Atlanta Braves non-tender of Adam Duvall opens more possibilities

What will the Atlanta Braves do after saving $4-to-7 million by removing Duvall?

Late last week, we explored the options that could come had the Atlanta Braves traded Adam Duvall to another team.  With the news that they opted not to offer him a contract for 2021, it’s not evident that they at least went through the motions of attempting a trade — to no avail.

That move leaves the Braves with 38 players on their 40-man roster, but it also opens a few more possibilities to fill those slots — and to be sure:  both of them need to be “bats”.

One thing right away:  the notion of running a platoon in left field is probably now off the table.  As noted previously, it may be difficult enough to convince a free agent to join the team above all other offers:  getting one whose playing time is limited to the “handedness” of a particular day’s starting pitcher only makes that task harder.

But now the path is clear if Atlanta decides to pursue Michael Brantley.  To be sure, the competition is fervent:

• NOV 9 – Astros and Brantley said to have mutual interest, but that news is now nearly a month old and has not been updated.
• NOV 24 – Blue Jays were reported to have spoken with Brantley’s agent… not terribly surprising, but they are definitely in the hunt for an outfield bat of some ilk.
• DEC 3 – The Yankees have likewise been in contact with him.

Here’s a clear case where the Alex Anthopolous “1-year contract scheme” (patent pending) won’t work:  at the age of 33 — and he’ll be 34 in May — Brantley is almost certainly looking for multi-year deals.

With 4-straight 800+ OPS years and 6 out of the last 7, he has nothing to prove to anyone and is showing little decline in skills.  This will therefore likely be his last, best year for a lucrative deal and I would not be surprised if the winning team goes to a 3rd contract year at $15 million apiece (MLB Trade Rumors guessed 2x$14m).

Other Options

Picking up a third baseman would also be plausible if Atlanta was willing to move Austin Riley to either left field or AAA — depending on other events (i.e., the NL DH).

But such a deal would almost certainly require a trade as the available free agents are truly not attractive… other than maybe D.J. LeMahieu, who is more a second-sacker and isn’t really in the cards anyway.

The relevant trade targets who could readily be obtained — Kris Bryant, Kyle Seager, or Nolan Arenado — all have their difficulties in terms of price, prospects required, or both.  Ergo, the chances of this happening are vanishingly small, though I would rank the odds in the same order as the players listed above, with Bryant quite a ways higher than the others.

A better 3B trade candidate would be Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez.  As they are expected to trade Francisco Lindor, dealing Ramirez would likewise make sense for them.  He’s also affordable and controllable.  His availability has not been made known, though.

(For the record, Cleveland’s 40-man list now has just 37 names on it)

Atlanta also still needs a backup catcher and if — somehow — the Designated Hitter becomes a thing, they will have to make room for another hitter (sending Inciarte out?), so there’s still a lot of work to do as this Winter season of uncertainty is just getting underway… but an empty left field now looms large.