Atlanta Braves add catching depth
By Fred Owens
Late Saturday night news came that the Atlanta Braves completed a trade to shore up their stock of healthy catchers.
Atlanta Braves catchers seem endowed with the ability to attract baseballs. . .when they’re batting. Tyler Flowers oblique strain sent him to the DL early in last week and Friday Kurt Suzuki left the game after being struck on the hand by a fastball.
While Suzuki avoided the DL, says he can make a fist and could theoretically play in a last man standing emergency, the Braves searched for catching depth. After tonight’s game Mark Bowman reported that the they filled that need by send Ryan Schimpf to the Angels in exchange for Carlos Perez.
Details and an introduction
The transaction boils down to the swap of two unwanted players that provide depth for the gaining team.
The Braves acquired Schimpf on March 5 after the Rays designated him for assignment. He had the dubious honor of completing spring training without getting a hit leading to his assignment to Gwinnett before the season started.
Perez began his career by signing as an international free agent with the Blue Jays in 2008. He remained in A and A+ ball until June 2012 when he became part of an Alex Anthopoulos mega trade.
Toronto traded Perez, Kevin Comer, Francisco Cordero, Ben Francisco, Joe Musgrove, David Rollins and Asher Wojciechowski to the Houston Astros for David Carpenter, J.A. Happ and Brandon Lyon. That looks like a Toronto win to me.
Two and a half years later the Astros sent Perez and Nick Tropeano to the Angels for veteran backstop Hank Conger. Perez became the primary backup catcher for the Halos in 2015 (86 games) and 2016 (87 games) but 2017 saw him usurped by Martin Maldonado.
As you might expect from a Mike Scioscia trained catcher, Perez calls a good game. He throws out runners at a 38% rate but is not known as a pitch framing specialist. Stat Corner ranked him 92nd of 117 in 2015 and 88th of 114 in 2016.
Perez made 595 PA for the Angels posting a .224/.267/.332/599 line with a 66 OPS+, .262 wOBA, 64 wRC+ and 0.9 fWAR.
That’s A Wrap
Perez remaining option total is zero so I expect he’ll join the team as soon as he arrives and a relief pitcher will head back to Gwinnett. They could also designate Lane Adams or place Suzuki on the DL.
The deal looks like a reunion for our new GM with a player he helped sign back in 2008. It also provides some return for the money paid for Schmipf.
Next: Does Edgar Allan Poe know?
In the end he and his fellow one year contract guys are organizational depth; grist for the mill. His credentials look better due to his association with Scioscia and having been signed by AA when he was AGM in Toronto.
Both rosters will continue to evolve as players return from the DL or get promoted and need a slot of their own. When that happens we’ll keep you informed here at the Take