.
What would the Braves want in return for J. Upton? Position prospects?
After trading Heyward for pitching I think the center piece would have to be an OF prospect, probably someone with some pop. The Braves have no real OF prospects in their system above A ball.
And if the Mariners had any real OF prospects, at least MLB ready, they’d be playing for the Mariners as we speak, probably for the past couple of years. Their OF on offense has been terrible. From 2010-2014, Mariners OFers have an 87 wRC+, that is ranked dead last in baseball.
Someone like George Spinger prior to his call up
Not the Reds would do it, but wonder if the Braves would consider a deal with Philip Ervin as the centerpiece.
does all this mean we will have gattis, cunningham, and terdo as our outfield? bj to the bench.
I would like to see something along the lines of:
Trade J.Upton and Gattis to the M’s for Walker + one of Peterson/ Wilson/ Jackson..
Sign Lester to anchor the rotation for the foreseeable future
Use Minor as bait to unload B.J. Upton’s contract
I guess that would leave a pretty non-existent outfield though..