Atlanta Braves make a trade, get Matt Joyce for outfield bench help

As expected, the Atlanta Braves are combing the ‘release’ market in an effort to find more production from a 4th/5th outfielder.

In a move almost certainly fueled by the continued and almost inexplicable lack of hitting from Adam Duvall, the Atlanta Braves have executed a trade with the San Francisco Giants to see if they can do a little better.

Matt Joyce is roughly 34¾ years old and has spent the vast majority of his career in the American League as a corner outfielder an designated hitter.

Even at his age, he was still versatile enough to log a few innings in center field for the Oakland A’s over the past 2 seasons.

In stops with Detroit, Tampa Bay, the Angels, Pittsburgh, and Oakland; Joyce has been used often with good results, but has never shaken that ‘bench player’ kind of label.  In parts of 11 different seasons, he has logged only 3900 plate appearances – roughly half of what a full-time player might normally receive.

Joyce carries a lifetime average of .240 with a .770 OPS.  His peak fWAR season happened in 2011 with the Rays (3.6), though he bounced back with a 2.7 while having a full-time job in Oakland in 2017.

Defensively, Joyce is not the equal of Adam Duvall, but he’s not terrible, either.  While his defensive ratings on fangraphs have consistently been in negative numbers, but they are single digit numbers, so he’s at least serviceable in the outfield.

He’s had a busy week:  in February, Joyce signed on with Cleveland, who was desperate for outfield help.  However, they released him this week as Carlos Gonzalez was signed.  The next day, the Giants picked him up, but that lasted just 3 days.

Right now, he’s probably scrambling around in the Phoenix airport, trying to get a plane reservation to fly to Florida on time for Sunday’s game at CoolToday Park… if he can figure out the best way to get to this place called ‘North Port, Florida’ (hint:  start in Ft. Myers).

[ I kid, of course: he is actually from Western Central Florida:  born in Tampa, grew up in nearby Seffner. ]

The Role… and the Goal

Joyce becomes the second veteran player acquired in the past couple of days with 9+ years of service time to his credit, joining pitcher Josh Tomlin in that group of players not quite yet qualifying for the major league pension plan.

Joyce, however, only needs to find work for a couple of months to get to that 10 year plateau… and it’s likely that this goal is on his mind…

That last line in the tweet may be key for him:  if Joyce sticks long enough this week, then Gwinnett could help preserve his pursuit of the 10-year goal line by keeping him ready to step in with Atlanta when needed… if he doesn’t make the club outright, that is.

As for the ‘cheaper option’ part, the Braves would save a couple of million dollars by releasing Duvall this week.  Don’t think that’s not part of the thinking here.

So Atlanta will take a look at him this week with 3 exhibition games remaining.  There could be additional moves made, but that’s the one we have – so far – today.

The Sun Sets on Disney World

It’s over.  22 years of Spring Training at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World.  There is now a vacancy at Champion Stadium as the Atlanta Braves have now officially moved out.

Sunday’s game will take place at the aforementioned CoolToday Park in North Port against the Rays.  Unfortunately, there is no TV coverage.

The place was open to the Media on Friday and the public today in advance of Sunday’s festivities.

It appears Kevin Gausman will test his shoulder tomorrow and is scheduled for 75 pitches.  After that… we’ll just have to wait and see.