Is a Camargo/Riley pairing that bad?

As we sit and await Josh Donaldson’s free agency decision still, we examine what it might be like if the Atlanta Braves have to use Johan Camargo or Austin Riley at third base, or perhaps both?

Would it be a death wish for the Atlanta Braves? No. Would it be an ideal situation? again, no.

The simple answer would be it all depends on what other moves the Atlanta Braves could make to go along with it.

While no one knows the full details, it seems as if the Braves have at least $20 million or so to go around since that is the minimum it seems Josh Donaldson would accept, although I’m sure its a few million more than that.

So having Johan Camargo or Austin Riley man third would be a scenario where the Atlanta Braves instead defer their remaining money on an outfielder and a pitcher, or maybe they still elect to go after Nolan Arenado or Kris Bryant, or someone else?

Either one of them batting seventh or eighth in this lineup would be satisfactory as long as we do indeed fill that elusive clean-up spot behind Freddie Freeman (preferably the 5th spot as well).

Johan Camargo had a pretty ugly 2019 season and was a far cry off of his 2018 version. At times to me, it seemed as if he was disinterested and did not hustle.

He was, in turn, sent down to correct things, and truth be told, he played his best ball of the season late in the year.

Maybe the way things played out with him losing his job played a part, but no doubt he would have to be closer to his 2018 self to make this work.

As for Austin Riley, it was only a few short months ago when he was still hyped as a huge upcoming prospect. And then he set the world on fire for the first few weeks of his big league career.

We all know he faltered down the stretch, but baseball is a learning game. Hopefully he has tried to correct his approach and will be a better hitter of the off-speed stuff this season.

He’s still extremely young and can still be the third baseman of the future, perhaps?

Again, this would not be ideal and I’m not saying it’s my first choice either.

Camargo probably peaked as a 3 WAR player in 2018 when he had the job full-time, and that’s still a far cry from the 6 WAR player Josh Donaldson was in 2019.

But if we’re being honest, Donaldson probably peaked in 2019 himself and is probably more of a 4-5 WAR player — still much better than Camargo.

Riley finished as a 0.2 WAR player last year, but I think he has the potential to be a 4 WAR player in the future. However, banking on him doing that in 2020 is a lot to ask.

The point I am making is, if the Atlanta Braves do lose out on Donaldson, I wouldn’t necessarily be on the lookout for a big time third baseman. We have other internal options for the job.