Atlanta Braves secure backup catcher for 2020 in Tyler Flowers
It’s an odd announcement today, but one that at least teases us about expectations for the Atlanta Braves off-season.
Don’t look now, but the Atlanta Braves made a move today to reduce their exposure to the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT).
No – seriously. That’s the (correct) assessment of MLB’s Mark Bowman as he reported on today’s re-signing of catcher Tyler Flowers.
Source: The Braves will bring Tyler Flowers back with a 1-year, $4 million deal. Because Flowers' $6M option was declined, he received the $2M buyout. So, he's still getting $6M. It's just an accounting procedure that allows for just $4M to count toward the 2020 payroll.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) November 4, 2019
This is a bit odd… more than just odd, actually. Since the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was rebuilt to include ‘taxes’ and revenue sharing for teams exceeding certain salary ceiling thresholds, the Atlanta Braves have never even approached those figures.
In 2020, the Braves would have to spend $208 million on their payroll in order to trigger the first level of penalties associated with the CBT.
Yet here we are… re-doing a deal seemingly for the sake of an accounting trick to save $2 million against that magic number.
So even while the news out of Atlanta should be about the fact that they are bringing Flowers back in 2020, there’s this little side show about how they’re doing it.
- Had they simply exercised his option, they would owe him $6 million in 2020.
- By doing this paperwork shuffle, they will owe him… $6 million.
The only real difference, it seems, is that Flowers effectively gets a Christmas bonus now… a $2 million check today rather than having it doled out across the 6 months of the 2020 season… and it counts against his former contract – not the new one.
If you’re a rabid fan bent toward entertaining conspiracy theories, then you might think “Wow! The Braves are gonna increase their budget by $60 million and go after all the top free agents!”
While I’ll accept that this is at least a plausible explanation for this action, I’ll suggest another… and that you put the cool-aid down.
The reports don’t indicate this, but the bet here it that there’s probably a corporate taxation reason for spending the $2 million in 2019 rather than 2020. That’s a move which could hint towards an increased payroll in 2020…but just not $60 million worth.
In the meantime, the Braves bring back their soon-to-be-34-year-old catcher who is likely to either be slotted as a backup backstop or (at the most) would share time with another acquisition to be named later this off-season.
Flower Power
In 2019, Flowers’ production was down from 2017-18… virtually across the board. That regression probably should have been expected – partly due to age; partly due to his career history; possibly due to the various minor injuries that catchers have to routinely deal with.
His OPS fell to .733, but that’s still above his career level of .711, a career that began at the major league level in 2009 with the White Sox after being taken by the Braves back in the 33rd round of the 2005 draft… definitely someone who has defied the odds to enjoy a long career.
The Roswell native will get at least 1 more year in harness, and hope to bounce back a bit, and in the mix, the Braves get a catcher who knows the youngsters that will be throwing to him.
dark. Next. Trout Fishing... coming to the Chattahoochee
The Atlanta Braves still have 2 more option decisions to declare today: Julio Teheran and Nick Markakis.