Braves Don’t Offer Alex Gonzalez Arbitration *Yawn*

In a move that shouldn’t realize surprise anyone, the Braves have decided not to offer short stop Alex Gonzalez arbitration. Take it away Twitter…

I honestly can’t remember where I used to get news before Twitter. I want to say town crier but that doesn’t seem right.

The Braves need a short stop to bridge the gap until Tyler Pastornicky is ready but it’s not going to be Gonzalez. The loss here for the Braves is a potential supplemental draft pick between the first and second round. For that to happen though, the Braves would have had to offer arbitration and have Gonzalez sign elsewhere. The Braves fear was that Gonzalez would accept the arbitration and get a raise from the $2.5 million he made in 2011.

While the 15 home runs from the short stop position is nice, Gonzalez hit a paltry .241/.270/.372 line that would only make Brandon Wood envious. Sorry, Brandon, I’m still rooting for ya. The future doesn’t look much brighter for Gonzalez at the plate either if you believe in the Bill James projections which call for a .237/.278/.381 line in 2012. In fact, Gonzalez has only posted an OBP over .300 once in his past five (5!) seasons. Yikes. For $3+ million, I’ll pass.

The market for short stops is thin though this Hot Stove with the likes of Clint Barmes and Jamey Carroll signing multi-year deals. The Braves will need to turn to the trade market to find help. Or we can all just make peace with it being an ugly year at SS. Again.