Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop 12/1
By Jeff Schafer
Hart On Justin Upton, Lester, Gattis
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: As Alan discussed with us last night, John Hart was a guest on MLB Network Radio’s “The Front Office” and talked about many hot topics out of the Braves camp. Three were of course Justin Upton, Evan Gattis and a possible signing of Jon Lester. You never know how to read these interviews since the GM’s are probably sugar-coating their words and thoughts because they do not want to show their cards to other teams but sometimes you can pick up on the truth.
Hart said the Braves have not made one phone call on Justin Upton and do not plan to do so. Hart added signing Upton to a multi-year contract is “not out of the realm of possibility,” but downplayed its likelihood.
Jon Lester is probably the right player at the wrong time for Atlanta, according to Hart, but the bad contracts the Braves have to carry in Dan Uggla and B.J. Upton haveaffected the team’s offseason plan. In that same vein, Hart admitted the Braves will not be in the market for free agents who declined a qualifying offer.
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Here’s how a three-team trade could send Justin Upton to Rangers, Elvis Andrus to Mets
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Well the trade scenario of Upton to the Rangers seems evident again. Jim Bowden informed us on Sunday that he still thinks a Braves and Rangers trade is on the table that involves Justin Upton…though now it could involve a third team. Below is the breakdown of what Bowden scripted out for the three team trade. From my first glance at this, it looks like each team wins here.
Jim Bowden of ESPN has a proposed three-way trade to send Atlanta’s Justin Upton to Texas and Andrus to the New York Mets. Here’s his break down.
Rangers get: Upton
Mets get: Andrus, $10 million from Texas
Braves get: Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, Rangers outfielder Michael Choice
“The Rangers desperately need another big right-handed bat to put in the middle of the lineup behind Adrian Beltre and Prince Fielder, and Upton would be the perfect fit,” Bowden said. “The Rangers could then move Shin-Soo Choo back to right field, where he at least gets some better jumps and angles. The Rangers and Braves really don’t match up well on a deal, but get the Mets involved and the three teams could help each other. The Rangers’ depth in the middle infield with Elvis Andrus, Jurickson Profar, Luis Sardinas and Rougned Odor make this deal possible.”
Mets unlikely to swing blockbuster trade
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: BUT, Joel Sherman reported that the Mets are unlikely to trade one of their key pieces. He does however feel that Mets general manager, Sandy Alderson, will indeed make a trade but with what guys, that is the unknown. The word out of the Mets camp is that Syndergaard and Matt Harvey are off the trading table.
In his own way, Alderson was guaranteeing a trade. Because the Mets have six starters who would expect to be in the rotation next year — Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Dillon Gee, Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon. In theory, with full health for all six, the Mets could make Gee a long reliever. But a team that still is limiting payroll does not want to have a long man who is due about $5 million as an arbitration-eligible player.
So, the Mets are positioned to deal one of the six, with the belief that Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard and perhaps fast-rising Steve Matz will provide depth at Triple-A.
Mets officials acknowledged this was the correct read when I quizzed them about it. They also said that, short of a blockbuster, they could not turn down that Harvey, Wheeler, deGrom and Syndergaard were going nowhere. For now, those are the building blocks the Mets hope differentiate them and propel them to serial contention.