Yes, Jonathan Villar is available; no, the Atlanta Braves should not trade for him

It’s true – there is a shortage of quality ballplayers who can play any position.  But that doesn’t mean the Atlanta Braves should be trying to grab all of them.

The Atlanta Braves have made their early splash into the off-season by being intentional about their targets and goals.  Money has (thus far) not been a barrier to their efforts, and that has helped to meet a number of their peripheral needs.

So on Friday, news hit that the Baltimore Orioles placed one of their two most productive offensive threats on outright waivers – Jonathan Villar.  This just after arguably his best season as a major leaguer.

You’d think the Birds would want to keep him.  But as many would say ‘They can lose 100 games with him or 100 games without him… it won’t make any difference.’

Isn’t that a sad way to describe the state of affairs in Baltimore?  But that’s a pretty accurate depiction of how bad things are right now… heck, they’re still on the hook for the $69 million that Chris Davis is due.

Villar is on schedule for his last year in the arbitration cycle for 2020.  The estimate for his services runs to $10.4 million, and Baltimore is obviously of the opinion that this would be a total waste of their money.

That’s hardly the player’s fault, but it ultimately he’s the victim here.  Ah yes:  he… and the remaining Oriole fans who now only have Trey Mancini to look forward to (assuming he’s not traded away, which is now a fairly large assumption to make).

The deadline for teams to formally tender (offer) contracts to their players with 5 years of service and less is Monday evening.  The Orioles are trying to trade Villar before then so that they can recoup something for him.

That’s almost certainly not happening… hence the waivers request.