The Braves are among the teams that have inquired with the Rockies about a potential Nolan Arenado trade, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Braves fans should pump the brakes before running too wild with scenarios just yet, though. It stands to reason that the majority of contending clubs have at least gauged the asking price — front offices wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they didn’t at least explore even a fringe chance at adding a superstar-caliber player — and Morosi notes that there haven’t been any recent discussions between the two teams.
Frankly, it seems a stretch to imagine that the Braves would take on Arenado and the whopping seven years and $234MM remaining on his contract. Atlanta’s franchise-record Opening Day payroll came back in 2017 ($122.6MM), but they’re already projected to top that by $15MM or more. Add in a $35MM salary for Arenado in 2020, and the Braves would be shattering their previous spending thresholds by $50MM or more. Even if the Rockies were willing to include cash in the deal and/or take another contract back in exchange, adding Arenado would demolish payroll precedents in Atlanta.
Beyond that, Arenado is only about 10 months younger than Anthony Rendon, whose seven-year $245MM deal closely resembles what’s left on Arenado’s contract, and the Braves were never serious bidders for Rendon. Numerous reports have also indicated Atlanta’s reluctance to offer Josh Donaldson a fourth guaranteed year at a lower annual rate than either Arenado or Rendon is earning. It’s true that a four-year deal would run through Donaldson’s age-37 season, whereas Arenado is “only” signed through age 35, but the discrepancy is nonetheless notable.
When exploring any Arenado trade scenarios, it’s also worth emphasizing his full no-trade clause and the fact that an acquiring team will be wary of the opt-out provision in his contract. A perennial MVP candidate, Arenado can walk away from the final five years and $164MM of his contract and enter the open market. He’d be leaving a $32.8MM annual salary on the table to do so, but he’d be opting out in advance of only his age-31 season in 2022. It’s not out of the question that he could land a six- or even a seven-year deal in free agency if he continues on as an elite performer. And if he unexpectedly begins to decline sooner than that, an acquiring team would then be stuck paying nearly $33MM per season for said decline phase.
The Braves have a deep farm system that is rich in pitching prospects and position players alike, so they have the young talent to acquire virtually any player who is made available by another team. Atlanta would also have an obvious hole at third base if Donaldson signs elsewhere. Be that as it may, acquiring Arenado would require heretofore unseen levels of spending from ownership and would surely cost the Braves a sizable amount of young talent as well. If Donaldson departs, the Braves would (speculatively) make a very sensible trade partner for the Cubs and Kris Bryant, but it’s hard to see Arenado suiting up at SunTrust Park in 2020.
“tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com”
Slow day.
Arenado isn’t going anywhere and everyone knows that.
Kris Bryant makes sense for the Braves. Let us know if you hear something.
You can’t sit here and say that unless you’re Nolan and you’re going to block any trade. You can’t simply say it won’t happen. Atlanta has the prospect capital to make it happen, as well as the ability to take on the payroll.
These writers don’t follow along very well to Atlanta if they keep mentioning the payroll can’t go any higher. It’s been said that they have the ability FOR THE RIGHT PLAYER.
I’d rather have Arenado over Rendon as well, and I’m sure Atlanta value’s the Defense of Arenado over Rendon just the same as most.
The Braves need to tell the Rockies Arenado is like Giancarlo, and its more important for them to get out from that contract than to get a prospect haul for him. Hey it worked the first time!
Payroll already has gone up to new record levels. Saying it’ll go up for the right player and saying they’ll blow past their previous record by nearly 50 percent of that total is something else entirely.
That level of payroll increase isn’t only unprecedented for the Braves — it’s nearly unprecedented throughout the league.
To clarify, “these writers” was in reference to media, not MLBTR writers.
2021 payroll is at $92m with the loss of:
Greene, Flowers, Markakis, Melancon, Hamels. Figure none of those are coming back. There’s room for Nolan in there as well.
Albies and Acuna are on sweetheart deals as well.
Braves could make a trade of Greene and/or Melancon this year to free up some space as well., with some options for the pen at lower rates.
Braves are bringing in money with the stadium being almost all leased, and fan support. There’s money there, so long as they keep winning and trying to bring a trophy to Atlanta.
Losing players means you need to replace players.
Anything you’re planning on replacing players with in 2021 might be used in an arrenado deal.
An arrenado deal could easily cost the braves waters wright Contreras and another pitcher esp if Colorado pays down money if arrenado opts in
The money coming off the books is actually very pertinent in a situation like this, because the Braves have a deep farm system that they can replace several of those players with. They’d probably prefer to move some payroll out if they were to add another 30m, but they’re still in on Josh Donaldson, who will cost at least 25, so I don’t think the money part is that outlandish. But I don’t think this is going to happen. Braves were probably trying to gauge whether Rockies were considering getting out from the contract and beginning a rebuild. Paying double retail (huge contract, plus premium prospects) isn’t AA or the Braves style. I think everyone knows the Rockies aren’t in a great situation, and have great players, so makes sense to feel it out.
Are you still in high school? These comments sounds like someone that has not learned about logic yet
Logic? Haven’t heard that word around here in a long, long time….
All 30 teams must be relentlessly praised, they all have the best GM who wins all their trades, even if a team hasnt sniffed the postseason in years, theyre frontrunners this year and also every player is overpaid despite making MLB billions.
You must be in middle school with that grammar.
@vtncsc sorry to burst your bubble but you casting aside rendon just because braves didnt sign him is laughable. He is a much better player than arenado just look at home and away splits. How many times has arenado made playoffs? There offensive output is nearly identical and rendon doesnt play in a launching pad. Again braves dropped the ball on rendon and instead will spend prospectS to get an aging player whos completely different on the road than at home. Could have had rendon for the same number and no prospects lol
Rendon’s bat is far and away better than Arenado’s that whatever defensive difference between the two cannot make up for how far ahead a ballplayer Rendon is over Arenado.
Not all of us think that lol. I fully agree Rendon is the better bat. I think Arenado is better than his road splits suggest, but I definitely view Rendon as the better hitter.
Arenado will be hard-pressed to be a Top 10 hitter for all Third Baseman once he’s out of Coors.
Not necessarily. Playing at Coors makes it difficult to adjust on the road. Players have moved on and been very successful. Matt Holiday had 134 ops+ For the Rockies and 138 ops+ for the Cardinals. So players who excel at Coors can excel at other parks. Ops+ is park adjusted. It’s more valuable to judge a hitter than plain ops.
Road games for Rockies are LA, San Diego, and SF. So that could affect his numbers also.
Mays – Arenado is not Holliday. Stop the comparison. Arenado’s rarely ever reached the Top 10 among 3B in OPS in his career on the road. Routinely 1st or 2nd in stats at home. Go figure.
Dan O’Dowd when on mlb now talks about the difficulty of adjusting from home to road when Coors is your home park and many players excellent just fine after leaving Coors. I’d prefer Rendon also but it’s tough to fully judge Arenado when 27 road games are in SD,LA, and SF. Most players have home/road splits that favor home. I just wouldn’t write him off as just a product of Coors.
I don’t think he’s Holiday but holidays road numbers were significantly less when Coors was his home park
its not just about the NTC. the Rox also will have to be really willing to trade him to do it, and there needs to be a team willing to actually make a play for him. Braves and Rangers havent done much besides probing the market yet.
Everyone knows that the Braves have the pieces necessary. They just don’t have the guts to pull the trigger like that.
You’re also taking a tremendous chance that Arenado’s Road Splits don’t become the norm. Take him away from Coors and his numbers are sure to regress a bit. I’d lean towards having Rendon because he’s a proven hitter in any ballpark, he doesn’t cost prospects, and there is no opt out.
Is there a worse phone call for a top Atlanta pitching prospect to get than, “hey we traded you to Colorado”?
LOL
Orioles*
The old Orioles, for sure. But if I were a young pitcher and I had to go Colorado at this point, I’d be more pissed. I’m not really sure how Brdich still has a job. I’d honestly have no faith in him making a good deal for Arenado here either. He’s done very few positive things as General Manager. He’s really the biggest reason the Rockies are shopping arenado now—With all the bad money contracts he’s given out. The team is kind of backed into a corner.
Must’ve been a quick call
Cubs should trade Bryant to the Braves. Frees up payroll, Bote can cover third and develop with more playing time, and we can begin to replenish the farm system.
The Cubs are asking too much for 2 years of Bryant. Seriously, 3 of
Anderson, Waters, Riley & Wright?
Anderson isn’t going anywhere, so it might as well be the other 3, which is an overpay (in addition to taking on Bryant’s salary) for 2 years at best, with a slim chance of 1 year.
That exact same article that referenced the three of four also mentioned how stupid that would be for the Cubs as the names Pache, Fried, and Newcomb are not included. If the Braves aren’t interested in moving those three names (understandable and wise) it will take quantity over quality.
Bryant’s value will be higher than any 3 of those guys combined next year and the year after. That’s really the point. Wright and Riley have another dumpster fire year and they will go from top prospects to crap prospect. Braves fans will be in hindsight mode saying I wish we traded them. It happens all the time. The Cubs trade Bryant for anything less than 3 of those four and Theo should be shot out of a cannon.
I agree they need to do SOMETHING before the prospect’s values drop. Wilson is borderline, if someone wants him in a trade, send him. Touki as well, but I think his value is down, needs to be built back up.
Touki has sick stuff and is sleeping on frontline potential. I’m not as big on Wilson’s stuff but all that said…
Neither one as headliners are getting us Bryant.
Looking at Bryants defense and WAR from last year, my FORWARDsite is saying Bryant for all that is a mistake.
Hopefully 1 of Bryant, Cubs deserve to lose grievance. Plus Cubs would be morons for trading best player just to save money. Theo cannot draft or develop pitching period..
I don’t know why you think they “deserve” to lose. They didn’t break any rules.
It’s not like the Braves didn’t do the exact same thing to Acuna. He just happened to be cool with an extension
And the Braves didn’t break any rules either.
vtncsc… The Braves don’t wanna increase payroll- The Braves don’t wanna give up prospects. but at the same time they wanna win now. It seems to me the best move they could make is to trade prospects for Bryant; even if it means Pache, Fried, Anderson level prospects. According to Fangraphs, Bryant has a higher WAR, 27.8, than Donaldson, Arenado and Rendon from 2015-19. Regardless of how you feel about the WAR stat, he’s won Rookie of the Year, MVP, played in 4 post seasons, won a WS and is a truly high character guy. Plus his next two years will be cheaper than any of those other guys. The Braves should get off the fence and cash in some of those chips they’re hanging onto and make a big time move.
Ageed. I hope AA doesn’t trade for Bryant. After watching the gold glove caliber defense at 3B last year I definitely don’t want to watch one of the worst defensive 3B in baseball next year. Trade multiple top prospects AND pay a big salary….no thanks. And there is no way they give up three of those prospects.
The Cubs should trade Bryant to the Padres. AJ will give the Cubs what they want. AA won’t.
Happ would be better at 3B than Bote.
The Cubs will be punting on 2020 if they do trade Bryant. They still have a good shot to win the division if they don’t.
Then I guess it can be the Padres and their fans who can regret the trade.
What do you think you will get from the Padres? They are one team that definitely doesn’t need a 3B. They won’t empty the farm for anyone, especially not a corner OF.
Maybe something like Patino and Morejon and, since they could use a CF, Margot.
Braves will get neither Bryant nor Arendo when they can get an overrated umbrella without trading their overrated prospects.
It’s odd that someone so obsessed with a past his prime SP would call one of the best 3B in the game overrated.
Xanax. Now.
Could be worse. They could have signed an overrated Bumgarner.
I hope you have the integrity to keep your name until the end of the 2020 season. It would just be so poignant when Bumgarner demonstrates how badly he has regressed and how much you refused to acknowledge the warning signs.
I’ll keep it because I’m confident the Braves will miss the playoffs next year unless they make more changes. Mark this comment. You probably should have marked my comments during the season when I said the Nationals are a better team than the Braves and the Braves were a fluke. The postseason proved it.
using small sample sizes like the playoffs to try and prove a point demonstrates a fundamental lack of baseball knowledge
Have you been telling yourself that since 1995? Consistently losing in the first round has to be due to some fundamental flaw in the development of a team, not just the laws of probability working against the Braves.
You might want to talk to the Nationals about that. They failed year after year in the first round, until they succeeded.
Except the Nationals were willing to spend on Max and Corbin. They spent on pitching and finally won it all this year.
The Braves spent money on Hamels, whom i always loved when he was a Philly but him alone will/is not enough to offset the terrible options behind him.
Point is the Braves talk the talk but never do anything about it. “We are interested in Cole, Arendo, Bryant, Lindor, etc….”
Guaranteed that only means they will not be acquired. It is the same story every year, whether AA is in charge or someone else.
They’ve had Scherzer for five years, and lost in his first four post-seasons. Overall, Corbin pitched rather poorly in the post-season and they won anyway. You said the Braves have a fundamental flaw. Well, the Nationals had the same flaw, based on their previous performance, until they didn’t.
In other words, there’s a fundamental flaw in your argument.
By the way, his name is Arenado, not Arendo. You keep misspelling his name.
The point is the Nationals still spent money in a position that was already strong. I do believe that the playoffs (in baseball) can be a crapshoot and the best team does not always win. However, we can not disregard the fact that the Braves are not the Nationals. They do not spend money and if they do, they go after mid-tier talent but stop short of being legitimate world series contenders. From the early 2010s to now, the Nationals were regarded as an elite team that fell short in the playoffs. Never at any point throughout the last decade or so, have the Braves been placed at that position. The Braves losing in the playoffs was not because they fell short despite an elite team, but because they were always a mid-tier team that was never built to win a championship. The team is not good enough nor does management make an effort to put the best team on the field.
Despite having young and affordable talent and Freeman, the team continues to be cheap. The cheap continues to stop short. The results in the postseason speak for themselves. They barely got to game 5 against the worst team in the playoffs this year and then lost one of the worst games ever in their history.
How did they fix it? By replacing a mid tier arm with anotehr
“The team is not good enough nor does management make an effort to put the best team on the field.”
If your only acceptable management approach is to buy all the best players, I suggest you quit yapping about the Braves and go root for the Yankees or Red Sox. The Braves put one of the best MLB products on the field at a reasonable price. They have great players and they’re a joy to watch. I’m not sure why you feel compelled post after post to slam them for not spending tens of millions more for retreads like madbum. How about giving them (and us) a break and just let them be the really-good-trending-towards-great team that they are?
How about winning a world series instead of being perennial chokers?
But again, you are a real fan!
You make some good points, but two differences between the Nationals and the Braves militate against the Braves from following the Nationals’ model:
1) The Nationals have no worthwhile pitching prospects, so there’s no question that they have to go outside the organization to get long-term pitchers. The Braves have a plethora of near-MLB-ready prospects, so they are less likely to fill their rotation with long-term vets. They hit on Soroka in 2019. If they hit on one or two more in the next year or two, then their rotation is set.
2) The Nationals get triple the local tv revenue that the Braves get, in the $60M-$80M range vs the Braves $20M-$30M. That extra $40M-$50M in “free” money makes a big difference in their available revenue for spending on the team.
Some other posters have also mention the debt load that the Braves are carrying from the development of the Battery. I can’t speak to that because I’m ignorant of the facts.
I AM a fan. I love how the Braves have improved and how they’re building a foundation to do even better in the future. They’ll get over the hump and grab a ring one of these years, and when they do I’ll expect to see you here posting about how Braves management doesn’t care enough to build a dynasty, etc., etc., etc.
I still wholeheartedly believe the reason the Nationals went after Corbin and Max was that they wanted a championship. Once they moved to WSH, that was their priority. They finally achieved it. I don’t believe the Braves have the same desire nor incentive.
“The Braves have a plethora of near-MLB-ready prospects”
Strasburg was developed by the Nationals. They acquired top tier arms to compliment him.
The Braves are relying on Soroka to be their ace. I think he can be but I’m not optimistic. Regardless, Hamels is not at a tier level to be considered top-line and neither is Faulty or Fried.
I have no hope for Anderson or Wright until they learn to throw strikes. The Braves don’t need more bottom tier pitching.
Yanks should easily make this move…either Nolan or Lindor should be playing in Yankee pinstripes in the near future….bring on the hate!!
And what would the Yankees have to give in your opinion?
Yankees do not have the pieces to get Francisco Lindor.
I wouldn’t be so sure of that. They could make a competitive offer, it’s just that the Dodgers and the Reds would have better overall packages if those teams really want to.
Personally I’d try for Clevinger above all, since Paxton and Tanaka are free agents after the 2020 season.
Anyways, on Arenado, he’s going to cost too much per season compared to the luxury tax. It’s evident the team doesn’t want to stay above the third level and Arenado would put them way beyond that. Besides, Urshela is manning the hot corner and I doubt Cashman is going to focus on an area that’s already covered
they certainly do have the pieces to land Lindor-most teams do in fact.
Its a question of do you want to gut your farm for 2 years of Lindor?
The Indians are not looking for just prospects. Cleveland wants some MLB or MLB ready players. What the Yankees have to trade does not meet the needs of the Indians. They don’t need Andujar as they have 3B, 1B, and DH spoken for. Frazier is a cancer and won’t interest them and the Indians strength is starting pitching. So tell me how can the Yankees trade for Lindor. I don’t see it.
Why don’t the Yankees get Kris Bryant? He’s already clean shaven.
Incorrect.
zzzzz…
The Atlanta market must be smaller than I’ve always thought it was. They seem like a team that should be able to afford a near top ten payroll on a consistent basis.
They are. Between finally shedding bad contracts a few years ago and not having anyone worthy of FA contract along with one of the worst TV deal payouts, they are getting competitive enough to see that budget go up. I can’t imagine it doesn’t rise 25-35% at minimum over the next 2-3 years. Of course that can all change with the right deal, but I just think they’ve been extremely cautious. Feels like the FO is playing a game of Jenga.
It’s simple. They have a terrible TV deal and the Braves operation includes the Battery as well, the latter of which especially limits what the Braves can do because they have to abide by MLB debt rules until the debt from building the Battery is more paid off.
The Nationals don’t have any TV deal at all and they’ve paid tax on the payroll.
When you’re the Nationals and you always have to overpay people to come play for you: the rule of Jayson Werth.
They also don’t have the Braves’ situation either, with an owner that was actually barred from interfering in how the Braves were run to begin with in LM and now have to wait until more of the debt is paid off to drastically increase the payroll as a trade off for now having the Battery.
There’s definite reasons why they actually can’t do as much, though obviously they won’t have that excuse in a few years.
The Braves always had a top ten payroll when Ted Turner owned them. More like a top five.
Why don’t the Braves get “competitive balance draft picks”?
Because the Braves are the same size media market as Boston.
Man, it’s been almost 25 years. Move on.org. He won a championship and sold high on the Braves and got out. Your idea that it was much more than a shrewd business tactic because he and his Hollywood wife were doing the chop in the front row is shrouded by nostalgia.
He has a no trade clause
The Braves aren’t reading for Arenado, but the payroll hit isn’t the reason why. He’s going to opt out in two years, and the Rockies are going too require a King’s ransom for him. Alex Anthopoulus is not an idiot, and has never shown a propensity to trade away significant pieces for a short term player.
The Braves need to just resign JD and call it a day.
I doubt he’s opting out of a $35 AAV at 31 years old
He’s all but guaranteed to opt out at 31.
I’d bet dollars to donuts that no team will give him $32-35 million annually at 31 years old.
Yankees need to make a move for Arenado…either him or Lindor should be playing in Yankees pinstripes this season! Bring on the hate!!
And I will say again, the Yankees do not have the pieces to get Francisco Lindor.
Yeah, people saying the yanks should trade for Arenado are living in an imaginary world where prospects and money don’t matter. Besides the prospects, they’ll already be ~49million over tax. They simply won’t add 35 million to that and allot 97 million of their payroll to 3 guys. Stop it Yankees fans – but worry not, your team is top 3 in baseball.
Dont have the money either gotta pay judge soon unless your letting him and guys like voit walk for nothing.
Yankees have the money. Their tv deal alone pays them $240M per annum.
Love that there’s a whole article to whet the appetite of Braves fans getting Arenado, then in the 2nd sentence telling fans directly to not get too excited. Lol. Nothin wrong with that, but I love how implied Braves fans get their hopes up.
Yup. It doesn’t take much. Georgia based sports fans have gotten their dreams crushed so many times that we lash into any positive news that makes our dreams look realistic again lol
Sad but true. Thank goodness Atlanta United delivered a championship or we’d have lost our ever-loving minds after the 10-run 1st inning in game 5.
All fans do, and always have. I’m still hoping the Flames can get Gretzky.
They most likely aren’t getting him, but shouldn’t a new stadium and locking up 2 superstars for exploitatively-cheap contracts mean they have to massively raise the payroll?
We use phrases like “shatter the previous opening day payroll” but the reality is there is no salary cap, and owners never have once explained why they are hesitant to spend, probably because “I want to buy 5 new houses this year instead of 4” doesn’t relate to the people, and due to the owners buying and influencing media, they have kept the narrative strictly to getting the fans to hate player salaries, which play to the “well I played baseball when I was 8 years old, why is this guy who spent his entire life dedicated to it and being 1000x better than me at it making millions, why I make thousands at my 9-5 job” crowd.
Billionaires make thousandaires hate millionaires, because it keeps the thousandaires from questioning why anyone needs a billion dollars to begin with. Meanwhile its also almost impossible for millionaires to become billionaires anymore because everythings been corrupted too much. At some point the masses will stop hating each other and instead point their fingers at the real problem: the few who hoard money.
No trade clauses are to give the player control over where they go in a trade, not to prevent trades from happening completely.
A very suspicious take. No trade clauses actually do give the player control to prevent a trade completely, hence the name of the term.
Not suspicious at all. The player can totally prevent trades, or he can control to which team he gets traded, or he can negotiate incentives to allow the trade to happen.
I’d love to have him, but we all know the cost will be insane. Not only from financial capital, but also from prospect capital. Here’s my thought… if you make a move for him or JD where the cost is gonna be super high, then you better freaking make a couple more moves to put this team in the best position to go all the way. Meaning this, might as well fill that #5 spot with a solid veteran or go out and get a legit pitcher to fill that void. Might be worth going and getting some additional pop in the outfield also. To me, go big or don’t waste our time this year. Too many time as Georgia based sports fan’s do we have teams that are almost good enough… but not quite there. If we get just JD for example, our team could be good enough to win it all… but likely not and will leave us wanting more. We have the funds to do this without crippling the organization, same with prospect capital. So those arguments just aren’t good enough anymore.
Arrenado for Acuna sounds fair..
Arenado and $175 million for Acuna sounds fair.
Acuña’s contract is now the most valuable in MLB, so unless you pay to have the Rocky Mountains come with the high elevation to ATL, along with Arenado and his splits…
This what legalization produces. Are you happy now??!!
Is this Arrenado you speak of really, really good? I’m not familiar, but I’m listening. I know the Rockies have a 3B named Nolan Arenado, but surely you can’t mean him. He’s alright, but not near the level of Acuna Jr. I mean if that was your guy, Vin, I’m sure you’d have spelled his name correctly, right? Unless you were rushing to troll, maybe?
Braves dont have the b@LLS to do it
I agree. Sad thing is I believe they have the prospect capital for the Rockies to eat a decent chunk of the salary. I would love to have him as a Brave. Even with his away from the Rockies splits
What an absolute disgrace the Rockies organization is. They sign Nolan to an insane contract, promised him they would contend the entire time hes under contract, now they are trying to blow it up.
Id want out of that crap state if I was him.
I don’t know much about their market size and financials but considering the amount of substantial contracts they’ve given out over the years (Hampton, Holliday, Tulo, Helton, Blackmon, etc.) I am not surprised that many of them don’t turn out well considering the years invested. Is it because they feel like they must keep up with big spenders: LAD and SF? I don’t know.
I agree wholeheartedly (although CO is a great state and one of the most beautiful ones we have in America) – the Rockies ownership and front office needed to be removed years ago.
The Rockies, Padres, Orioles, Blue Jays, Mariners, Marlins, Pirates, Reds, Angels and Rangers are collectively, the scourge of MLB (Astros are too, but in a different way). All those teams owners should be forced to sell to someone who has an actual plan, and knows how to spend and win, not just spend mindlessly. If you are a homer of any of those teams then you routinely have looked stupid for years, if not decades if you ever thought your team was going to win. What did you do to deserve that? Nothing. You deserve better as a fan, and it’s 100% the owners fault.
I get what your saying but angels do spend, just not a great evaluator of talent i.e. pujols and hamilton, cj wilson, vernon wells, dan haren. They do spend but just in not the right areas.
I’m predicting Bryant to Braves once that grievance is settled. I expect the Braves are just doing their due diligence with Arenado.
Of course they have. I’m sure every contending team with a need of a big bat has.
AA doesn’t leak info. He has probably “checked in” on half of the league. This is much to do about nothing imo
So the author titles this article to suggest the Braves might be in the market for Arnado, then lists every reason why it’s not likely.
Just say no to Arenado
Yeah, hall of famers in their prime are terrible things to have on a team whos trying to win. You should definitely keep your 19 year old A-ball pitchers who will probably blow their arms out before they even get to the bigs. Great plan!
Also, Arenado through 35 isn’t the same as JD through 37.
That’d be like Atlanta balking at giving a 2-year contract to JD because he’d be 35. DH will be in the NL by then (for either of them) anyways, so I really don’t see the hesitation on AA’s part for JD for 4 years.
He made the comments last year that he went to a plant-based diet and it has helped him with recovery and inflammation as well. I think a change like that is similar to Tom Brady, to maintain their ability to stay healthy and continue player.
I’d def give 4 years to JD, especially to keep him away from the Nationals.
prospect haul can then be used for a TOR arm.
1. Acuna
2. Albies/Swanson
3. Freeman
4. Donaldson
5. Markakis/Duvall
6. Swanson/Albies
7. Flowers
8. Pitcher
9. Ender
Bench: Riley, Camargo, d’Arnaud,
Rotation:
Trade for TOR
Soroka
Hamels
Fried
Folty
Bullpen:
Newk
Minter
Jackson
Greene
Melancon
O’Day
Martin
I bet they put Will Smith in the bullpen.
$12M RP…and still getting left off depth charts.
Alex, just sign Donaldson. Please!! Give the man the 4th year already!!
Arenado and McMahon for Inciarte and Riley.
Arenado isn’t opting out when he realizes he’s not in Colorado anymore. Braves would be better served with Bryant. He’s not the defensive wizard Arenado is but he’s far and away the better hitter and has a lower salary.
I bet Arenado pulls a LeMahieu if he leaves Denver. Absolutely crushes. The home/road splits, as with LeMahieu, become an artifact of playing at Coors.
LeMahieu, unlike Arenado, is a line drive/finesse hitter. That is why Juan Pierre hit well outside Colorado when he went to the Florida Marlins.
Re-check Lemahieu’s career road numbers while you’re at it. Maybe Arenado needs to be a Yankee to sustain decent overall numbers.
Yes because Yankees do so poorly on the road or when they get traded. Not.
Mo your response was completely off base is that because he just schooled you?!
Freeman will be on last year of his contract in 2020, he will get a big raise, Braves know it would be a revolt to not sign him to long deal.
JD seems more unlikely day by day, any big name 3b will cost the Braves far to much in young talent. Just go get a Zobrist or Duffy and platoon third base with Camargo and Riley in mix.
Find a decent younger arm to help offset loss of Teheran and the innings/starts he was always good for.
Freeman is not a FA until after the 2021 season. He’s making $22M on his deal (just under $17M for luxury tax purposes though) and will be 32 heading into the FA market. I’m not sure if he’s in line for a “big raise” from $22M but he can easily top his current AAV, even at that age. I see the Braves and he agreeing to a 5 year extension in the $120-130M range
more likely 4 years at 120-130 million
I mean you never know until it happens, but Freddie had said the money on his next contract won’t be as important to him as long as he gets to stay in Atlanta. Take that FWIW
Platoons are for the birds, they’re like swapping out your tires every year for the snow, just buy ONE set that gets the job done!
Camargo has proven he’s not a part time player time and time again. Wish he, ender, and Duvall or Kakes could bring back a trade for a good OF and those 3 could go all go somewhere to play every day.
Freeman isn’t going anywhere, to hear him in interviews, his closeness to Chipper etc. he’s going to be one of those guys that could make way more on the open market but he’s already secured generational wealth. He’s happy, he likes it in Atlanta, he’ll be a lifer.
When did this become a thing that the Braves can’t afford a 3B now because of Freddie’s eventual free agency? He’s got two more years on his deal, during which some expensive pen contracts come off the books. They’re also not locked into Folty or Hamels. Kakes should be gone by then, and probably Duvall. Albies and Acuna Jr. are locked down. I don’t get it. At most, Freddie might be getting a 2-3 million raise per year. I’m not even certain it’s that much. First basemen just don’t command mega deals that way.
The Opt-Out provision in Arenado’s contract can be overcome by Colorado paying down only the first two years of his contract. This would make most of his risidual value projected at around $28 Million occur in 2020-2021. So instead of $4Million per year over seven years the full $28 can be realized in the first two years. This would require $10 million per year cash paid by Colorado in 2020 and 2021. Arenado is a great player but not necessarily a great value. A fair exchange with Atlanta would be a swap where Arenado and $20Million comes to Atlanta with Austin Riley and Huascar Ynoa going to Colorado.
Atlanta takes on $200 Million over 7 years with this deal but gives up two promising MLB players. Colorado significantly reduces risk and payroll but wins the lotto if the prospects reach their full potential.
No to Arenado and giving up a bag of prospects for him. Just give JD the 4th year and keep the prospects.
Cubs want Riley and the Braves #2, #3 & #4 prospect…..
or they can try to get Arenado and give up Riley and Prospects 1 thru 6 !
OR just sign Donaldson, then call the Cubs and Rockies and play a laugh track until they hang up.
If Donaldson does leave, the Braves can pivot to an OF. No reason to entertain these ridiculous demands.
I thought they were tapped out. Melancon would have to go back and some money from the Rockies, which also means more prospects.
Maybe the Braves are not all in on winning the NL East in 2020……..wait for your Prospects for another year or two……and watch the Mets, Phillies and Nats blow by you !
The Mets.
Bwhahahahaha.
Bwhahahahahaha. Bwhahahahaha.
I’m sorry, I can’t stop laughing.
Kris Bryant will get traded…….and the Cubs will get a ship load of future MLB players in return.
No one is going to make a deal for Kris Bryant or Nolan Arenado at or near asking prices. Neither are worth an MLB top fifty prospect due to control uncertainty and cost. Braves should just wait at least until the mid-year trade deadline and fill their needs at that time depending on the first half outcomes. Pick up a mid-low level free agent starter and sit tight and keep the powder dry.
The Braves have several options. You can make are argumen, both pros and cons, for any of the three (Bryant, Donaldson, or Arenado). You can even consider Riley. I think more than a 3B, they need a #4 hitter if Acuna is still lead off. I think the Braves are ultimately weighing all options waiting for Bryant grievance to be resolved.
His next three years, he should generate about twenty war. He’s a great player and I’d love to see him in St.Louis playing for two years. Martinez, Martinez, and a organizational prospects like A Young plus the pitching prospect versian of Young. Maybe ten to fifteen million coming from Col.
The Braves should re-sign Donaldson. If they don’t, I expect they’ll sign Zobrist or Holt and cadge together a 3B Frankenstein.
Riley>Frankenstein
That’s all the Braves need to be a super-team. A right handed hitting masher that hits for average, for power and doesnt strike out much. Imagine him in that order behind Feeeman. That would be scary. Add in the fact he’s the best (respects to Chapman in Oakland) defensive 3B on the planet and you’ve got yourself a WS team. That lineup is so left handed, they need a RH big time bat.
I saw this headline and thought, “OMG, human trafficking? Have I stumbled onto the dark web accidentally?”
If Arenado were to get traded I wouldn’t worry about him opting out. His numbers are very skewed from playing half his games in Colorado. Take him away from that and he’s still very good, but not worth over $30M a year.
Leaving Denver didn’t stop LeMahieu from raking.
The option sorta makes it a lose-lose. He either plays great, and bolts after two. Or the alternative, he stinks, and you’re stuck for 7.
thinking out loud: why doesn’t AA consider an all in move for Lindor & Clevinger? IMO the Braves could benefit the most from an Ace starter. Not sure Clevinger fits into the Verlander/Scherzer/DeGrom/Cole strata but he’s not far behind. Not too mention he still has 3 yrs of arb control remaining. Soroka and Clevinger leading the rotation under cost control for next 3-4 years is rather enticing.
Then resign Lindor to an extension and you have a solid lineup w/ Acuna, Albies, Freeeman, Lindor.
I can’t speak to the feasibility as I’m not versed in Atlanta’s prospect system but thought this would be a interesting power play.
Don’t understand why this website writers are obsessed with writing about the Braves and deals like this they now will NEVER HAPPEN. Slow day in MLB I assume.
Clickbait duh…you take the team with the best fans and expose them, genius!
Cubs have put themselves into a ridiculous situation, having to trade some of their best players during latter portion of their window to win. They haven’t developed any pitching and have overpaid on signing the likes of Heyward and Chatwood. They have also given up some of the best young talent in the game, renting players for 3 months -one season. They are a cash cow, pretending to be poor and acting like a small market team.
With that said, I fully expect Bryant and Contreras to be traded for young pitching. The Braves seem like a good match, perhaps the best match for a big trade. Not sure which pitchers involved, but Reilly is a better bet at 3b for Cubs than Bote or Happ.
Cubs pipeline of position players has also dried up. You can’t not develop young pitchers and trade the likes of Torres, Eloy and Soler and expect to compete long term. Cubs will still draw, but White Sox will be more relevant than Cubs very soon, possibly this season.
This is not really a rumor, this is more of a team being logical and doing due diligence. I do fully understand though why this article was posted.
Braves need to stop wasting time on Donaldson. Make the trade fir Arenado and Blackmon give them Ender Riley Wilson Waters
When cows fly……….
Why not
So if majority of contending teams have gauged the asking price, then why is this a story but none of the other teams are?
Sounds like someone asking why everyone doesn’t get a participant award, green jacket gold jacket, who gives a…
Go Cubs Go
Arenado would be a long term sign. You include Riley in that trade. Bryant would be a 1-2 year sign. You keep Riley in that trade with Bryant a bridge to Riley. Cubs have to shed Bryant for prospects, so you offer only 1 top prospect, Anderson, Wright or Waters. If they demand more, Riley plays 3b earlier than you hope and Braves sign or trade for an OFer to hit behind Freeman. All of this assumes Braves don’t sign Donaldson, which does appear less likely as the weeks progress.
Out of curiosity who would the Braves have to give up to even facilitate a Trade for Arenado that would satisfy the Rockies?? Would something like….
Braves get: Nolan Arenado plus cash in the form of maybe the Rockies pay a percentage of Arenado first 2 to 3 years in Atlanta? Arenado can opt out of the contract after 3 years, right?
Rockies receive: Christian Pache, Austin Riley, Kyle Wright, Bryce Wilson, Williams Contreras,
Good grief man. Arenado is one of my favorite players, but with him already having that large contract and an opt out coming up soon, I’m passing if that’s what it takes.
Arenado doesn’t have a ton of surplus value because of the contract. If it happened, I think it’d be for Riley, Jackson, and one of Wilson or Muller. He’s not worth a whole ton more.
Let’s be honest here. Braves rotation is not that good and without a power bat their lineup is above average. They don’t have 1 pitcher as good as the big three the Nats have. Adding a true ACE (Soroka is not an ace) and a power bat, then let’s talk about the World Series. Add neither and they probably don’t make the playoffs. Add one and they’ll probable make the playoffs but won’t get far.
See that wasn’t hard. I pretended I wasn’t a braves fan and was able to see reality.
@braves4life1
Your last paragraph plus taking on any portion of his contract isn’t even as bad as what schuerholz did when he traded for Teixeira and that was a gigantic overpay.
Thanks tex and bj upton btw, youve made this organization gun shy from signing big name free agents and making a big trade.
The first Tex trade was somewhat of an overpay, but the big failure was trading him for just Kotchman and a minor leaguer. He was worth a lot more than that. They should have just kept him and re-signed him.
DON’T trade any prospects for a 3rd. baseman. If the Braves don’t get Donaldson, Riley will be just fine at 3rd.base. Riley can and will hit 30+ Hrs. in a full year.