Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: we might have to wait a bit longer for upgrades

A couple of weeks ago, we were told that ‘the market’ was waiting on Ohtani and Stanton to make decisions.  They now have, but there’s a lot of teams still waiting with work to do that will stretch well into January.

This is normally the time at which teams have done their major moves already and are looking forward to a much-needed break between Christmas and the New Year, but while the Atlanta Braves made one huge deal, there’s still work to be done… eventually.

MLBTR’s tracker of free agents currently shows none of the Top 11 and only 4 of their Top 20 have signed with new clubs.  That’s a lot of dollars that are going wanting.

So what are the hold-ups now?

• The Red Sox this week got tired of dancing with Eric Hosmer and opted to go with Mitch Moreland instead… a move that really cripples Hosmer’s market – and perhaps his market value.  So maybe they aren’t interested in waiting around and instead fired a shot across J.D. Martinez‘ bow.
• Yu Darvish is now interviewing potential suitors.
• Manny Machado might or might not be dealt depending on whether Peter Angelos wakes up and smells the coffee.
• The aforementioned J.D. Martinez is waiting on his price and teams are waiting for him to accept a lower price.
• Alex Cobb‘s price actually has driven the Cubs to seek Darvish instead.
• Jake Arietta is probably going to have to wait until some of these other pitchers are sorted before his market emerges.

In the middle of all this is agent Scott Boras, who represents a large number of these key top-level free agents and is never in a hurry to have his clients sign.  Ever.

So we wait.

The Braves Angles

STARTERS

Let’s suppose that the team is interested in more starting pitching.  With Brandon McCarthy and (maybe) Scott Kazmir now in the fold, that’s quite possibly not going to happen, but humor me for a moment.

Would Atlanta be going after Arietta, Cobb, Darvish, or even Archer via trade?  They might have – if they hadn’t just committed to spend a bunch of cash to buy these contracts they just acquired.  But short of randomly throwing money at players (see the Philadelphia Phillies), that’s probably no longer the most serious need for the club.

One thought, however:  short of Clayton Kershaw, next year’s free agent pitching class isn’t terribly deep… at least not with younger talent.  But by then we should/could have at least one ’emergent’ pitcher from within.

RELIEVERS

This is the one place where signings have been happening with regularity and gusto to this point.  We’re now up over two dozen signings of relievers… though Atlanta hasn’t been partaking thus far.

The tier that has been taken off the board so far have been expensive – even middle relief is getting paid well.

But not to worry:  there’s another 60 or so available to choose from, and in the interim while we’re awaiting other developments, I expect that the Braves might choose to pick up a couple – yes, Peter Moylan could very well be one of them.

But as they say:  ‘choose… but choose wisely’.

THIRD BASE

This following statement is probably accurate…

… and probably tells us all we need to know about the still-unsettled state of the third base position.

In terms of free agents, Zack Cozart is now off the board, but Todd Frazier and Mike Moustakas and a smattering of 2nd-/3rd-/4th-tier options are available.  Don’t hold your breath there, as the list is underwhelming… and thus why Camargo is currently the top choice.

OUTFIELD

Two things here are being held up by other dominoes yet to fall:  the chance of moving Nick Markakis to another venue, and the chance to replace him.

Regarding replacement, there are probably not a lot of the available outfielders that the Braves would want more than Markakis right now… at least of those on the free agent market.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Braves News: Atlanta makes a pair of trades, prospect debuts, more
• Atlanta Braves History: How the Red Stockings became the Braves
• Braves News: Atlanta Braves acquire Eli White from the Texas Rangers
• Atlanta Braves Swing Trade with the New York Yankees for Lucas Luetge
• Atlanta Braves 2012 Top Prospects Review: Zeke Spruill

The feeling here is that if the Braves can trade Markakis for the last year of his deal, then they can consider whether to enter the Christian Yelich sweepstakes.

The trouble here, of course, is that the Marlins are now forcing potential suitors to wait – probably until January when their Front Office completes taking a crash course in Negotiations.  Thus far, they haven’t fared that well in their deals.

But that, in turn, is holding up the OF market in addition to the Martinez situation.  Until teams find out whether they can get Yelich, they don’t want secondary or tertiary options like Markakis.  Until they know Markakis can be moved, the Braves can’t make a play on Yelich.

Sure – you can go get a stop-gap outfielder… but it’s prudent to at least figure out if ‘the prize’ guy can be had.  And that’s how somebody else ends up waiting.

So in the end, it’s a twofold problem:  the circular reasoning about waiting for events to happen that you have little control of, plus the usual ‘buy or trade’ question when you’ve probably only got enough ammo for one significant trade (yes – trying to trade for both Archer and Yelich, for instance would be prohibitively expensive).

And thus we – and the Braves’ front office – have to wait.

Next: Who would you hang onto at all cost?

Merry Christmas… but remember Alex Anthopoulos fondly, for he’ll probably still be working.