Atlanta Braves Morning Chop – The Morning After Clean-Up

Roster Changes Imminent

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The San Diego Winter Meetings have closed and the Braves actually did quite a bit – at least around the edges.  The Big Deal did not happen, but there is also nothing that would preclude such a thing from happening later on, either.

If you look at the Official Transactions page, though, you’d think there wasn’t much happening, though:

• 12/11/14 – Minnesota Twins claimed J.R. Graham off waivers from Atlanta Braves
• 12/11/14 – Atlanta Braves claimed Daniel Winkler off waivers from Colorado Rockies (more on him below)

That’s it:  that’s the OFFICIAL list for this week.  But it does not count these…

• Contract agreement with Cuban outfielder Dian Toscano.  Need to complete the physical.
• Contract agreement with infielder Alberto Callaspo.  Need to complete the physical on him as well.

As a direct result, you can expect either a minor trade today (such as Tyler Pastornicky traded for a non-prospect A-Ball pitcher) or an outright/DFA for the purpose of removing two players from the 40-man roster.  This will be necessary in order to add Toscano and Callaspo to the list once each player passes their physicals – this will be required by the contract/rules for each one.

At this particular point in time, the 40-man roster is full – that thanks to the addition of Daniel Winkler yesterday (by rule, he was added the moment he was drafted).

So What Remains?

The Braves still need to do the following:

• Add a starting pitcher.  This is most likely to be done via a free agent signing, since one of the stated goals of the off-season has been to replenish the farm system.  Any trade for a decent pitcher would undoubtedly be costly in terms of prospects, thus counter-productive to that ‘replenishment’ goal (see Cincinnanti’s pitcher trades yesterday as examples).
• Add a backup catcher.  The Braves could go with just two – Evan Gattis (whose continued presence seems increasingly likely now) and Christian Bethancourt.  But Fredi Gonzalez does seem to like having a third one – especially since that allow him to freely use Gattis’ bat whenever he doesn’t start.
• Subtract an outfielder.  I still expect Justin Upton to be dealt before April.  John Hart is content to wait out the market.  The Braves could start the year with an outfield of Upton/Upton/Markakis – but it doesn’t seem very likely.

Meet Daniel Winkler

Daniel Winkler at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 2, 2014. (Photo by Rich Crimi/Provided by the Tulsa Drillers)

In yesterday’s Rule 5 draft, the Braves selected a fellow alumnus of the University of Central Florida:  24-year-old RHP Dan Winkler.  It’s been a long road to the majors for him (technically he’s now there, but… well – read on).  In 2010 he was drafted by the Cubs in Round 43.  In 2011 the Rockies took him in the 20th round.

Winkler is originally from Effingham, Illinois – growing up and attending high school there.  He is listed at 6’1″, 200 lbs.  He was throwing a lot during his minor league stints for the Rockies:

• 57 innings in 2011 after being drafted (Rookie league)
• 145 innings in 2012 (Low A)
• 157 innings in 2013 (High A – AA)
• 70 innings in 2014 (AA)… until he blew out his elbow.

Until then, his WHIP rates averaged right around 1.1.  He was off to an outstanding start in 2014 (1.41 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 71K/17BB) in AA ball.  A couple of reports I saw indicate that he led the minors – all of the minors – in strikeouts in 2013 with 175.

Here’s a good report on him from the Denver Post – apparently he was a very pleasant surprise to the Rockies as well:  seems he was out-pitching their top prospects!

Winkler had shot up to the 14th position on John Sickels’ prospect list for Colorado last year.  Here’s what he said about him then:

"Dan Winkler, RHP, Grade C+: Does not impress radar guns, all he does is get people out, changes speeds, crosses right-handed hitters up with low three-quarters delivery. Durable, efficient, fourth/fifth starter material in a neutral environment but fly ball tendency could be problematic here. Great value as a 2011 20th round pick from University of Central Florida."

Obviously, that “durable” adjective had some limits.  Nonetheless, he now joins an organization in which that ‘fly ball tendency’ is much less of an issue.

The Rule 5 Draft rules normally require that a player select in the ‘Major League’ portion be attached to the 25-man roster of the new club for the entire year – a tall order, to be certain.  But this was indeed a savvy move on the part of the Braves:  Winkler will be recovering from TJ surgery for most of the year.    Mark Bowman fills in some of the details:

The Braves have the option of giving Winkler a month of rehab starts in the minors – likely – once he can pitch again, and then perhaps bring him up to join the bullpen in September… with maybe a spot start depending on how he and the team are doing then (not assured:  I understand that September-callup time doesn’t count toward that 90 days; certainly his arm health will take precedence).  This provides a full year+ of recovery, and Atlanta could end up with a steal here if he indeed could make the team in 2016.

You can follow Dan Winkler on twitter via @dwinkler15

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The Braves did lose J.R. Graham to the Twins in yesterday’s draft, though Cody Martin remains a Brave.  Interesting.  Martin will likely start at AAA again this Spring, though he did lose his roster spot on the 40-man list as part of the process this Fall.