Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos covered a host of topics of interest in a chat with David O’Brien of The Athletic (subscription link). Of particular hot stove relevance was his discussion of third baseman Josh Donaldson.
While he declined to dish on the team’s interest in hammering out a new deal with Donaldson, who’s a pending free agent, Anthopoulos left clear that the door is open to a return. That’s true even with Austin Riley representing a big-league option at the hot corner. Riley earned praise from the GM for his outfield glovework. Offensively, we’ve seen cause for both promise and concern. Anthopoulos says he’ll “be curious” to see how Riley hits after returning from the injured list, while adding that “long term we still feel the exact same about him.”
Per Anthopoulos:
“If our best team is with Austin Riley in the outfield and Josh Donaldson at third base, and that makes sense, we’ll do that. … There’s clearly room for both guys; we can see a team with both guys. Problem is, one guy’s a free agent. And I expect the market for him to be strong because of the year that he’s had and what he’s done.”
But what of the final months before Donaldson formally returns to the open market? Is there any possibility of a late-season extension? Addressing the topic generally, Anthopoulos said “there might be a scenario” where the club engages in contract talks during a season. But that’s not idea, he indicated. Ultimately, there’s really no reason to believe Donaldson won’t become a free agent. After all, that was the point of his decision to take a one-year deal in the first place.
There’s some clear spillover to the Atlanta outfield situation. There’ll be room to add there, with Nick Markakis headed for free agency. That’s all the more true if Riley ends up sliding over to third base. It’s an interesting situation for the Braves, who have two highly regarded young outfielders knocking on the door in Cristian Pache and Drew Waters.
Anthopoulos made clear he’s not planning to head into Spring Training next year with a plan to turn over jobs to the young and unproven duo of Pache and Waters. “We love those guys; we think they’re going to be really good players,” Anthopoulos explains. “We just have no idea when. And you can’t go into a season counting on those guys.”
But that doesn’t answer the question of just how aggressive the Braves will be in pursuing outfield help. Riley’s flexibility gives the team options. Ender Inciarte remains a notable part of the picture. Perhaps Markakis will again be a candidate to return. There’s an argument to be made that the Braves ought to pursue a big bat to put alongside superstar Ronald Acuna Jr.
It’s equally arguable that a placeholding/platoon approach would be more sensible, with resources being utilized instead in other areas. In that case, the concept would be to hold down the fort while Pache and Waters make their case for a promotion. As Anthopoulos puts it, the team can and will “find a way to get them up” once the prospects force the situation.
“There’s an argument to be made that the Braves ought to pursue a big bat to put alongside superstar Ronald Acuna Jr.”
Isn’t that bat Freddie Freeman?
We will end up with Stanton
“We will end up with Stanton” Is this a joke???
I simulated a whole season in the show and braves ended up with Stanton..it’s gonna happen and he will feast on NL east pitching again
If by feast on you mean strike out in more than a third of his plate appearances and never let his assigned seat on the IL cool off, then ya, I agree
Because you simulated Stanton with the Braves on a game, this is going to happen? I would argue with you that NL East pitching is better than AL East pitching but considering how you came to your conclusion it’s more reasonable to teach my dog how to speak Germen.
Relax the show simulation was a joke. The feast in the NL east was due to familiarity. Good luck teaching your dog German
Brian cashman has a wet dream every night about dumping that massive mistake, Giancarlo Stanton. Unfortunately for him that’s the only place Stanton is getting traded. It sure isn’t happening in real life.
The Braves & Stanton?? Not so fast. AA LOVES Josh Donaldson. With JD that moves Riley to The OF where we already have Acuna, Nick Markakis, & Ender. Plus our top 2 Prospects are OFs. The Braves want Pitching more than they want OF.
I love Donaldson but I’d rather pay big for Rendon..
And Donaldson should they attempt to re-sign him?
My money is on a two year, high AAV deal with JD.
What other bats do we have in the OF? Can’t expect two guys to carry the whole team.
Nick Markakis, Ronald Acuna & Austin Riley are all good hitters. We have 2 good OF Prospects & Ender Inciarte was finally hitting before he got hurt again. He is a Gold Glove in CF & he doesnt have much trade value so he will be back too.
Keep in mind Freeman, Swanson & Albies can hit too. We arent exactly a weak lineup. The Braves have the 2nd most Runs Scored in the NL. I think they are 6th in the MLB.
Bats aren’t scarce in Braves Country.
Riley has shown he cant hit sliders. He will figure it out, but he still has to prove it. Markakis has a club option and it’s probably time to move on from him. I dont feel super comfortable risking the average production of Nick and the strikeouts on Riley next year. I believe we will need to replace right field unless they are ready for Pache and Waters which it sounds they are not. There will be plenty 1 year stop gaps at the end of the offseason for us to sign if we don have it figurw out.
JD 2 yr 50.
G Cole 5 yr 160.
Then I’m fine with Markakis/Duvall or the rookies in right.
You’re not getting Gerrit Cole for 5 years or 160 million dollars.
He’ll re-up with the Astros if the best he can get is 5/160.
Not a chance……Donaldson will be offered a one year qualifying offer. If he signs elsewhere we get a pick. If the Braves are looking for multiple years for a 3B, make an offer on Rendon. The future is to still have Riley at 3B with Waters and Pache in the OF. A one year qualifying offer for Donaldson makes sense to allow that transition.
As for Cole, I have yet to see a pitcher that signed a contract like that payoff for any team. Keuchel will likely walk. Braves will likely pick up 12 million option on Teheran (contract year). AA will not spend that type money for that amount of years on a pitcher.
I dont think 32 mil a year is a terrible offer and that’s prolly the max I would go given our financial restraints.
Max Scherzer has a contract like that and has lived up to it just to name one since you have yet to hear of one.
Scherzer’s deal has worked out tremendously but Cole won’t go for a penny less. He’s 29 and an absolute ace. Scherzer got 7/210. You can put Cole down for that at minimum.
RIley can hit sliders. He just can’t lay off the outside slider for a ball. If it’s hanged on the outer half of the zone for a strike, he can crush that ball to RF. Just needs to learn to lay-off that slider for a ball.
Most underrated player in the game
Acuna is the best player on the Braves and is a legit superstar. But he’s not the best hitter on the team. That’s Freeman. Funny that he gets overlooked so often around the league.
From a Bucco fan, Freeman is the best hitter in baseball that (almost) no one talks about.
The Braves should offer Donaldson a 2 yr deal with a player option for a 3rd yr and a team option for a 4th yr with a decent buyout. Maybe 27.5 mil for the first 2 yrs, 22.5 for the 3rd, and 20 for the 4th?
The Braves have to & they will offer JD a Qualifying Offer.
Resigning him isnt a bad idea.
However, All options should still be considered.
Even if we decide to cough up $$ on a 3rd Basemen…which one? JD is not a bad answer but that solution is simple & obvious. It should at LEAST be considered that we could spend a little Extra & sign Rendon. We’d lose a 1st round pick for signing him, but gain a pick for losing Donaldson. We still would likely get a higher pick than Washington considering not many teams have better records than us. I wouldnt reccomend it but based on the Prices you could get Nick Castellanos or Mike Moustakas & still have money to get a top Bullpen arm for just slightly more than JD. Plus then youd gain a pick unless you lose one signing the Bullpen guy. (Of these 3 I’d chose the Rendon plan)
It’s tough to assess what the Braves should do without knowing how much money the Ownership will let us play with this offseason.
Our most important need is Pitching. It will be a deep market for that too. I think the Key Question here isn’t “Should we resign Donaldson?”… It is “What pitchers can we still get after resigning Donaldson?”
Will Rendon want to play in Atl? Even though the front office is completely different he was drafted by ATL and was not happy about the money they offered to sign him. I could see potential bad blood there
If he has any lingering bad blood about what he was offered as a prospect, then he wouldn’t be in the major leagues. People who are that thin-skinned have no business playing professional baseball.
Donaldson is going to the Rangers. Riley is going to 3rd base. Acuna Jr goes to left, and Pache goes to center when he is ready.
Acuña plays Right Field next year, and you can bank on it. As you saw on Monday he is A+++++ defensively in RF. Plus I think you see Riley in LF next year, and JD signing a 2 year deal with 2 beating options.
Agreed…
Don’t forget about Markakis he has a really cheap option for next year and still a decent player
…and minimal wear/tear since he was out half this season.
A 35 year old being injured for half a season is not a good thing for a team looking at him the following year
As much as I like Nick as a player & how he goes about things, it’s really time to move on. Time for Acuna in right, Riley (if he proves he can hit) in left, and debate about center. Sign JD for 2 plus an option or two, sign an ace and solidify the pen…..
It’s not like he has leg issues or an injury that stems from age or being over used. He got hit by a ball that broke his wrist. The injury doesn’t have anything to do with his age
Acuña is 100% a RF moving forward.
Dat arm. Throw in that SunTrust has a slightly tricky RF that requires more coverage – can’t see any other option when you consider either of Pache/Waters as the future CF (if not Inciarte).
Just interested in why the Rangers ???
No speak of how absolutely terrible Tyler Flowers is behind the plate. We miss alot of strikes because he lays his glove on the ground then lunges to grab it after its pitched. Is he to lazy to hold his mit up for something for the pitcher to aim at? It’s hard enough with the umps and their strike zone for him to keep whiffing on balls and lazily “ohhh my bad” on passed balls.
AA, what’s the deal here. Missing on Realmuto is starting to hurt more. Not saying we should have given up Ozzie and Austin but ya need to do something. This is a patchwork catcher platoon and it’s going to fail. You have a catcher who misses more strikes than he gets calls for, a catcher with 6 concussions, hopefully not more than a cramp last night, a catcher with bad knees on the IL, and a catcher with 20 major league at bats, no hits. Which of these catchers sounds like the winner to lead you into a playoff series? If you said none and whimpered a bit, you’d be right.
This catching problem was before the season started. If Tyler is going to continue to be this bad defensively and offensively, the Braves would be better off with the production it could get from Gattis. Should have kept Suzuki and released Flowers.
Flowers’ defense just seemed to fall off the table this year. He was fine last season … and Suzuki got 2 years, $10 million from the Nats. He was never getting that much from the Braves. The Nats may regret that deal next year, when Zuke is 36.
I agree Flowers isn’t the player he was, but that can happen without any warning for catchers in their 30s. It’s a risk, and if McCann comes back healthy or Jackson/Cervelli can play in September, then the team can minimize the risk.
And Flowers won’t be with the Braves next season.
Flowers hit .227 last season and he is hitting .230 this season. Suzuki hit .271 last season and is hitting .268 this season. There not regretting it so far. He didn’t just suddenly fall off.
Maybe use Contreras to go out and get a better catcher. He’s not going to be ready by 2021 it seems and we need a improvement at catcher now. The Braves have to much capital in prospects and money they should not have a single “risk” as you just said. Like I said this wasn’t a problem that just happened. Every Braves fan saw this when it was going to be just McCann and Flowers to start the season it was going to be a problem, now it is.
Wellington Castillo is available
Can’t hit – can’t catch – makes 8m. He would fit right in with Flowers.
Must have Great agent
My god
“we miss a lot of strikes because he starts with his glove on the ground”
Do you have any evidence of that? He consistently grades as a top 3 framer. He starts with his glove on the ground so he can catch the ball with his glove on the way up. That way the ump never sees his glove go down to make him think it’s low.
What are you talking about Zach? Maybe bottom 3 of pitch framing. Mike fast was brought in because of how terrible his pitch framing is. You want evidence on how bad his glove floats watch a game he is catching. He even admitted in an interview that he has a pause in his brain when he goes to catch the ball. You know what happens when you move your glove that much. He misses alot of calls like you missed on this comment.
That’s just not true. Go to baseball savant and look at catcher framing, he is too 3 and always has been. Not sure what makes you think he’s bottom 3.
Baseball prospectus has him at 11th for framing. When you start looking at other stats, oh wow your not going to like these. Some of these stats for catching abilities dont seem to have him in the top 30 of most other stats. Blocking runs, hmmmmm wait -3.6. That’s good for 100th out of 104 active major league catchers. He got worse. Terrible is terrible no matter how you word it.
Don’t think I ever brought up anything other than framing. He ranks like 3rd on baseball savant.
Well I brought that he is pretty much terrible on ALL facets of his game and YOU decided to throw him a bone. “I have one stat and one stat only that he is a good catcher”.
You sound so angry. Zach did nothing wrong and out your foot in your mouth for you.
Flowers has been a solid catching option for a while for us until this year. I think age got him now and it’s time to move on, but it isnt like you can predict these things to the day and you can just simply upgrade at will.
Nah I responded to the part where you said he costs his team strikes without fact checking it.
Thats because you, Brave in Nebraska, said he was a terrible pitch framer. Zach simply stated that in that one facet of his game, he is still graded highly. I agree in others he is terrible. But you got offensive real quickly when your initial argument got called out as false.
I dont see where I got Defensive or Offended but ok. Because I said that Zach missed on the comment. Do you feel threatened when I comment on here to? My initial argument is that he has become overall Bad. Not just that I think he is terrible behind the plate. He is bad with the bat, bad with the baseball and bad with the glove. Ok so I’m sorry that I got one part of my comment wrong. I’m a big boy I can admit it.
I’m not threatened by any means. I was just pointing out that as soon as he corrected one small statement. You fired back with a bunch of things trying to prove your point. Last I checked that counts as defensive.
Varies by report but, statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php
Flowers, #6. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather have McCann and Cervelli platooning and Flowers as a 3rd backup as he’s the only one that’s staying healthy.
How many baseballs have zoomed past him and the umps simply because of how far the glove has to travel for him to get leather on it?
My initial argument is that he is bad, and getting worse. He has 15 passed balls which lead all major league catchers so far this season which doesn’t include how many fly by with no runners on base.
It really is to bad that Tyler Flowers doesn’t fight as hard as you 2 to get himself better. Maybe he has become complacent with the fact that his job is in no way in jeopardy. He is bad with the bat, the ball and the glove.
Wait a minute, BabyBraves2.0, is that you Francouer? If it is, just a heads up when you go to your name on the google search bar it shows you in your Marlins Uniform. Might want to have them fix it.
I think you are Tyler Flowers or he reads this. Having a great game tonight nonetheless. 2 Thumbs up!
The purpose of leaving the glove on the ground and not giving a target is to keep the batter from being able to sneak a peek at the location…not laziness; however, one of the hardest things to do as a pitcher is hit a specific location without a target. McCann often slide jumps at the last second and sets up a target…similar potential problems. I wonder if it’s why Braves pitchers have struggled so much with BBs. Haven’t really looked at other teams as I just don’t care. I remember as a kid watching a pitching tutorial by Nolan Ryan in which he instructed to not just look at the mitt, but to pick a particular spot in the mitt to pitch to. Did wonders for me. Never quite made it that far (pros), but process is still the same…can’t focus on something if it’s not there.
As for other matters related to losing strikes, I’m not high on Flowers, but he is considered one of the best framers in the game…I think this and his ability to stay off the IL are his only attributes that provide any decent value to this team…but even framing goes away if and when they move to an automated strike zone.
The laziness bit was a poke by me. It not easy to aim at a target when there is no target to aim at. How many balls this season and last season flew to the side or over his head simply because how much distance he has to move the glove to get to the baseball. Umps dont seem to give the benefit of the doubt to people who can’t sit still. Then the umps start to second guess themselves.
Realmuto will want to much money next year is a contract year for him.
Braves missed on Grandal & he is going to be available next year but I think AA will bring Cervelli in with Jackson as the back up. Maybe keep McCann as a backup C/1B/PH for the bench.
They are going to a 26 man roster next year right ????
Gotta keep JD around. It’s refreshing to hear that the prospects will need to “force” their way onto the roster. That’s the way it should be – especially for a team with high expectations. I think this still applies to Riley. He did force his way onto the roster early on but needs to make adjustments if he wants to stay in the immediate short term plans.
That said, I think Pache is definitely the heir in center for his defense alone. Him plus Ronald in right will be a beautiful thing to watch for the next decade. Having a plus defender in center and right will allow for more room for error in left.
How long will that plus defense last if Pache is hitting?.220 with a terrible OBP and few SBs (his caught stealing % way too high for his plus speed). Seems like he had the same issues that plagued Inciarte, tho with more power and upside.
Defense doesn’t slump. If a guy like Riley goes into a similar nosedive in terms of offensive production (like he did prior to his injury), he’d be providing negative value to the team. A guy like Pache would still be providing value (albeit limited) with his glove at a premium position.
And that’s my point – that young prospects that aren’t established fully will have ups and downs that need to be mitigated by having established veterans, especially when your sights are set on a WS ring. The only point I was making about Pache is that independent of his bat, he would still have a solid floor with his premium defense alone which provides value to a contender.
The Braves are better off rolling w Inciarte in CF til Pache develops a bit more st the plate. Inciarte has the glove. You’re going to be burning up service time on an incomplete player in Pache. If it were my choice he’d spend most of if not all of next year in AAA. He’s extremely young and he’s still raw At the plate. Let him prove his worth in AAA.
Agree with you on Inciarte, disagree with your small-minded approach. The Braves are contenders and are a win-now team, and you want to mention service time? Service time is thrown out the window when a team is prepared to win the World Series. You bring up the player that helps you win and you go all out.
Pache needs more time in AAA, 100%.
That’s exactly what I just said. There’s no point in calling up another Billy Hamilton. He’s extremely raw at the plate. He’s going to be exposed. Exposed while also burning up service time. Just resign Billy if you want a CF glove at this point.
Which was somehow small minded because you hung onto the words “service time?” Lets at least disagree before arguing.
Scott, is pache’s floor any different than Billy Hamilton though? Hamilton provides elite defense and base running. Can’t hit a lick but I find it hard to believe that Pache’s hitting/SB combo would be better at this point in time.(Hitting potentially yes because Hamilton can’t hit but certainly not on the basepaths)
I like Pache a good deal in the future but I see no merit in rushing a kid with obvious flaws. You are correct in saying that he could contribute in someway but I don’t see how that’s anymore than a Billy Hamilton would. Which to me makes no sense to not bring back a Billy Hamilton for a couple million bucks while pache develops his offensive game.
I meant heir in center as in long-term – not next year right away. Completely agree with Ender manning center until Pache is ready and not rushing him. I think I was tying two different ideas into one comment.
Main point was that I’d like to see the Braves keep JD in the fold. A proven commodity that brings a little fire to the team as well. If we’re gonna hand the LF keys to Riley next year and beyond (which I’d love for him to take that step), I’d like a premium defensive OFer in center. Ender only has a few years left and guys with his profile decline sharply which is why I brought up Pache.
Winning should be the only thing to worry about, and you had to mention service time. Imagine GM Littlez in the board room:
“Hey, we could use player X to boost our team down the stretch.”
JBigz: “No, can’t do it. Must save the service time.”
You would’ve kept Cabrera in the minors in 2003. You wouldn’t have called up Bogaerts in 2013.
Small minded. Should’ve never given those words a thought.
Pache needs the whole year at AAA next year Waters as well. No need to rush them.
Acuna & Albies forced their way up.
These 2 are not at their level yet.
September 2020 call ups
2021 NL Co-ROY
Lol, ok Trim. Talk about hung up on a word. That’s not even close to the point I made there but that’s alright. You went on a “trim tangent” where you said absolutely nothing at all again. But that’s alright.
I can’t imagine why I’ve continued arguing with a guy who lies about changing an anonymous username. I’m more embarrassed about doing that. I have nothing left to ever argue with you about though. I get it. You hate stats and you always think your right. Good for you. Keep on thinking that way.
Maybe you’ll bring the Trimreaper account back after you’ve said enough nonsense on this one. Or it’ll be a 3rd account. Whatever boosts your self esteem. In any case, this will be my last interaction with you on the site. Best of luck, Trim.
I’m going to be collecting on a lot of “Betts” this winter on who the Braves’ 2020 RFer is……loses JD’s 20M for a much younger, much more motivated player who they can send off into the sunset at the end of the year….and, with the expiring contract, said RFer will cost far less prospect capital than Sox fans think….
Braves are the most poised to go “all in” for 2020, then use their fertile farm to reload in 2021, and stay competitive…..
Braves putting profits over putting a competitive team on the field. Sky is blue, water is wet etc etc etc
That was a nice starting pitcher you picked up at the trade deadline …oh wait no you didn’t. Sorry
ReSign JD to 2 year deal. Go into next season with Riley/Inciarte/Acuña OF, let Pache and Waters develop and if one breaks out they can take inciartes place in OF
AA – If you are reading this now I am in 4A coming back from YYZ.
I was at the at the two games in Toronto this week sitting three rows behind our dugout. What a great experience. As a life long Braves fan, thank you for making this team fun to watch,
YYZ: Great instrumental. Performed by band from Canada I think. Ha.
As soon as I saw this it started playing in my head and I thank you for it.
Markakis has had an interesting career. 14 seasons and almost 2400 hits. He actually has an outside shot at 3000. Look at his career numbers- if he finishes with 3000 hits and 600 doubles- attainable numbers then he is a Hall of Famer. This would likely lead to great debate- but look at the numbers.
Love Kakes but he is no HOF
Markakis is a slightly better version of Paul O’neil
“Anthopoulos made clear he’s not planning to head into Spring Training next year with a plan to turn over jobs to the young and unproven”
I bet he will. If they won’t spend money on Rendon or Cole, they will likely settle for cheap options. I will not believe him until I see it. We also heard the same from Wren and JC. Empty words!
Prove it! Spend money, get Rendon!
Dude it’s the Braves. They rarely spend big dollars on big name free agents. Don’t expect a huge free agent splash imo.
I don’t expect one, but I also don’t expect a WS ring either because of that.
Unless Markakis’ injury is so serious that it is going to threaten his ability to play next season, I don’t see any reason the Braves shouldn’t pick up his team option. It is a $4 million option for Godssakes. That’s a million bucks LESS than Billy Hamilton is making this year. BILLY FREAKIN HAMILTON! That guy can’t even hit .220 and he is a backup. Worse case scenario, Markakis becomes a $4 million backup outfielder which is a million dollars less than their current back up. Best case scenario Markakis hits over .280 with 10 homers and and a ton of doubles for a mesely $4 mill. I think we need to try to find a way to acquire TOR starting pitching. If we are gonna spend $ on offense I would probably go with someone like Grandal since that is are biggest positon player need. Give Donaldson the qualifying offer and take the draft pick from a team that gives him a multi-year contract. The only way I think the Braves should sign Donaldson is if the draft pick compensation drives down his offers Keuchelesque style. I don’t see that happening though. If the price is right they would be smart to try and resign Chris Martin. He has been doing very well recently and his stats are so absurd that another team would be willing to pay him a ton. Plus it makes the Kolby Allard trade look a little better if we can keep him for longer than 2 months. With Martin, Greene, Melancon, and Jackson on the team for the entire year next year we should be very solid in the pen unlike at the start of this season.
Martin more than likely has priced himself off the Braves for next year
I think you’re right. I was hoping that his high 3.60’s ERA might throw some GMs off but I think they’re smarter than that now. Its hard to miss his 60:5 strikeout to walk ratio. I hope they offer him an extension this season just to give it a shot. He could very well be a legit closer. Any team that pays him big is gonna look at him to fill that roll and use his lack if career saves to put it at a discounted rate.
As we have seen this year, depth is a good thing. Braves should sign Donaldson and bring back Markakis/Ender. Let Riley, Pache, Waters force their way into the lineup or be there when these older guys get injured.
Keep signing the value peripheral players and let the core guys keep being the core.
Go braves
AA translation: we would like Donaldson back if he signs
for way below market rate.