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Braves Release Williams Perez

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The Braves have announced that they’ve released starting pitcher Williams Perez. The move clears a spot on their 40-man roster for the Rule 5 Draft, which is about to start.

The 25-year-old Perez has made 31 starts for the Braves over the past two seasons but has mostly struggled, with a 5.18 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 170 1/3 innings. Last season, he pitched 53 2/3 innings in the big leagues and posted a 6.04 ERA, also fighting through shoulder and elbow troubles. The Braves now have ample starting pitching depth of the type Perez provides and therefore could afford to lose him.

Latest On Jose Quintana’s Market

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8:34pm: The Astros did, in fact, talk to the White Sox about Quintana, but have found the White Sox’ price to be too steep, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle writes. Kaplan notes that it’s unclear whether the Astros would have to give up Bregman to get Quintana, but notes that he doesn’t want to part with players who could help the Astros next season. “We’re just not prepared to trade away players that are core to our production in 2017, and those are sometimes the players that are required to get these deals done,” says GM Jeff Luhnow.

The Braves also asked about Quintana and thought the White Sox’ price was too high, writes David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The problem seems to be that the Braves don’t feel Quintana is as valuable as Sale was, even though Quintana is controllable for an extra year. “We don’t have needs in starting pitching,” says GM John Coppolella. “Do we want a No. 1 starter, is Chris Sale a No. 1 starter? Yes. Do we want Jose Quintana? I don’t think Jose Quintana is Chris Sale.”

8:51am: A day after trading Chris Sale to the Red Sox, the White Sox are now “in serious talks” with multiple teams about their other star left-hander Jose Quintana, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link).  The Astros and Nationals are two of the clubs involved in discussions.

The Astros were rumored to have interest in Sale, but Houston’s refusal to include Alex Bregman in any trade likely removed them from the bidding, given how Chicago was looking for only elite prospects for Sale (like maybe the game’s best prospect in Yoan Moncada).  The White Sox undoubtedly want quite a bit for Quintana as well, though their demands could be closer to the Astros’ comfort zone.

Houston has heavily bolstered its lineup this offseason with the additions of Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Josh Reddick, though Charlie Morton has been the only new face brought into a rotation that fell short of expectations in 2016.  The Astros have been creatively both shopping starters (Mike Fiers and Collin McHugh) while also looking at upgrades; in particular, Houston has often been linked to the Rays’ pitchers in trade talks, even dating back to last summer’s trade deadline.

The Nationals’ interest in Quintana is a bit harder to gauge.  While Nightengale and FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman have both reported that the Nats were in on Quintana, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes have reported that Washington was only specifically interested in Sale, not in any other starting pitchers.  While the Nationals have a very good rotation already, Quintana (and his team-friendly contract that is extendable through 2020) could still be an upgrade.  Stephen Strasburg can opt out of his deal after the 2019 season, Gio Gonzalez is only controllable via a club option through 2018 and the Nats might simply see Quintana as a more proven commodity than youngster Joe Ross.  In fact, a controllable young starter like Ross would be a potential fit for a Quintana trade package.

While often overshadowed by Sale in Chicago, Quintana has rather quietly been a very durable and effective pitcher over his five years with the White Sox.  Quintana has a 3.41 ERA, 3.20 K/BB rate, 7.4 K/9 over 951 career innings, and over the last four seasons, he has generated 18.2 fWAR and averaged 204 innings per year.  An early-career extension has made Quintana even more of a valuable commodity, as he is owed just $14.35MM through 2018, plus $10.5MM club options for both 2019 and 2020 (with $1MM buyouts in each year).

Braves Asked Orioles About Brad Brach

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  • The Braves inquired with the Orioles about the availability of right-handed setup man Brad Brach but found the asking price too high, tweets Sherman. Per his report, Baltimore asked Atlanta for young outfielder Mallex Smith in return. Brach has been nothing short of outstanding with the O’s over the past two seasons, compiling a 2.39 ERA with 10.3 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 in 158 1/3 innings of work, and he’s under club control for another two seasons. Smith won’t turn 24 until next May, though, and comes with five years of team control. He appeared in 72 games last season, his Major League debut, hitting .238/.316/.365. While those numbers don’t stand out, Smith has blistering speed and is considered a plus defender capable of playing all three outfield positions. He’s also performed fairly well in the upper levels of the minors, though he looks to have a limited role in 2017, when Atlanta will trot out Matt Kemp, Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis to the outfield grass.

Braves To Re-Sign Eric O’Flaherty To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have agreed to a deal to re-sign veteran lefty Eric O’Flaherty to a minor league deal, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation writes (Twitter links). O’Flaherty is a client of MVP Sports Group.

The 31-year-old O’Flaherty struggled in 2016 in Atlanta, posting a 6.91 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 28 2/3 innings. He was one of baseball’s better lefty relievers from 2009 through 2012, then had Tommy John surgery in 2013. After a promising return in 2014, though, he has struggled with slightly diminished velocity and control issues. Perhaps promisingly, he retains a very high ground-ball rate, with a 54.0 GB% in 2016.

Rangers Asked Braves About Ender Inciarte

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  • The Rangers asked the Braves about Ender Inciarte but talks “went nowhere,” Evan Grant tweets.  Inciarte has drawn trade chatter ever since the Braves acquired him as part of the Shelby Miller trade with the D’Backs last offseason, but it is clear Atlanta regards the defensive standout as a building block in center field.

Chris Sale Rumors: Monday

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Chris Sale’s name figures to dominate headlines in the coming days as baseball’s Winter Meetings pick up steam. We’ll track all of today’s updates on his market in this post…

  • The White Sox continue to put a high price on Sale’s services, and teams in the hunt for the lefty tell ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark (Twitter link) that they don’t expect a deal to be completed at the Winter Meetings.
  • Some in the White Sox organization feel Sale will eventually break down with injuries, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (subscription required), which could be part of the reason why rival executives and evaluators feel the Sox are more ardently pursuing a deal now than they were at the July trade deadline.  Questions about Sale’s mechanics have plagued the lefty even since before he was drafted, though he has been generally healthy throughout his big league career.

Earlier updates

  • The Nationals are stepping up their efforts to acquire Sale from the White Sox, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman. The Nats and White Sox are meeting this afternoon to discuss Sale according to Heyman, who also notes that the Red Sox and other teams are also still in the mix for Sale. Washington reportedly believes it has the prospects to add both Sale and Andrew McCutchen in a trade, though doing so would obviously come with a lofty asking price that would require GM Mike Rizzo to part with a significant portion of his farm system (and likely some MLB-ready talent as well). Trea Turner is reportedly off limits in trade talks, though the Nats have plenty of other young talent to entice other clubs.
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted this morning that rival execs get the sense that the Nationals and Astros are the most aggressive teams on the Sale market, and the Braves are in the picture as well. As is the case with the Nats and Turner, the Astros (Alex Bregman) and Braves (Dansby Swanson) each have a young core player whom they effectively deem to be untouchable in trade talks, even for someone of Sale’s caliber.

Rotation Rumblings: Gray, Duffy, Astros, Pirates, Fister

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The Braves are reportedly still in the mix for Chris Sale, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Atlanta also made a run at Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray but found Oakland’s asking price to be prohibitive (Twitter link). Oakland did not ask for Dansby Swanson to be included in the deal, but Atlanta still felt the A’s were asking for too much in return.

A few more notes on the market for starting pitchers…

  • The Royals are gauging interest in left-hander Danny Duffy, reports MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). Duffy had a breakout campaign this past season, tossing 179 2/3 innings with a 3.51 ERA, 9.4 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 36.4 percent ground-ball rate. As Morosi points out, he could make sense for a team looking to augment its rotation but unwilling to part with the talent required to land someone like Chris Sale or Chris Archer. Duffy, however, is a free agent next winter, so he’d be a short-term upgrade rather than a long-term solution like those other names.
  • The Astros are more likely to trade for rotation help than they are to pursue the remaining free agents on the market, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney. Houston isn’t in on right-hander Ivan Nova and likely considers him to be too expensive, per Olney. The Astros are reportedly open to moving either Collin McHugh or Mike Fiers as they seek to create some roster/payroll flexibility, as Olney’s colleague, Jayson Stark, reported earlier today.
  • Pirates officials are set to meet with free agent lefty Derek Holland at some point this week at the Winter Meetings, reports Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (on Twitter). The Bucs have been linked to H0lland on multiple occasions this winter as the former Ranger looks to rebuild his stock with a healthy 2017 campaign.
  • The Marlins are showing some interest in right-hander Doug Fister, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman, but adding an established closer is the team’s No. 1 priority at the moment. This isn’t the first time Miami has been connected to Fister, but that fact that they’re still interested after adding Edinson Volquez to the mix is notable.

Coppolella: Braves Want, But Don't Need, An Ace

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  • The Braves have been linked to the likes of Chris Sale and Chris Archer in trade rumors, though while GM John Coppolella admits to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “we want to add an ace,” this desire is “a want, not a need. So if a great opportunity comes along, we’ll be ready to strike. But we don’t need to force the issue.”  O’Brien speculates that Sale might be the only pitcher the Braves would be willing to give up a package of young players and prospects to land.  Atlanta has already bolstered its rotation by adding Jaime Garcia, Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey this winter, and the team is also looking to add another veteran on a minor league deal to compete with Mike Foltynewicz, Josh Collmenter and others for the fifth spot.

Latest On Chris Sale’s Trade Market

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5:45pm: Rangers GM Jon Daniels told reporters (including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram) that his team isn’t looking at the trades like the blockbuster that brought Cole Hamels to Texas in 2015, which would seem to confirm that the Rangers indeed aren’t in on Sale right now.

SUNDAY, 1:40pm: Mark Bowman of MLB.com joins Heyman in reporting that the Braves aren’t willing to give up Swanson, whom the White Sox covet. Discussions between the two teams aren’t leading anywhere as a result (Twitter link). While it won’t surrender Swanson, Atlanta would consider parting with Albies, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter).

10:51am: The Braves have deemed Swanson untouchable in trade talks, while the Nationals have likely done the same with shortstop/center fielder Trea Turner, reports Heyman.

SATURDAY: The Braves have already added three starting pitchers in Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia early this offseason, and they’re now trying to swing a trade with the White Sox for ace Chris Sale, according to Fanrag’s Jon Heyman. However, there’s competition in the form of the Astros, Nationals, Red Sox, Rangers and Dodgers, writes Heyman, who notes that Los Angeles is lagging behind because it’s hesitant to deal any of its top prospects.

The Dodgers are more focused on bolstering their rotation through free agency than trades, tweets FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, which aligns with a report from earlier Saturday that they have a deal in place to re-sign left-hander Rich Hill. Contrary to Heyman, Rosenthal relays that the Astros and Rangers are out on Sale at the White Sox’s current asking price. And while the Red Sox are involved, they’re also reluctant to meet Chicago’s demands (Twitter link).

After agreeing to sign outfielder/designated hitter Carlos Beltran on Saturday, Astros owner Jim Crane told Mark Berman of FOX 26 that the team will go into the winter meetings seeking pitching, but it’s unlikely to make any “big moves” (Twitter link). That would seem to rule out a Sale acquisition for Houston.

Based on reports from Heyman and Rosenthal, both the Braves and National League East rival Nats – who are continuing their discussions with the Pirates regarding center fielder Andrew McCutchen, per Rosenthal – are among the front-runners for Sale.

It’s unlikely the Braves would include prized young shortstop Dansby Swanson in a trade, Heyman suggests, but the belief is that they have the pieces to make a deal happen. Atlanta has major league trade chips in center fielder Ender Inciarte and right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, not to mention a well-regarded prospect pool that features the likes of middle infielder Ozzie Albies, southpaws Sean Newcomb and Kolby Allard, and righties Mike Soroka and Touki Toussaint. Baseball America included all five of those players in its Midseason Top 100 prospects list.

Braves, Rays Far Apart In Chris Archer Talks

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  • If the Braves acquire an ace, it’s more likely to be the Rays’ Chris Archer than the White Sox’s Chris Sale, tweets Mark Bowman of MLB.com. However, the Rays’ current asking price “far exceeds” what Atlanta is willing to pay, Bowman adds. The Braves have run into a similar problem with the White Sox regarding Sale.
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