The Braves are now uncertain whether or not they’ll tender lefty Mike Minor a contract, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Signs had pointed to the team offering arbitration, with Minor likely to earn at or near the $5.6MM level that he set by winning his arbitration case with the team last year. But the 27-year-old has reportedly suffered a setback in his efforts to return from labrum surgery, and has yet to make it back onto a mound. “We think it could happen prior to the tender date,” said GM John Coppolella. “We want to see something, whether it’s off the mound or … we need to see something. We can’t just blindly tender him a contract and put the team at risk. Because every single dollar counts for us.”
- The Braves suddenly find themselves with a surplus of outfielders after largely committing to shifting Hector Olivera to left field, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman writes. If Atlanta finds it hard to shed any of the salary owed to Nick Swisher or Michael Bourn, says Bowman, the team may look closer at a trade of Cameron Maybin. But the club’s top executives continue to say they don’t feel pressure to trade Maybin, even after the Olivera move, as O’Brien tweets.
- The Marlins are indeed interested in trading outfielder Marcell Ozuna, but not at anything less than his market value, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports. Of course, as Frisaro notes, the team may find it necessary to trade him if it hopes to accomplish its apparent goal of adding a quality, controllable pitcher.
- Mets assistant GM John Ricco says that the club is receiving strong interest in its pitching, as Mike Puma of the New York Post reports on Twitter. That’s not surprising, given the depth and quality of arms present in the organization.
- Ricco also said that the Mets could look to add an offensive player that is capable of filling in around the diamond, rather than seeking a regular at one spot, Puma tweets. Naturally, that statement calls to mind the possibility of signing Ben Zobrist, but there are other players — including, arguably, Daniel Murphy — who could function in a similar capacity.
- It may be time for Mets third baseman David Wright to begin a transition across the diamond, Mark Simon of ESPNNewYork.com writes. The veteran and team leader made a thrilling comeback from serious back issues, but showed real difficulty throwing the ball across the diamond, and Rubin argues that now is the time to begin spelling him at the hot corner and working him in at first base.
- The Nationals are set to add Chris Speier to their coaching staff, either as the third base or bench coach, according to a tweet from MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. The 19-year MLB veteran served as the bench coach under new Nats skipper Dusty Baker when he was with the Reds. Speier has continued on with Cincinnati as a special assistant to GM Walt Jocketty since Baker departed.
Are the Marlins wiling to admit that Ozuna’s market value has diminished due to their mess of a front office which airs its dirty laundry to the media?
Got nothing to do with the FO. Might have something to do with being a 1 WAR player last year though.
1 WAR because they purposely manipulated his service time and kept him in the minors.
it could’ve also increased a little bit because of the cost controlled years that a team would have over Ozuna. laundry became dirty because they left him in the minors when he clearly straightened himself out and was ready to go back to miami.
Better for the M’s to trade him Ozuna than later…wow, that was just bad.
Zobrist would be an excellent fit with the Mets. No QO as well.
That is a thought. He could replace Daniel Murphy.
It would be a good fit!
Zobrist will probably sign back with Kansas City.
Danny Duffy and another minor league arm for Ozuna. He would be good in right field for KC who says No?
Trade Donkey Duda and put David I can’t throw Wright at 1st Base, Trading Duda with Hook Nose Niese for something of value!
I’m not sure why you’re even name-calling and commenting on player’s appearances, but you might want to refrain from calling anyone ‘Hook Nose’.
I totally understand the need to use every resource to its max potential, but maybe the Braves shouldn’t be making any statements about finances for the near future.
“The meeting was dominated by supporters of the stadium who executed a strategy to shutout the voice of critics. They were lined up for the 12 speaking slots by 1:45 p.m., for the meeting that started at 7. They effectively snatched up all the speaking slots for the public comment portion of the meeting. A handful of critics were escorted from the room when it became clear early on they would not be allowed to speak and they approached the front of the room to ask the commission to create more speaking slots.”
You basically scammed the public out of 400+ million dollars to build an unnecessary stadium and now you are crying poverty. Just keep your mouth shut about money for the foreseeable future.
the city never fulfilled their promise of developing the area around the park and the fans in the city never went to games. The city and the fans have nobody to blame but themselves. The move is smart for the braves and for fans as it will generate much needed revenue since TW signed that awful long term TV deal.
This just isn’t true. The Braves have consistently drawn around 2.5 million nearly every year, with the exception being the punt season last year. The idea that the city is to blame for the Braves pulling shady backdoor deals in no way justifies this stadium. This stadium is going to haunt taxpayers for a generation. There is story after story after story of how this deal went down and it all points to a greedy organization that lied their way into the wallets of the people. The Braves are currently valued at over a billion dollars. Liberty Media is a multi-billion dollar organization. Not one dime of taxpayer money should be used on this. The next time someone complains about education, roads, or social services funding they should all be reminded of this.
Also, they just renegotiated the deal a little over a year ago. They now have access to an extra 500 million. This is a valuable franchise that doesn’t need tax dollars.
Braves will have some very expensive bench players in Bourn and Swisher.
Just wanted to point out that Mark Simon wrote the piece suggesting David Wright should transition to first base, not Adam Rubin.