Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: The Friday Cuts

Spring Cuts

The Braves still have a bunch of folks in camp with 9 games remaining on the Spring schedule, which ends with a 3-game set vs. Baltimore next Thursday-Saturday.  Today some notable cuts were announced:

Lots of praise from Fredi Gonzalez about Eury Perez and Manny Banuelous in particular, and it is the cut of Eury Perez that’s most interesting for what’s coming during the next week.

Perez started off very hot, but has now slipped to .268/.333.  He has played a lot of both LF and CF, but at this time, the Braves are in need of two things for that Center Field position:  a caretaker until Melvin Upton can return, and a temporary backup.

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At this point, I believe we can say for 100% certain that

will be the opening day center fielder if he doesn’t break something between now and then.  It has been trending that way, but both his outfield play and his .321/.397 slash line have won the job.

Frankly, if he keeps that up, it might be an interesting fight to see if he keeps the job once Upton returns – that’s a matter for another day, though.

So then the question is about that backup CF spot.  Normally, the spot would be Todd Cunningham‘s… except that the Braves are going to run Philip Gosselin out there in a game today… and that tells me a couple of things:

• They really like Gosselin and his ability to play anywhere on the field
• They really don’t want to spend a roster spot on Cunningham

In effect, Gosselin is like having both a backup infielder and backup outfielder in one body… and one roster spot.  That frees up space for another player that would benefit the club in better ways.  Cunningham’s purpose could be as a pinch runner or outfielder… but that’s not really enough.  Gosselin’s ability to play up to 7 positions, hit, run a bit, and defend well makes the job his to lose.

Oh, did I mention seven positions?

This trial with Gosselin in CF today might be an experiment of sorts (and I don’t believe he has the kind of range you’d normally want for the position), but I believe that unless it turns into a total disaster, he’ll end up pushing Cunningham back to Gwinnett.

Gosselin will thus be the “in case of emergency, break glass” CF-er.  If, during the season, there’s a situation in which Eric Young gets hurt for an extended period of time (i.e., he’s put on the DL), then you’ll likely see Cunningham or Perez brought up.

So Let’s Count Noses

Let’s see…. 13 position players:  Christian Bethancourt, Freddie Freeman, Jace Peterson, Andrelton Simmons, Chris Johnson, Nick Markakis, Eric Young, and Jonny Gomes.  Those 8 are the “nominal” starters.

• A.J. Pierzynski is #9 as backup catcher/bench bat
• Alberto Callaspo is #10 because… he has a contract that says so
• Phil Gosselin is #11 because he can do everything
• Kelly Johnson is #12 because he can do several things
• Zoilo Almonte is #13 because he is out of options

Thus that’s what I expect we have for the hitters’ side of the roster.  Barring a trade (please?), I think that’s what we’ll have – with left field being the shakiest position.  Again, the only exception possible is if Gosselin is a disaster in CF, which I do not expect.

That puts Joey Terdoslavich and Todd Cunningham back into the minors.  If Joey T (.278/.845 OPS) keeps hitting this next week and Almonte (.222/.509), then the team could opt to dump Almonte and keep Terdo.  Frankly, that’s looking like a much better option.  But it’s that word “option” that cause me to have Almonte on the board at this time.

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