What Were the Atlanta Braves Discussing With Houston and Milwaukee?

John Coppolella Tells Braves fans that he is ‘always open for business’ – Recent talks with Brewers and Astros underscore this

In a story yesterday by Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports and noted on MLBTR, the uncertainty of life that currently surrounds outfielder Jay Bruce of the Reds and catcher Jonathan Lucroy of the Brewers was explored. Each is a player that expected to begin this season in another uniform, yet each still remains with his respective clubs.

This didn’t go without attempts to trade each player. Bruce though he was heading to Toronto last month. As for Lucroy, there have been several reports linking him to various teams, but certainly you’d think that the Atlanta Braves – being generally short at the position – were among those engaged with the Brewers about the services of the 29-year-old catcher.

But then there’s this from Nightengale, which is a bit of a teaser:

"Lucroy thought he was almost traded a month ago, too. The Brewers were engaged in talks involving the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros in a three-way deal that failed to materialize. The Brewers have attached an exorbitant price tag on Lucroy’s value, and who can blame them? Lucroy, an All-Star catcher in 2014, is being paid just $4.25 million this year with a $5.25 million option in 2017. Yet, until someone is willing to meet their demands, he remains a Brewer."

There’s more bits to break down here:

“Exhorbitant price tag.” Sure – Lucroy is finishing up one of the most team-friendly deals in the game this season: 5 years + option, $11 million for a catcher who produced 14.1 fWAR over the first 4 years of the deal (with an injury-hampered 2015). Milwaukee has every right to request a big return, and Lucroy has 2 years of control remaining (counting the option that certainly would be picked up).
MLBTR adds this (which is not in the Nightengale piece): “Houston made an attempt at Lucroy earlier in the offseason, as previously reported by FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, and the club has also been linked to Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte.”

What Was Going On Here?

The following is going to be speculation, but it is partly based on the report we found yesterday about the Braves looking to sign Justin Upton… and being willing to give him a contract of up to six years. Philip just followed up with the upshot: the Braves really aren’t tanking… they are still, actively looking for ways to bolster the offense of this club.

More from Tomahawk Take

Let’s see what Coppy might have been trying to do… and recall that this allegedly occurred just “a month ago”.

Houston had been dangling some “key players”, including RF George Springer, from way back in December.
I don’t believe for a second that Houston would be able to land both Inciarte and Lucroy … whether in the same deal or separate ones. That’s a bit too crazy.
That said, Houston is in the position of perhaps wanting to “go for it” this season, having been mere outs away from the AL Championship series.
As we pointed out yesterday, Nick Markakis was the subject of recent interest by the Orioles.

So here’s the general parameters of a trade that at least makes some sense for all sides:

Atlanta receives George Springer, OF Kyle Tucker
Milwaukee gets catcher Jason Castro, 1B A.J. Reed
Houston gets Ender Inciarte and Jonathan Lucroy

As a follow-up, Atlanta would then trade Markakis to Baltimore, creating space for Springer. When deemed ready, Mallex Smith would be promoted to the majors, but Michael Bourn would handle the position until then.

It is also possible that some variation on this theme could still be in the works, which would partly explain why so many Center Fielder auditions have been taking place in the past couple weeks of Spring contests. I could see Atlanta considering a deal of Inciarte for Springer and Tucker separately from a Milwaukee deal, for example.

Sure – the Braves would love to get Lucroy… but that’s only for a 2-year term unless they’d choose to offer a lucrative long-term deal to him just as he’s turning 30 years old. Now granted, he’s good, but Atlanta passed on a chance to do that with another catcher fairly recently… and he’s now a Yankee.

No indications have been given as to how/why these talks did not come to a deal, but then that’s routine… there’s probably 100 other such discussions we don’t know anything about – talks that also fizzled for now. I expect that Milwaukee probably would want more for their part – perhaps a pitcher from Atlanta in addition, for instance.

Next: Let's Meet Braves' SS/IF Omar

It’s fun to speculate about such things, but again: the primary point is that this is all an indication that John Coppolella is not satisfied with the status quo. He is still looking… searching… and willing to talk.

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