May 24, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Wooden baseball bats rest in the rack before the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Last night the Atlanta Braves opened a 40 man roster sport by sneaking Adam Walker through waivers.
Once again the Atlanta Braves front office Hart/Coppolella duo made a pretty nice under the radar move slipping Adam Walker through waivers. Is anyone surprised?
Last week I explored the Braves waiver claim of Adam Walker. At the time there was speculation – that I tried to dispel – that Walker would be our fourth outfielder. Last night we found that Walker cleared waivers and was outrighted off the 40 man roster and sent to Gwinnett.
To understand how well this was orchestrated requires a look at the overall timeline.
So the Braves claimed Walker and since he cleared waivers on the 31st they must have instantly put him back on waivers. Why?
Every team in both leagues has now seen Walker on the wire so often by now he’s almost invisible. Earlier in the off-season they ruminate over the names and grab players on spec but not two-week before spring training.
At this point GMs and their staffs are focused on finalizing a roster and if they are looking it’s for players with an immediate ability to fill a 40 man roster spot.
That’s not Walker. They say Timing is everything and in this case Hart and Coppy timed the move perfectly.
This was not only a pretty slick move but once again opens a roster spot and of course rekindles speculation about who fills that spot.
Jun 28, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Chicago White Sox second baseman Emilio Bonifacio (64) sits in dugout during the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Imagining a better bench
On Monday Mark Bowman opined that the Braves could go with a four man bench and an eight man bullpen. Since new backup catcher and motorcycle namesake Kurt Suzuki takes one spot and another belongs to Jace Peterson/Sean Rodriguez that would leave two up for grabs.
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Bowman suggests that Micah Johnson and – heaven help us – Emilio Bonifacio could fight with Chase D’Arnaud would fight over the last two spots but now they could all have a seat. If that’s the case it would be the most pathetic bench in the major leagues.
The Kelly Johnson and Jeff Francoeur rumors persist though I suspect those are based more in the minds of fans than the front office. Frenchy is a nice corner outfield defensive option and bat against LHP but his power isn’t present most of the time.
Johnson had a nice little spell with the Mets after being traded last year but he plays at 35 this season and will probably be more like his first half numbers – .215/.276/.289/.582 – than his line for the Mets.
Other Options?
The Braves could go into spring training and give Mel Rojas Jr. a chance to prove his Gwinnett numbers weren’t a fluke but he’s more likely to start at Gwinnett to prove that. They could carry three catchers and keep Anthony Recker in Atlanta but why? A better idea would be to add a guy – or two – who can still hit and knows he isn’t an everyday player.
Chris Coghlan is still without a home and Joe Maddon thought enough of him to add him to the post season roster over others with better numbers. Coghlan plays both corner outfield spots as well as second and some third making him a good Swiss Army Knife type player for Brian Snitker.
Coghlan’s played some center field in his time – though not since 2012 – and Ron Washington knows him well after spending part of last season with him in Oakland. Coghlan is a good teammate and has a winning pedigree under Joe Maddon and while he might run into one now and then, isn’t a power bat.
Coco Crisp and Michael Bourn are still around but neither have power and both are a little long in the tooth; the same goes for Desmond Jennings and a few others. Those players could be a backup center fielder but don’t have the ‘one swing and go home’ ability benches need just to make the opposing manager think a bit.
Chris Carter does fill that role and is still around but talking about going to Japan. He could back up Freddie Freeman at first, stand out if left field if needed though I wouldn’t want him there for any period of time.
Although it seems he’s been around a while, Carter is still arbitration eligible. His bat brings 40 homer power and enough strikeouts to air condition Sun Trust’s luxury boxes. While Carter has power he isn’t a center fielder by any stretch of the imagination.
He’d be inexpensive at this point as well but I think there are a couple of more interesting players out there.
Oct 1, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Angel Pagan (16) rounds third base during the seventh inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Crazy Horse as a Dark Horse?
Angel Pagan (“Crazy Horse”) will play at 36 and gets hurt a lot but he still gets on base at a good clip and has some pop in his bat. He’s primarily a corner outfielder now but can still play solid center field if needed.
Last year for the Giants, Pagan posted a .277/.331/.418/.750 line that included a dozen homers and two dozen doubles. In 543 PA he walked 42 times (7.7%) and struck out just 66 (12.2%) – rare ration in today’s game – and still motors well enough to steal 15 bases.
Franklin Gutierrez is another option that could work. He plays at 34 next year and his defense isn’t a good as Pagan’s but he did 15 home runs in 2015 and 14 last season in limited at bats. Considering he played and hitting more than half of those at Safeco that’s not an awful number.
Gutierrez posted a wOBA of .410 with a wRC+ of 167 in 2015 followed by a wOBA of .336 and wRC+ of 114 last year but unlike Pagan carries a near 30% K rate. By all accounts Gutierrez is a great teammate and understands his part-time role.
The problem with all of these options is a lack of payroll room. The Braves are pushing $120M hard right now and that’s probably the limit for this season. I don’t see any salary space being made via trade until the deadline so whoever comes in will have to be willing to take a small guarantee with incentives.
That’s a Wrap
David Letterman had a piece on his show called “is this anything?” I don’t know if Walker is anything like a major league player but thanks to a shrewd use of the wire the crowds at Gwinnett will see a lot of big home runs and Braves have some time to find out.
Meanwhile the bench is still a place where we store a utility man, a catcher and two or three AAA players. A winning team can’t do that and I’d suggest that an NL team that hopes to play 500 ball shouldn’t do that.
The Braves appear to be playing a waiting game, hoping to find a bargain between now and the start of the season. Ideally it would be a player who signed a major league deal that has a bad spring and gets released making his impact on the Braves payroll just the league minimum. That happens and the Braves have benefited from it but it’s not a strategy.
I do think there’s a possibility that the Braves trade from strength – in this case the bullpen – to get a bat. As I wrote earlier there appears to be a log jam building in that area and moving a guy with some value – like Arodys Vizcaino – could solve two problems. Watching the roster through spring training should at least be interesting.
