Ronald Acuna is widely regarded as the best outfield prospect in baseball (if not the best prospect overall), but he tells MLB.com’s Mark Bowman that he’s also cognizant of the fact that he could open the year in the minors for a few weeks for service time reasons. The Braves could keep Acuna in Triple-A for as few as 12 days to open the season and, in doing so, secure an extra year of control over the 20-year-old’s future. “I’ve talked to some people, and I think the debate is whether they should keep me [with Triple-A Gwinnett] for a couple weeks or a month or however that works, contractually, to benefit the team,” Acuna tells Bowman through his interpreter. “I’ve tried not to focus on any of that. My goal is just to compete for the roster spot and hopefully make the team.”
The Braves, of course, would hardly be the first team to aggressively employ service time manipulation of that form with its young talent, and there’s every argument for doing so under the current construction of the service time system — especially for a team that would need quite a few things to go its way to be in Wild Card contention.
More from the division…
- The Mets are maintaining a dialogue with the Pirates on infielder Josh Harrison as they look to bolster their lineup, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. A free-agent signing for the Mets at second base remains likelier than a trade, Puma adds, but the team may not make any sort of move until some of the bigger-name free agents have come off the board. Obviously, the Mets aren’t tied to any of the top-tier free agents with a somewhat modestly-priced infield addition thought likely to be their final move of the winter, but some current free agents may first prefer to see if their market changes at all once some upper-tier names are off the board. New York has been oft-linked to Harrison, and the Pirates have reportedly expressed interest in young outfielder Brandon Nimmo.
- While most players seemingly can’t wait to get out of Miami these days, newly acquired Lewis Brinson couldn’t be more excited to be a member of the Marlins, writes Tim Healey of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. A Coral Springs, Fla. native, the 23-year-old Brinson grew up as a Marlins fan and has hopes of wearing No. 9 in Miami as an homage to his childhood favorite, Juan Pierre. President of baseball operations Michael Hill tells Healey that Brinson will have the opportunity to earn a spot in the Major League outfield right away in Spring Training. He figures to be joined in that regard by fellow newcomer Magneuris Sierra (acquired in the Marcell Ozuna trade) and 24-year-old Braxton Lee, who had a strong 2017 season Double-A and came to the Marlins in last summer’s Adeiny Hechavarria trade. Derek Dietrich could also be in the mix for some corner outfield at-bats, I’d imagine, though he could see time in the infield as well, depending on what other moves the Fish make between now and Opening Day.
12 days in AAA to get another year? No brainer. Hope Gwinnett has Acuña bobblehead night ready for the first week.
Yep! Of course you keep him down. Acuna will be a defacto attempt to extend anyway and nearly asap! That said, he probably won’t but that will be a lot of money upfront that he didn’t get when he signed the first time around.
I’m excited to see these young guys finally come up. Hopefully these last few years of struggles start to become a really good team that can compete for a while. Tired of watching my braves struggle.
Imagine being happy to play for the Marlins
Imagine someone having a mind of their own.
Also quite odd about Pierre… certainly was a cool player, but he only played one year for Miami..
A simple Google search shows that he played four seasons with the Marlins…
Juan played 162 games 3 straight years for the Florida Marlins, and then finished his career in Miami.
Could have been one of his first baseball cards or Pierre could have been on the team when he began really watching baseball. One of my all-time favorite players is Darrell Porter because he was one of my first baseball cards of a Royals player and I wasn’t even alive sitting his career!
Pierre stole 190 total bases with the marlins in 4 seasons and in two of those seasons finished in the top 10 in MVP voting… fun history lesson: the Miami Marlins were once the “Florida Marlins”…
And Pierre never made an all star game in his 14 year career, despite multiple 300 average seasons, and leading the league in stolen bases 3 times. Pretty sure he has the most hits for a player who never made the asg.
Nope. Pierre played for the Marlins from 03-05 and then again in 2013.
Odd? It shows why representation is so important. I could be wrong, but I believe Juan Pierre was one of, if not the only, regular Marlins player that was African American during his stint.
Dontrelle Willis
Derek Lee played with him in 2003.. I believe Luis Castillo was also on that team.. As well as Willis as mentioned before me..
Preston Wilson?
Not sure he played with Pierre but I thought he did at the end …
Preston Wilson was traded to the Rockies for Juan Pierre. The Marlins also acquired Mike Hampton’s contract in that deal.
There were a few when I went back and looked. It’s probably less about the type of representation you are referring to and more about ‘player type’.
Pierre was the ONLY guy on those teams that could run. Kids in that age don’t associate to color as much as adults do. So my bet is he was ’emulating’ his player type. I could be horribly wrong, but I wouldn’t jump to the color representation card so quickly.
I grew up a switch-hitter and I tried to emulate Joe Morgan from the left side as an example. Plenty of white players I could have emulated, but Little Joe was the man. From the right it was Andre Dawson, which was hilarious because I had no power, but I loved the swing. Being in Ohio, one might have thought I would have emulated Pete Rose, but for some reason I just didn’t look at him that way. Concepcion for the glove to the point I started trying to one hop throws to my dad .. which earned me some laps around the house and him so bruised shins. Ah, the memories.
Wow…EPIC FAIL
Thanks for the corrections. I was looking at his second stint with the Marlins and somehow forgot about his first one that most likely made the impression on Brinson. Appreciate the help.
i’d be pretty happy to play for the Marlins.
I would too, but we are talking about a professional ball player who already has a contract. It’s not like the Marlins signed him.
Well, it’s a young players dream to get to the MLB asap. So yeah, I’d love to play there as a 19 year old.
Why wouldn’t he be happy to play for the Marlins? Easy way to adjust to the jump to MLB. No pressure to win games and if you play terrible or kick the ball around nobody will ever know cause no one is watching…..
Pepperidge Farms would know though.
I’d be happy to receive a check from any major league club.
The Braves are going to be good soon. Acuna will be a superstar…
Jurickson Profar (and many, many other former #1 overall prospects) would like a word.
Acuna has a chance to be great but it’s true, guys like Matt Wieters were once #1 overall prospects.
Plus Acuna this time last year was the #67 overall prospect. The year before he was the #26 prospect of the Braves only. He had a great 2017, but he is primed for a “back to reality” year.
In Wieters defense he was a stud for a few years
In wieters defense he wasn’t the #1 overall pick
Well, Byron Buxton is a good example of “an exception” is. Maybe Acuna can be the next on that list.
Buxton was a bust until he wasn’t. I hope his bat develops into even a slightly above average bat. He’d still be a borderline superstar
But there’s also Corey Seager, Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper….
As a Braves fan, I just hope Acuna is good enough that keeping him down or bringing him up to start the 2018 season is still in the conversational mix as a hindsight discussion in 2023…
I know the Cubs did it with Bryant and other teams do it, but if Acuna has a stellar spring and gets sent down obviously for that reason the MLBPA might not put up with it.
Besides, can’t Braves send him down later in year if he struggles to get those days back?
If the MLBPA doesn’t like it they can address it in the next CBA. Teams are just operating within the rules of the existing system, however foolish those rules may be.
It would be exactly the same as the Cubs if he has a stellar spring. Bryant hit .425 with 9 homers and 15 RBIs the spring he was sent back to AAA to start the year.
And Bryant hit 9 or 10 HR in spring training that year, might have lead all players. He was still sent down and if the Braves are smart they will do the same.
Acuna is still just 20 years old (as of 12/2017), Bryant played some college ball and was 23 y/o. There’s more legitimacy to keeping Acuna down on his age alone, regardless of his stellar play.
Bryant was also 23 when he made his debut, so I think it’s an easy call for a ATL to put a 20 y/o in AAA for a few weeks if need be.
Oh the MLPA will put up with it. You see the team being able to do that was and is a collectively bargained for deal. So its allowed. The MLPA sanctioned it years ago when they allowed it into the CBA. However they also got the Super Two status for many players in exchange.
Actually Juan Pierre played 4 seasons as a Marlin, 3 as a Florida Marlin and 1 after they changed their name to Miami Marlins…Enough time for Brinson to become enamored with Pierre’s game…
I think Acuna understands that it’s still a business. However, I think the rules should change with regards to this specific situation. The team should always do this and the player should never have to wait 12 days. It doesn’t make sense. I think in this situation it’s irrelevant. Since, he will get a 100 million “Mike Trout” contract in a few years buying out these years anyhow. But it forces both parties to feel uneasy. Seems something that can be fixed.
Lets wait and see before we just assume he is gonna be the next mike trout.
There is a 0% chance he gets a Trout contract. Even if he does what Trout did (which he won’t), the Braves wouldn’t extend at that $$ amount.
I would like to see the Pirates trade Harrison for Nimmo and then swing a deal for Starlin Castro. Sad when fans think of these as major acquisitions.
Nimmo is a solid outfielder with a lot of potential, shame the mets are so stacked in the outfield cause I would love to see him play regularly. Trade for Harrison could benefit both teams nicely.
while I like Nimmo, I think unless Mets eat whole salary more needs to come back. Nimmo is a likely 4th OF even in Pittsburgh. Decent average with no pop/speed, means he’s a backup not a starter. May mature to 15-20HR. Would prefer to see them add low level SP, you can never have enough of them. Dunn Szapucki, Peterson any of them would be a better return than Nimmo.
This Acuna hype is just getting crazy. This time last year he was a decent prospect with the ceiling of a solid, but unspectacular starting big league outfielder. Now all of a sudden he is the second coming of Mike Trout. He had a very good year, but I think people need to calm down just a bit.
Second coming of Mike Trout?? (fanning my brow) — let me sit down. Heavens to Betsy, one can only hope. I’m hoping for Steve Trout, but if I get a Mike I ain’t tossin’ him back.
Agree, if he was on my favorite team I would want the brass to pump the breaks a bit and not rush him to the Majors. Seen too many failed prospects due to calling them up early.
Dansby Swanson is taking longer to develop at the ML level than expected by most. Few rookies burst onto the scene and maintain a high level of production indefinitely, but anything’s possible. Yasiel Puig set the world on fire when he came up, regressed for a couple seasons, and is now gradually becoming a solid producer again.
You obviously never saw Acuña play the year before last. His ceiling was definitely not a “fringe, mediocre starter.” That is laughable.
Now, he might have jumped on the national radar last season, or your radar for that matter, but, when he was healthy in parts of 2015 and 2016, it was obvious he was typically one of the most talented players on most fields and teams he played on.
He would have busted out sooner, but a couple of injuries had held him back. Coming into this season, even “major prospect evaluators” said Acuña could be a big time talent, but they just needed to see more of him…
Well, last year they saw more of him. He certainly is not the first foreign born signed prospect, that was given a modest signing bonus, that has become a talented player and exceeded initial expectations.
Service time, luxury tax, revenue sharing, 6 years of control etc all need to be addressed in the next CBA with a proper labor negotiator at the head for the players. Not a former player who cares about amenities.
I don’t see Harrison getting Traded before opening day, nor would i want too. But If the Mets are willing to give up Nimmo, i’d have to look at it closely and see if i have any deals i could work with on meadows for pitching.
Nor a huge fan of Meadows either but you’d be selling sooo low on him, I don’t think you can at this point
its not that i’m not a fan of Meadows, its just i want someone in there now and if i can get a decent mid/back end starter with a meadows headline back….. I could afford to with Nimmo already “here”
The Pirates are stacked on mid/back end starters, no thank you. If Meadows is heading a package, it should be for a TOR type guy.
I agree, Dunn, szapucki that type pitcher is what they need back, even for just Harrison.
Wow, one rough year & Meadows goes from savior to trade the bum for a #3 SP. How quickly things change.
Seems like the Yankees, Sox, and Mets would be a great landing spot for Harrison. Since the Pirates are only seeking AAAA players in return, teams should be all over this.
The Mets dont have any decent AAA players. The cupboard is bare and you can’t believe the over inflated stats from their Las Vegas team.
I could be wrong but didn’t the Cubs try to do this with Bryant and then after the season Bryant and his agent won a case and the Cubs don’t have Kris for An extra year
The cubs successfully did this with Bryant. They were certainly acting within the rules despite the fact Bryant was clearly ready to start in the majors, so I don’t see how a case could be won by Boras / Bryant.
I believe they said that his glove needed more work, hence him starting the year in AAA.
Remind me again why Josh Harrison is a good player? I haven’t seen him day to day, but his stats aren’t that great..
He can play many positions
hes one of those players you have to watch to fully appreciate. google ‘josh Harrison escapes’ fun watch. His high energy and positive attitude have changed games
hes above average career wise at the plate with generally decent defense, to good defense at 2nd and 3rd and worse at SS and OF but passable if you need it short term. the draw back really is the lack of power but he did set a career mark in home runs last season (granted it was still just 16)
I hope they dont’ trade him, IMO he is more important to the Pirates chances in 18 and 19 than either cutch or cole.
He’s really inconsistent with the bat, but is an average to above average defender at 5 positions (6, if you include when he pitches, which is: sometimes?) He had a 5.0 fWAR season in 2014 which is all-star level. He’s a nice piece to have, but ultimately he’s been down too often to deserve to get called a star. He could turn that around if he has a big 2018 actually. I see this season as really important in finding out how we can project him moving forward.
If I were the Fish, I’d give Garrett Cooper a long look in a corner OF spot.. He was Brinson’s teammate for much of 2017 at Colorado Springs before getting dealt to the Yankees in July. All he did was hit, and though primarily a 1B, he did play OF in the Brewer system.
Not only hit, but he did strikeout a lot, in 43AB, he had 14 hits and 12 strikeouts
If Bour is traded, which is still a possibility, Cooper is the opening day 1B. Putting Copper in a corner OF spot to start the season would not be a bad call when you have 3 other guys slated to play OF that have a total of about 50 games played in the majors. He is a much better hitter than Sierra and Lee was in AA to end 2017.
If Sierra and Brinson hit for the Marlins, I think that will go a long way towards the fans being more okay with the moves this offseason. They certainly have the prospect value, now only time will tell if they can produce in the bigs.
Although Acuna is a very good prospect he has never shown much power until last year.. His on base skills are amazing and he has great speed.. He is projected as a future corner OF and If he can not maintain the power he will become another Matt Murton.. He strikes out a bunch and was caught stealing in almost half of his attempts last year.. Labeling him as a potential #1 prospect in all of baseball is probably a bit premature.. Especially, when you have OF prospects like Jimenez and Robles who strike out less and have a solid history of power.. As well as equal to or better on base skills as Acuna.. He has the speed that seems to get prospects ranked higher than they should be but that can only take them so far.. Look no further than Mateo a couple of years ago.. They were talking about trading him one for one with Kimbrel and he ended up going with other prospects who the argument can be made are superior only a year and a half later.. Don’t get me wrong., I like Acuna quite a bit, but besides the SB he had pretty much an identical season to Brinson last year and Brinson is only ranked around #25 on most lists.. He is definitely a top 15 prospect but I think it puts undo pressure on him to put him in the top prospect overall debate after 1 very good year.. I made the same argument against Gleyber Torres last year.. He shot up the prospect rankings because of his performance in the AFL.. No way he should have been in that debate with prospects like Moncada, Tucker Crawford, and Reyes set to hit MLB and Torres never playing higher than A+..
Just my 2 cents.. Sorry about the rant..
I am surprised that with such a lack of movement during the hot stove season MLBTraderumors hasn’t done more indepth articles on prospects.. They seem to do polls on everything else.. A poll on the readers opinion on the top prospects would provide some interesting results.. I know there are quite a few homers on this site, but overall, the readers here seem to have a very good breadth of knowledge on the complete game..
Maybe they don’t look only to stats, but development, tools, etc
I saw Acuña ranked #1 ahead of Ohtani who has already 5 seasons of Top Level Baseball (althought in Japan, but it was their Top Level)
Acuna put up huge numbers at 19 years old in a AAA league that favors pitching. Brinson put up good numbers at 23 years old in the PCL which is heaven for hitters. Big difference.
Also, Acuna was thrown out in 31% of attempts, which is not “almost half”.
So you are way off.
Thanks for apologizing for that ridiculous rant.
The folks that do the preseason Top 100 prospects lists love, loooooove the AFL. Play well there and you go from “some guy” to #8 overall faster than you can say “get a load of this effin guy!”
That #8 prospect had a 22/32 season at age 18 while playing SS. At an age that most kids are playing in rookie ball, he was dominating in the AA playoffs. Lots of reasons to love him as a prospect. Loud tools is an understatement.
Same goes for Acuna at #2. At age 19 he broke out and went from A+ to AAA while putting up incredible numbers. .325 with an .896 OPS and he got better as he played against better competition.
For the guy who ranted above, the reason so many tout kids that excel in the AFL is that they are playing against the best prospects in every system. It is the toughest competition these kids face all season and if they step up there, its a pretty good call that they are close to MLB ready. Acuna hit a ridiculous .325/.414/.639/1.053 with 14 HR in the AFL against the best minor leaguers. That is a special player.
Can he fail? Of course, he can. Look at all the #1-#2 overall prospects or even Rookie of the Year players that went on to have mediocre careers. It doesn’t mean that we can’t be excited when we see a player with tools like he has that is performing exceptionally well against the best minor league competition.
Granted it was two braves regimes ago, they did start Jason Heyward on opening day with the big club. So there is some predecent that wasn’t too long ago that they are willing to forego longer term implications to try and win now. Plus the braves need a shot in the arm, 1 year old stadium, the stigma from coppygate still in the air, why not start him day 1 if he has a bang up spring?
Because if he’s good, you want him for 7 years instead of 6
You did mention the 2 regimes and i think that takes precedent above everything else. New management chain = New way of doing things. I doubt AA would forgo that extra year of control.
Would hate to see them keep Acuna down and then miss the postseason by 1 game.
Highly unlikely the Braves make a wildcard run this year…Maybe next year, but most likely not this season..Too many question marks that need to be answered. This year, they will be identifying their key, young pieces to build around, developing prospects further, and most likely still dealing away a couple veterans around the deadline…
Even as a die-hard Braves fan, I’d be HIGHLY shocked if they even came within 5-7 games of a wild card spot..
Sure, as the current roster stands right now, they aren’t that much better than last year. But that all depends on what AA is going to do once all these high priced free agents finally sign and clubs then figure out what needs they have at the last minute going into spring training.
Shew. It’s possible that the truest words to be shouted at any Marlins game this season will be, “Can’t tell the players without a program!”
Rules put in place to benefit billionaire owners and half the folks here give them a standing ovation… Unbelievable brainwashing.
I don’t have a problem with teams keeping players down for contractual reasons. But also don’t have a problem for a player choosing to maximize every possible dollar they could earn whether it’s in arbitration, extensions, or free agency.