The Braves announced today that they have declined options over righty Julio Teheran and center fielder Billy Hamilton. In other news, the club made a qualifying offer to third baseman Josh Donaldson.
In Teheran’s case — the most interesting one of the three — the club will pay a $1MM buyout rather than picking up the option at $12MM. It isn’t entirely surprising to see that the Braves are ready to move on from the long-time rotation stalwart, but it had been possible to imagine the team exercising the option and then trading him.
Teheran has never been the ace that some once expected him to be. But he has generally been quite effective, with a 3.67 lifetime ERA and sub-4.00 marks in each of the past two campaigns. And Teheran has been freakishly durable, scarcely missing a single outing and averaging 191 innings since his first full season in 2013.
It’s debatable just how much interest Teheran will draw on the open market. But it’s plenty possible to imagine teams considering multi-year offers. Beyond his excellent health record, Teheran is still just 28 years of age.
As for Hamilton, claimed off waivers in August, there was never any chance his mutual option would be exercised by the team at a $7.5MM price tag. He’ll take a $1MM buyout with him as he goes back onto the open market.
It was equally obvious that Donaldson would receive the $17.8MM qualifying offer at $17.8MM. The Braves paid him more than that for one season already and got everything they bargained for. There’s no question Donaldson will turn down the offer and take to free agency.
Red Sox should sign Teheran
Be a nice depth signing !
Wouldn’t be a bad deal for them. He’s reliable. He’s pretty solid as well, outside of a handful of games a season where he has HR problems.
NYY would eat him alive though, I’d guess. Kind of like Harper does.
He’d get destroyed in the AL East.
Bad idea, Teheran will give up a ton of HRs there and he also isn’t afraid to walk lefties. I would love for Teheran to sign with the Marlins.
Teheran might be a really nice option for the Angels (in hopeful addition to Cole).
We all know he’ll be a Royal if Dayton Moore has a say so
It will be interesting to see what happens with qualifying offers this year. Didn’t think the Braves would issue Donaldson a qualifying offer out of respect but to me this means they may be able to get an offer done with him. Don’t think anyone really wants to go through what Dallas and crag went through this past year.
Paying him 23 million after an injury plagued season was the “out of respect”. Tagging him to a QO is just good business
I would prefer the Braves keep Donaldson rather than burn the bridge with a qualifying offer is all I’m saying. Could he resign with the Braves? Sure, but not often have I seen qualifying offers result in contracts. Especially if a player is coming off of the year Donaldson had.
It’s not going to burn any bridge. It’s business. JD is a professional, he understands.
The QO is not going to hinder Donaldson’s market like it did with Moustakas.
@tony how is it burning a bridge? This is just the business side of baseball, he was more than likely fully aware he was going to get the QO. I can see AA and JD’s agent hammering out a deal right now probably 2 or 3 years with an AAV right around 25 million. The good news is we no longer have to see Julio start opening day. We can bring him back he eats innings just not for 12 million, maybe for about 7 million. Or they could use the 11 million they freed up when they paid him a million not to come back and use it to get a top of the rotation guy
they did that because if another team signs him braves get a draft pick
I’m aware of how the process works. What I’m saying is how many people are going to give an older star the money he wants knowing they also lose a draft pick. If I had to guess not many.
Donaldson will have plenty of suitors. I’m guessing he’ll resign with Atlanta. He obviously had a blast playing there last year in case you isn’t watch any games.
Of course teams will want him but will they be willing to give up the draft pick to get him now? I watched nearly every game this year hence why I want them to keep Donaldson.
You sound desperate. If a GM were to gave off that same vibe, agents would chew you up alive.
@tony32513
Any true contender that needs a 3B with power and can afford him will likely not have a problem choosing Donaldson over a pick likely to be in the 31-60 range that might not have any future impact on the mlb team. Picks are not as valuable as prospects that have proven themselves and can have a very near effect. Even with prospects, we see them traded all the time for star players in the last year of their deal.
@antibelt I think tony is part of the younger generation and when I mean younger I mean under 18
The competitive balance draft pick isn’t very important. If you look over the list of competitive balance picks since 2013, only two stand out: Sean Manaea and Corey Knebel. Neither is with the club that originally drafted them. Competitive balance picks are minor league filler. (Derek Fisher was drafted by Houston, but he’s in Toronto’s system now.) I’d take Donaldson over a CB draft pick. Besides, a team could probably trade Donaldson later on for much more than a CB draft pick.
Teheran should sign with either the Padres or Cardinals in the hopes of putting together a career year.
I get the padres to some extend but definitely don’t understand the Cards. In reality, a team that is rebuilding or just needs a solid #4-5 that doesn’t have anything in the farm to take that slot should take a flier on him. Marlins, Yankees, Boston sorta make sense. The Braves even make sense also, but I think the purpose of this move is more money related than need related. We don’t have much to waste and we felt we could spend the money better elsewhere.
Yankees have Severino/German/Paxton/Happ/Montgomery and there’s plenty of talk that they’ll get another top arm–don’t know if that will be a true #1 or just another #2 or #3. Don’t see that they have room for Teheran, unless they were going to try him as a swing man, or if they plan to dump Montgomery before they see what he’s got post-surgery. That would be selling low, though.
@Mo4ever
Yeah the Yanks have enough #3-#5 guys. Montgomery had a good start to his career and is cheap. If they get a #1 then I assume it’ll be Ace-Ace-Paxton-German-Tanaka with Happ on the outside looking in and Montgomery in AAA waiting for his shot.
But Teheran is good enough to get some looks. He’s just a guy looking for a fix and if he can get it, he’ll be a solid #3 if he doesn’t, hell”be an excellent #5.
Why would the Cardinals sign a retread? They have a lot of pitching depth. If they sign a pitcher, it’ll be a front of the rotation type or Bum/Dallas.
@starbird17
Teheran is a pitcher begging to be fixed. He doesn’t allow more hits than innings pitched (148 in 172 IP. He’s close to a K/9 (8.3). And is just a tad over a HR/9 (1.1). If some can reign in his BB/9 and WP’s then he good be a really solid #3 type.
Funny thing is, the Braves along with the Cardinals, Dodgers and Astros usually do a good job of “fixing” guys. He definitely will get a few offers for a few million plus incentives.
At this point tho, I don’t think the AL East is the beast it use to be. Certainly YS and Fenway are tough but it shoudn’t keep teams like Jays, O’s or Tampa for taking a shot on him.
There’s no “fixing”. Teheran is a veteran and has been pitching this way for ages. What you see is what you get. You can’t fix his walks because with his stuff he lives on the edges. He gets guys to chase and when they don’t swing he gives up walks. When his misses he gets crushed. Who can’t hit a 90 mph straight fastball ? Trust me, I’ve watched him his entire career. There’s nothing wrong with taking him as he is if you are looking for innings and stability.
Bring him to Tampa. They seem to have magic that rejuvenates washed up pitching
Atkins pick up Teheran and Roark and call it an offseason.
Teheran should do well with a change of scenery. Maybe Padres bring him on board? In terms of money, this is huge coupled with the $4M saved from Markakis and Flowers deals.
Apparently 12mm for 170+ innings of sub 4 era pitching is too much for the braves?
He never became what they believed he would be. It isn’t a lot of money, no, but it sure does free up that money for a better arm.
Right. It’s not that the value for Tehran isn’t good, it’s that we felt we could spend that money better elsewhere on a “limited” budget. Truth be told, it’s the right decision. It’s a lot % of total salary dedicated to a player we refused to put on our playoff roster the last couple years
His splits show excellent numbers in the ballparks he had the most starts in. Any place that inflated his ERA was mainly small sample sizes. ERA’s in the low 3.00’s all throughout the NL East. For some reason his ERA was a bit higher at home, but was still in the 3.00’s when he was still at Turner Field.
SunTrust is a LH hitters park is why. Easy power numbers there to right and right-center.
In a good pitcher’s park, Teheran could put up some really decent numbers. Stick him in Chavez Ravine or Oracle Park and he would put up SP2 or 3 type numbers.
@UGA_Steve
It’s not even really the homers. It’s more his wildness. It’s interesting how narratives are so easily bought into. I thought Teheran was homer prone too. However, his HR/9 last year was only 1.1 HR/9. That has him ranked 26th among all pitchers who pitched at least 150 innings this year. To put that into perspective, his 1.1 rate is better than Giolito (1,22( Cole (1.23), Bieber (1.33), Paxton (1.37), Kershaw (1,42) and Verlander (1.5). The real issue is walks, wild pitches and when he does give up homers, he gives them up they’re in bunches. 12 of his 22 homers came in 5 games out of the 33 starts this year..
Would be interesting if some team can quiet him down and cut down on the wildness.
I think they’ll try to resign him, a bit less probably, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back. However, I hope Julio does the best for him, even if that means another team like Seattle, Oakland, Boston, etc.
He lead the league as a starting pitcher in hits bats men and walks. He’s been known to have hr issues. Not worth 12 million
Then how the heck did he keep his ERA down with a juiced ball? Something doesn’t add up.
He’s always been border line with matching his advance stats to traditional stats
@bravesiowafan
Not really. He might gave brain fart games where he gives up more than one and walks guys but his HR/9 was pretty good at 1.1 That’s top 30 among SP w/ 150 IP.
His era is the only positive he has every adnvanced stat says he will regress. He’s lost lots of velocity and control that made him a viable 3/4 starter. His stats from 2019 clearly show he’s ready to crumble.
Simple reason Wags. The Braves have a ton of cheap depth at pitching int he top of the minors. While it’s a gamble to be certain, they would rather save Teheran’s duckets and put them towards a true SP1 type guy, or fill some other hole. The X value of Teheran over one of those top farm hands is likely smaller than the X value if they spent the money somewhere else.
Not only that, Teheran is just maddeningly inconsistent. I think it would be one thing if the Braves felt they could run him out there and get six innings of sub-4 ERA baseball every start, but they can’t. He will have one phenomenal game followed by one horrendous game that taxes the bullpen badly.
Better to give that opportunity to a cheaper arm that is just trending towards a rule 5 loss. Especially given the fact the Braves need 40-man spots for these young arms.
I want to cry happy tears! Hopefully, this is the last time we will ever see him in a Braves uniform.
I haven’t seen you in awhile. Another commenter earlier today was speculating that you had changed your name to Trillionaire. I am curious about your opinion on something though. Some Giants fans think that the Giants shouldn’t offer Bumgarnerna QO out of a sign of respect to them. I think that the idea of that is ridiculous because it would mean that the Giants would either lose draft compensation for not keeping him or lose money for keeping him. What’s your take?
Who cares what Giants fans think? They don’t control internal decisions nor ever will. He will get a qualifying offer and hopefully, he rejects it. Then he signs with the Braves.
So far, the Braves have made a smart decision to decline Teheran. Hopefully, they continue with their smart decisions and eventually sign Bumgarner.
Teheran to the M’s. They need all the pitching they can get.
who says they wont bring him back for 8 million saving 4 million
Decline Julio. Finally a smart move today by the Braves
LOL, you’re such a sally. Never happy with anything, even when it makes sense for the team. You really can’t be much more of a homer.
A. If you think playing Nick Markakis in the 5 spot and in LF everyday is a good idea then you’re clueless
B. You’re also the bozo that thought “taking a flyer” on someone was paying them a 3 year multi million dollar contract i.e. Aroldis Chapman
C. You don’t even know how to properly use the term “homer”. A homer is someone who overly favors their team or home team. Thus if I was really never happy with anything the Braves do that makes me the opposite of a Homer.
So in closing you’re an idiot.
He could have been attempting sarcasm with the homer comment. Not sure though.
i know everyone will hate me for this, but Teheran can be an affordable opion for the Phillies given they need at least 2 starters and may not get either Cole or Stras.
Nah I think your instincts are correct.
Teheran is going to Houston where he becomes an all star. Haven’t we seen this story before?
Are you referring to Morton? Many have gotten realigned in ATL – most recently: Anibal Sanchez. Javier Vazquez was great after NY broke him. Morton was a proverbial late-blooming prospect that exceeded his potential after being traded in the McLouth deal to PIT.
Morton, yes, but also remember plenty of folks here believed the Astros overpaid for Cole when that trade took place.
I’m more frustrated that ATL didn’t ink Morton last offseason, when TB got him and he presumably wanted to pitch close to home on the east coast. We ended up giving that to Keuchel and could have had Morton for 2 years (yes, I’m dreaming, but it never sounded as ATL was interested in their former prospect that’s made good).
The Astros were also too stupid to offer Morton a $17.9 million qualifying offer and now he is considered a bargain in Tampa at $30+ million. You can’t tell me that adding Morton to the Astros rotation at that bargain price wouldn’t have helped the Astros win just one more World series game. The Astros have to regret not making that QO. They were too afraid he might accept it but that would have been the best thing for them. Even if he didn’t accept the QO the Astros would have gotten high level draft pick compensation just for offering it. The Astros are a team that fell one win short of a world championship but thought a legit Cy Young candidate couldn’t possibly help them get that last win. Who knows what they are thinking h if they use logic like that.
I agree with this. The only thing I can think of is that Atlanta thought it had a Morton-esque type in Folty. They probably weren’t the only ones.
He will become the top stud of baseball beginning with his first pitch for the Stros. It will be a(nother) miracle.
Giants snag Teheran?
Tight. That would be tight. That’s so tight that it hurts. It hurts in a good way. That’s so tight. Jesus Christ that’s tight.
Teheran is Blue Jays material.
The Angels desperately need consistent innings.
Seems only yesterday Braves fans on here wanted everyone’s top prospects for Julio…
And at the time he was arguably worth it based on the market at the time. That said, no one pulling the trigger made the right call. Quintana was a similar pitcher and he got way more than he’s worth…. so just the risk reward aspect of it all
Actually, I think the Braves fans on here were already seeing the signs others weren’t and most were hoping the Braves would move Teheran before his value went down. Braves fans wanted him moved long before the supposed baseball guru’s thought he ‘should’ have been. Don’t knock the Braves fans for hoping someone would listen to the media and give up more than he was worth. Teheran was a clone of Jair Jurrgens and Braves fans didn’t want to watch his value detoriate in much the same way.
Teheran is 7-15 with a 5.28 ERA in Interleague play in 29 career starts, including 4-7 with an ERA of 5.72 the last three seasons. I would be very surprised if an AL team signs him.
Such a severe contact/ flyball pitcher (his K/W was 5th worst and his GB/FB ratio was 12th worst out of 61 qualified pitchers) would do well to go to SD or LA where flyballs aren’t quite so prone to leave the park. Maybe Oakland. He could be deemed an undervalued commodity there.
.
Everyone on here: “Teheran is good for my favorite team!”
Everyone but Braves fans…
I drove from NYC to PHI to watch his MLB debut and I’m glad we’re moving on.
Julio is a solid 4 in anyone’s rotation and he eats innings. Walks and homeruns have really hampered him the last 2 years as his velocity waned. Too bad the Braves couldn’t find a trading partner because he certainly an upgrade for a lot of teams out there. I just have a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that he is going to turn out to be another Charlie Morton or Mike Minor, whom the Braves finally gave up on and have gotten a tremendous second wind! But you couldn’t keep him for that kind of money!!
Could you see the Braves as a trade partner for Mookie Betts?
I am not a big NL follower but the Braves have some good young talent and Betts home is in Nashville in the offseason.
The Nats may lose Rendon–and the Mets, another division foe, have some talented pieces.
Just wondering what might be available from the NL East?
What does Mookie see in Nashville? Country music?
Mookie is from the Nashville area.
Don’t be completely surprised if the market doesn’t pan out for him and the Braves get him back for a cheaper deal. Just saying, I think fangraph had him “worth” what he was expected to make if the Braves exercised their option. I don’t think most teams pay that much for him unless that have money to waste/risk (yanks for example). Hope the Braves get him back, but at much less cost
Padres makes the most sense to me. They need pitching depth and he should do well in that big ball park.
Julio was phenomenal this year against Marlins. And there’s the rub. He is great to good vs poor/middlin teams. But better teams give him trouble. He is never injured and like I said, shows up vs weak teams. He is a classic 5th starter that doesn’t make the postseason roster. But not for that price tag, at least on the Braves.
“It was equally obvious that Donaldson would receive the $17.8MM qualifying offer at $17.8MM.”
Uh…..what?
A lot less obvious if he received the $17.8MM qualifying offer at say 20MM I guess…
That statement was very redundant. I see why you quoted it. Do you think Cleveland regrets not making a qualifying offer to Josh Donaldson?
Wait is this the infamous Teheran that the Braves fans claimed was an Ace and wanted every teams top 3 prospects for?
@billysbballz
Easy to be snarky after the fact. Every team has one or a few prospects that were going to be no-brainers that failed. Yanks had Jesus Montero, Red Sox had Casey Kelly. And if you’tr an A’s fan let us not forget Todd Van Poppel Boy did I sell a boat load of Van Poppel rookie cards….haha
Braves fans just wanted him traded.
It was equally obvious that Donaldson would receive the $17.8MM qualifying offer at $17.8MM.
Angels should sign Julio, give them innings and a pitcher who stays healthy. With the Angels punch he would do well.
The only reason why they decline Teheran is if they think they won’t have room for him in the rotation.
Soroka, Fried, Folty take 3 spots. They’ll probably sign or trade for a frontline starter, that leaves 1 spot that they feel can be filled by Newcomb, Wright, Touki, or Wilson.
IMO, they should have picked up his option and keep him as a safety net or trade him in a package.
Teheran was pretty unlucky in the win department last year. He had 18 starts of at least 5 innings and 1 or 0 earned runs and went 8-1 with 9 no decisions….bulloen killed him.
I think they are going to give Newk every opportunity to get back in the rotation this spring with competition from Wright/Touki/Wilson and they will sign a pitcher.
Was thinking MadBum but with that QO attached I don’t think so. I have a feeling it’s Cole Hamels on a 2 yr deal.
Also believe JD will not be signed fast he will want to work the market and I have a feeling the Braves will move on quick and sign Moose for 3 years. Leaving a big hole at clean up. Maybe Garcia ????
Hallelujah! We’re finally rid of that albatross.
He’s not horrible, but maybe just needs a change of scenery.
At 34, Josh Donaldson is due for a steep decline. The Braves need to stick with their plan and build with youth, preferably from within.
Julio Teheran is a better pitcher than Dallas Keuchel at this point.
Maybe it’s time for the great Touki Toussaint that so many D’backs …ahem…’analysts”.. have anointed as awesome to finally actually earn that praise. Naw, all anybody has to earn with that group anymore is a hopeful place in their hearts.