December 11: Atlanta is paying Stassi’s deal down to the league minimum, according to the Associated Press; they’ll send $6.26MM in cash. That amount also counts against the Braves luxury tax number, which sits at an estimated $263MM according to Roster Resource. As second-time payors in the second tier of penalization, they’ll pay a 42% tax on that money. Stassi will cost the Braves around $8.89MM overall.
December 9: The White Sox have acquired Max Stassi and cash considerations from the Braves in exchange for a player to be named later. Both teams have announced the deal. Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times, the Braves are expected to pay for the majority of Stassi’s $7MM salary next season.
Stassi, 33 in March, spent just one day in the Braves organization after being acquired from the Angels yesterday in a multi-played deal with the Angels alongside infielder David Fletcher. Now, the veteran catcher is off to his third organization in two days, where he figures to have the opportunity to step into a regular role on the south side of Chicago. The White Sox lost Yasmani Grandal to free agency earlier this offseason and were in need of a veteran backstop to pair with youngster Korey Lee behind the plate in 2024.
It’s a need Stassi is more than capable of fulfilling. While the veteran missed the entire 2023 season, only the first half of his absence was due to the left hip strain that prevented him from being on the Opening Day roster in Anaheim last season. Stassi recovered from that issue midseason, but he and his wife revealed last month that the three-months premature birth of their son necessitated Stassi to step away from the game and attend to his family for the remainder of the 2023 campaign.
That said, Stassi is expected to return to the field in 2024 and has shown himself to be a quality big league catcher over the past few seasons. Initially drafted by the A’s in the fourth round of the 2009 draft, Stassi made his big league debut back in 2013 with the Astros but did not find a regular role in the majors until the 2018 season when he split time behind the plate in Houston with Brian McCann and Martin Maldonado. Stassi did well for himself in a backup role that season, slashing a respectable .226/.316/.394 in 250 plate appearances. While Stassi struggled through 51 games in 2019, prompting the Astros to trade him to the Angels at that year’s trade deadline, Stassi was given a more prominent role upon his arrival in Anaheim.
In 118 games between the shortened 2020 campaign and his first full season as an Angel in 2021, Stassi combined above-average offense at the plate (113 wRC+) with strong defense behind it to be the ninth most valuable catcher in the league according to fWAR. That strong performance led the Angels to sign Stassi to an extension, though that decision would prove ill-fated. As effective as Stassi was during those two seasons, he took a step back in 2022, slashing a meager .180/.267/.363 (63 wRC+) at the plate while posting framing numbers that were closer to average than the elite figures he had posted earlier in his career.
While the struggles Stassi faced in 2022 and his time away from the game in 2023 make it an understandable decision for the Angels and Braves to go in another direction behind the plate in 2024, it’s easy to see why the addition of Stassi would be intriguing for the White Sox. After all, Lee has less than 100 plate appearances of experience in the big leagues and, even if the club believes the former top-100 prospect to be their catcher of the future, will surely need time and assistant as he looks to transition into a new role as a full-time big leaguer. The addition of a veteran catcher such as Stassi should help with that transition, while also creating a substantial bit of upside for Chicago. Stassi’s contract includes a $7MM 2025 club option that features a $500K buyout; if the veteran is able to regain the form he flashed in 2020 and 2021, that $6.5MM decision would be a no-brainer to pick up and make for an attractive trade chip as the White Sox retool their roster with an eye toward the future.
For the Braves, the deal clears a portion of Stassi’s salary from their books while clearing an unnecessary piece from their roster. Atlanta already had one of the best catching tandems in the game with Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud behind the plate, rendering Stassi as largely superfluous. In conjunction with the trade that brought Stassi and Fletcher to Atlanta in exchange for Evan White and the deal that shipped Marco Gonzales to the Pirates, the Braves have shaved roughly $5MM off their payroll since acquiring Gonzales and White as part of the Jarred Kelenic trade during the Winter Meetings while adding a bench piece in Fletcher who better fits the club’s roster than any of Gonzales, White, or Stassi.
Not Cease coming back.
Let’s see. . .the Dodgers sign Otani while the Sox acquire Stassi. Yep. It’s a wash.
The white sox are almost bankrupt like the Bulls. They need customers to pay more for tickets and souvenirs
BS.
Cease is the player to be named later.
Cease and lots of cash to bring back another WASH
Braves gearing up for something big
Braves are playing chess
If chess were a game of losing money.
It’s called leveraging payroll space.
It is like playing chess. You trade a bunch of pieces just to gain a pawn
It would be, but they are sending out cash in this deal. Leveraging payroll space would be taking on underwater contracts for useful pieces. They’re taking on underwater contracts, sending cash out with them, and getting nothing much back. It’s sort of puzzling why they’d go to all that trouble for negligible gain.
At the end of the day they get Kelenic and Fletcher for roughly 15.5MM in 2024, 8MM in 2025. After that they have Kelenic controlled for 3 more years. Alex is a smooth operator.
Even the putrid Angels did not want Fletcher… Why would the best team on paper in baseball want Fletcher? Kelenic is nice flyer, but they could just paid full price for one solid player with more certainty than Kelenic..
Probably some kinda of chess gambling app that can do that.
By the time they get done, they will be getting Kelenic for far less than they would have paid Rosario or someone else with less upside, while only losing a couple of bottom of the barrel prospects.
It’s a solid move by Getz who because of his owner is forced to shop at the Dollar Store. He’s made some solid but not spectacular moves to help the Sox at least field a team. He’s at least acquiring pieces that can be flipped either this year or next while he uses the few big chips he has to rebuild a sagging farm system. Which ironically is mainly due to him drafting it.
It’s a good move for the Sox. It’s like the Orioles getting James Mcannn last year. The trading team is covering most of the salary. You get a backup C for peanuts.
Meh, it was time for a different catcher anyway. It’s short term and low dollars. Maybe he bounces back enough to teach Lee how to be a backup. Meanwhile Edgar Quero can get proper work in the minors
Might get Kelenic for less, but Cole Phillips wasn’t a “bottom of the barrel prospect.”
Phillips never pitched for ATL and still got #7 overall (MLBPipeline) in the system out of high school amidst a farm chock full of arms.
McCann should still be the Sox’ catcher but Reinsdorf was too cheap to keep him. After four miserable years with Grandal, Stassi is a big step up. Lee is simply not a good catcher. He should be the back up, not Stassi. Whichever C the Sox use, they won”t be getting any offense from that spot.
Yes, very true. But Getz has assembled a strong up the middle defense that can’t hit a lick. Add to that the fact, there is no RF’er apparent that can hit above .230….. Benintendi was disappointing. Moncada has yet to play a year without injury (and why risk it with a team going nowhere)…. and Getz is responsible for the conditions in the WS minors that have produced so few ballplayers of MLB caliber. 7 years is a long time with little to show for it (Montgomery will be the next team drafted and developed to make it).
I feel sorry that a 5-tool talent gets stuck on a 100 loss per year team for some of his best years because the owner continues to be cheap, the manager clueless, and the organization too insular.
Give Roberts Jr a break and see what Baltimore would give to have him.
2024 maybe. 2025/2026 I highly doubt it once Ramos, Quero, and Montgomery get the call up.
But thats putting a lot of faith in kelenic that really isn’t warranted at this point. I’d argue that the resources and time put into this sequence of deals just justifies going out and spending on a good player to begin with.
Have you watched Kelenic in the majors. He’s often lost at the plate with no chance of making contact at all. Why do you think this is such a high get because his prospect rating skyrocketed after the Mets traded him?
I guess it would be more the profile that the Braves coaches do well with than just blind faith in Kelenic. He is the type player the Braves have a history of getting a lot out of. Time will tell for sure. I don’t think anyone will be surprised when Kelenic’s K rate drops and his swing at pitches out of the zone drops. Acuna is a extreme example last year—cutting his K rate in half and his swing outside the zone way down.
Acuna was one of the best players in the game and had a knee injury. The coaching staff had very little to do with his success. He’s one of the top three most talented baseball players in the world. Kelenic is not.
I was never a fan of Grandal, but he was far from the problem, unless the problem is he was the largest contract the team gave out until Benintendi.
McCann was lightning in a bottle and they were much better off without him. Ask any Mets fan how much they loved McCann, and then find a hospital because they likely just stabbed you. He was brutal after he left the Sox.
I have about a 7% hope that Korey Lee can do anything productive, but he’ll get this season to show if he belongs.
Step one: get bad contracts
Step two: pay others to take them
Step three: ???
Step 5: profit
So Avenger no offense but your comment makes zero sense. You say the Sox were too cheap to keep McCann but they paid Grandal 75 million. WTF are you talking about? Pretty sure McCann wouldn’t have cost 75 million.
73 million. 75 million is Andrew Beni.
Why did the Sox never sign top dollar players when their farm players were called up to add to the mix of talent. Because we’re the sox
They let Right Field and 2nd base be manned by garbage or out of position players instead of paying literally anyone.
Reinsdorf is the reason I will no longer be supporting that team. I hope they get new ownership soon, he is such a waste.
What did they actually accomplish with all these moves? They gave 5 guys away for a decent reliever. They got Kelenic for taking on a couple contracts. They traded one of the contracts to pick up 2 new bad contracts.
Why????
Wait until you see all star Jared Kelnic.
All Star? Good luck with that. He’ll have to tame those strikeouts first!
Matt Olson use to be a strike out machine. Kelenic is 24 years old, and could develop into an incredible, future piece for the Braves. I think fans are gonna be happy with this acquisition. Mariners gave up on him too early.
Wait until Kelenic gets waived because he has no options remaining.
He really isn’t a batter prone to strikeouts, despite the 30% clip.m, say defenders of this trade. Alrighty then
Thanks for making me lol, what are you smoking?
Kelenic will have to tame his inner demons first !
Kelenic still can’t hit anything offspeed. Sure he can hit a fastball with the best of them, but pitchers know what to throw Kelenic. Until he readjusts to what they throw him, he will keep whiffing. And his incredibly lucky high BAPIP he had last year is due for steep regression. He was one batter where the banning of the infield shift really helped. But you should have seen his dinky hits and weak contact that wiggled thru.
Austin Riley couldn’t hit offspeed stuff either at the major league level, till he did. That can be said about a lot of young players, until they start hitting offspeed pitches. xwOBA says he’s been unlucky with a xwOBA of .333 which is 12 points above his actual wOBA, so that might suggest he’ll should be hitting better.
Big fan of guys digging out some random made up stat to tell me how unlucky a player was and how he’s on the verge of breaking out because of it. Thanks
Not with best of them.
Real question is why not?????
Ya that’s right 5 question marks to your 4 checkmate
All I can add is that Kelenic looked pretty good in April at Wrigley, when he HRd in 3 straight games.
And then hit like 1 after June!
Meh. Small sample size. The time after June I mean. You naysayers probably gave up on Tuffy Rhodes too. And look where he ended up
EVERYBODY looks good at Wrigley. Wherever Bellinger lands, watch his numbers from 2023 go down once he gets away from that band box and those cheaternOF baskets.
Yikes. When the Wrigley field simp is offering grounds for optimism, run the other way.
Wrigley’s 3-year-rolling Park Factor is 101–slightly above average, but by no means a “band box.”
Obviously the Braves don’t need much so they dumped a bunch of Arbitration contracts to save money and got a decent LH reliever and a good young LFer that they really needed. Good teams move players through the system and obviously the Braves had guys to move up. The Sox needed bodies and were more than happy to buy lottery tickets in the hope that some will pay off at the deadline the next 2 years. Somebody explain that to Joel how that works. A 5 million dollar savings to a playoff contender while adding 2 good young players that are controllable is the Gold Standard. Although I always cringed when Bummer came in. Not sure he’s as good as the Braves think he is, But he is talented it can’t be denied.
Kelenic + UT Fletcher – Marco return = 7M in 2024. They retained their prospect (Grissom) that could platoon in LF, but I doubt that’s the endgame. Filled LF and bench spot for little.
You don’t know how much salary they are including with Stassi so you really can’t say what the total dollar amount is coming and going.
Is Fletcher better than Lopez? I don’t think so.
All these moves and what is the actual result? They got Kelenic. That’s about it.
$800K 2-WAR player in two-thirds of a year. Now imagine him in this lineup. Quite a coup. Fletcher will barely play in an ideal scenario — he is insurance.
He is insurance who can play a gold glove type 3rd and 2nd and is an adequate shortstop.
I mean, I’m a diehard and I won’t sit here and pretend that these deals are some magically amazing deals. They are just creative ways to fill needs, open roster spots and take on what appears to be less cash than we likely would have had to do if we went via free agency. Again, nothing impressive in terms of what has been received or given up. Braves had a real roster crunch earlier in the offseason also, so getting rid of so many players was sorta happening no matter what. At least the trades give us something of “value” back in return. Again, just creative ways to make moves that I think would have cost more via free agency. But nothing impressive
You nailed it. It’s basically a creative way to get around signing a LF in free agency and only losing a couple of low prospects or hurt players about to hit big arb years.
They took on Stassi and Fletcher to get off Evan White’s awful contract. White doesn’t play at all. They lost $6 mil in the swap this year, but Stassi is not owed any money after this year and they needed a replacement for Nicky Lopez. I am sure the White Sox insisted on getting Lopez in the Bummer deal because he’s a local kid. 4D chess. White is owed $8 mil in’25 and $2 mil in 2026 on a buyout, Fletcher is owed $6.5 mil in ’25 with $1.5 mil buyout in 2026. So not only are they saving money in future years, but they are getting a player that will actually get major league ABs next year.
The Braves gave up 5 players for Bummer who has a decent sized salary.
The Braves took White and Gonzales to get Kelenic
Traded Gonzales to get 3 million in salary relief
Traded White to get Stassi and Fletcher
Traded Stassi to get whatever salary relief they could get.
How does this all add up? Someone needs to do the math here. Perhaps one of these Braves fans who swear this is great. Do the math and tell me where they stand now.
Before they traded Stassi:
The Braves took on 29 or so million in dead money to get Jared (the ring maker) in the form of a pitcher and a 1st baseman.
Seattle sent 4.5 with the two and the ring maker to the Braves.
The Braves knew neither would fit with the Braves so they traded the pitcher who is making 12.5 and the 4.5 from the M’s and added 5 to pirates for a PLTBL.
Then took what was left which was a 15 million of absolute dead money and sent it to the Angels for Stassi who is owed 7.5 and Flecher who is making 6 and 6.5 and is due a buyout of 1,5 the next year which the Angels are taking care of.
This saves the Angels something like 6 million.
The Braves get a C they will trade for something lets say PTBNL 2.0.
Stassi making 7.5 which might mean the Braves may have to throw in 4 million or so to make it a nice Pina like number of 3.5
Then paying 12.5 million for the next two years for a back up infielder.
So to get Jared with out trading a bunch (Sorry Cole) they took 25 in dead money.
Saved 3.5 million of dead money in the deal with the pirates. Added a player perhaps.
Traded away a Stassi and maybe sent 4 million to get another “player.”
The Braves are left with a back up infielder and what was 25 milllion in dead money that didn’t fit the team. Now they have 5 million of dead money to the pirates (but a player en route) and possibly 4 million or so in dead money on Stassi (but again another player on the way).
25 million of dead money turned into around 9 million of dead presidents–with two players in exchange and a back up infielder who is making 2 more than what Lopez would have made if we kept him. Which with no real back ups in AAA (save the the two guys who just signed minor league deals this week) was a real need for the team.
Lopez was gonna make 4 and then something like 6 or so in his final year of Arb I believe. So all that dead money turns into 8 or 9 in dead money and two PTBNL and 2 extra million this year for Lopez? Really? Wow.
Underrated analysis, good job.
The Braves are being run by someone like my 8 yr old nephew, trading a bunch of Pokémon cards for the action but losing track and attention – then getting called away for dinner and leaving all his toys out of the hamper for someone to clean up
@Capn K
Considering the position Getz is in with the teams needs, I sincerely doubt he’s even looking at home towns when acquiring players. He needed middle infielders. That’s why Lopez was included.
You forgot the adjective “cheap” in front of players and after acquiring…
None of those 5 guys were going to make the roster and they turned them into a potentially useful reliever.
They’re playing Dr. Sheldon Cooper’s 3D chess.
Fun with flags, more like
Chess my butt…Chinese checkers….non of this leads to a legit SP
Braves are being smart and making small moves because they don’t need to make any big ones. They’re already the best team in baseball.
Now, they’re tweaking to try to ensure a WS. I wish them luck. It’s not easy.
roob, as a phillies lifer, I’ll give you the “best team” in the NL for sure. These Braves moves are all fascinating when lined up.
Makes this off season pretty cool to check in on….
What I didn’t get (off topic) was all the Ohtani hate for “holding stuff up”. He did nothing even remotely close to an abundance of Boras clients…weird?
Braves are playing the Broadway version of ♟ chess. One Night in Bangkok
AA is good but he can’t see to master the art of a 3 team trade. Ptbnl is caese.
They can have caese. Maybe that’s AAs problem. Auto correct on his texts. He was jotting something in his notes about retracting the burner phone and before you know it he’s exchanging five guys in his contact tree for bummer.
Well, that was quick (and explains yesterday’s trade).
Michael Scott gif
That’s what she said
The Braves continue to deal. Keep it up.
Good thing the White Sox have no intention of competing this year.
White Sox off-season strategy: call the Braves. Put the phone down. Allow the Braves to keep throwing stuff at the wall. See what sticks. This might actually work
rather dive in Atlanta’s dumpster than Kansas City
In fairness, everyone knew the Sox would cut payroll, despite JR claiming he wants a quick turnaround. Getting an improvement at C and getting the Braves to pay most of his salary in exchange for a nobody is a solid move considering Getz’ restraints. Their offense will be abysmal next year, but at least they’ll have plus defense at more positions than just CF.
I see Robert making a case for mvp. Also I see AV having an average year, and Beni has an bounceback candidates.
Agree dumpster. Braves are known for grooming high quality character guys. Infusing as much of that as possible into all levels of the White Sox organization isn’t a bad plan at all.
So all these moves are bout clearing the salary they took on from the Seattle trade.
Now it’s time to get to work & get a frontline pitcher.
It doesn’t sound like they are clearing Stassis salary. All these moves to get Bummer and Kelenic. I don’t get it. This seems like a kid playing MLb the show.
Man, you are just lost in your Braves hatred. They are living rent free in your head.
Take a look at what free agent OF’s who did about what Kelenic did last year are getting and then think it over. Rosario is similar, but had a worse year and has little upside left, and he will likely get someone around $10m, on a mulkti-year deal (at least according to a couple of projection sites). So, they cleared all that salary (not to mention Wright and Soroka’s salary earlier), and got an OF making less than $1 when his going rate is probably $10m+.
Agreed. Any other GM does this and they get laughed out the building. Just because Atlanta is very good at choosing when to sign young talent, doesn’t mean everything else they do is magical. Kelenic has major strikeout issues and is far from a sure thing, Bummer is potentially very good or a dumpster fire. Pirates or even Red Sox or Yanks do this and everyone says to fire the GM.
To be fair, so many complain that GMs aren’t creative enough. In this case, AA is doing extra work, that for whatever reason, other GMs aren’t willing to do to reach out.
I’m not suggesting it will all work out.
I’m not a fan of Bummer. It’s entirely possible any one player traded will have more value.
It does seem Braves are identifying certain players they think they can improve, or are already on the way to improvement.
The Atlanta Braves: the player rest stop of the MLB offseason
I feel bad for Ohtani and the Dodgers, getting upstaged by the White Sox on their big day.
Ha! Nice djsop.
No one got up charged like the dodgers.
Dodgers maxed out the credit card.
That was quick.
Another story about a Max contract
Why couldn’t the Angels flip Stassi to the Sox. Never mind, the Braves have a good GM, the Angels don’t have one that is remotely competent.
The Braves didn’t do anything special here. Good gosh people act like Anthopolos is some genius. Add up the moves he’s made. It doesn’t translate to much.
I’m assuming AA is a good GM, I know Minasian isn’t competent.
Doesn’t add up to much?? Go look at the extensions their stars and superstars have signed, and then go look at Ohtani’s deal.
Add up the moves he’s made? Ok let me go check the Braves lineup out…
Somehow he got something out of stassi. Minasian got white out of their deal. He got fleeced super hard. Too bad you don’t understand baseball or this would all make sense. Good luck with trout and rendon and another early ending to the baseball season Joel.
Minasian is trying to get a job back with the Braves once he is fired.
David Forst is on line 1 and insists he has dibs
simple answer. the Angels just doesn’t have good prospects to trade for ….
Huh? Max Stassi wasn’t traded with prospects.
What’s not too like? Atlanta took bad contracts to get Kelenic very cheap. If Kelenic becomes a star this was brilliant move. One of the bad contracts was an over priced often injuried glove first player that the Braves shipped for a back up infield and a back up catcher type. Atlanta shipped the back up catcher type out for financial relief.
The Braves will be out from under the majority of the back contract money after the 2024 and still control Kelenic for 4 more seasons. Meaning Atlanta will have a lot of money again to spend on free agents end of 2024 season. Which with the dodgers signing Ohanti could put them out of the market for Fried which could mean Atlanta is able to resign fried
Thought bout that myself but Fried is so much of a WC guy I think he either goes to the Angels or the Padres.
My next question is does the Ohtani deal make the Dodgers move on from Kershaw ???
Was thinking about kershaw when i seen he signed i think he comes back to try and win another ring…
Fried will stay with the Braves
Not a chance.
LAD deferring money so they can spend in the short-term and not care about decades from now when checks need to clear. Really, really hope free agents get tired of not holding them accountable and allowing them to pay them interest-free to be due decades from now to avert luxury tax penalties. Everyday will be “Bobby Bonilla Day” in LAD in the future, paying the descendants of today’s players.
Personally if I were a free agent I’d love a deal with deferred payments. It’s kinda like a second pension for awhile.
Sure, but at zero interest, like what Freeman took on 57M until 2040? Imagine the amount of money he left on the table if even just putting that interest money in a high-yield account, let alone being more aggressive investing it, though admittedly, they could have paid him more of a lump sum to be at a deferral of zero interest, but then that would make that LAD deal even worse.
@DMC: Why don’t I see a few more that understands this, lol.
I would rather just collect my investment returns on the payments from today.
Benjamin, just stop trying to explain it. Those that understand the long game get it already, those that don’t will never believe you and just state that anyone who thinks these have been a good series of moves are just AA fanboys.
Braves won’t retain Fried. He probably has TJ the year after AA let’s him walk or end of this season. AA already has Fried’s 22 year old replacement on back order though. Guy probably never sleeps but he makes baller moves and is right most of the time. I don’t know why people doubt him (only on here)
You are counting on Kelenic working out, when he’s given no reason to believe he’s figured out anything. Atlanta’s potential control has no value if he slumps and they need to send him down. He will have to pass waivers. Bye, bye control.
@stymeedone – They’ve dealt with high-ceiling top prospects going through skids and working through them. Remember Dansby getting sent down? He still has above average K-rate, yet secured the bag. Sure, he has the def that Kelenic doesn’t, but Acuna/Harris both worked through high K-rates. Kelenic will be a 7 or 8-spot hitter that needs mostly to field above-average, which considering his predecessor (Rosario), isn’t that hard to be better than. Seitzer/Chipper Jones should help curb the K-rate, but even then, they’ll take pressure he shouldn’t have being in the spotlight in SEA. And if he doesn’t work out, next man up.
@stymeedone Except that Kelenic still has an option remaining, so he can still be sent down without having to pass waivers. So much for your control theory.
Harper’s the kid in little league that wore the batting helmet too big so it falls off to show how “fast” he is…
None of them helmets fit even with your ball cap underneath them lol…
LOL. I think about this every time I see one of these big leaguers lose a helmet. There is absolutely no excuse for it with MLB level equipment.
I remember Lonnie Smith purposely knocking his cap off because he thought he ran faster without it (a believable excuse), but most of these guys are just hilarious.
Lol Albies helmet be flying all the time
Harper is an egomaniacal piece of crap. Good ball player crappy person
He’s got a whole lot better since his nationals days but I hear you. He’s great for the Phillies.
After the Braves quit playing musical chairs this off-season, I would like to know their total payroll and overage implications. It seems they have just punted on the luxury tax this year and will roll with in house options besides bummer, kelenic, and fletcher. They do have Fried, Morton, and likely Ozuna’s salaries coming off the book next year but it seems like they are just backfilling positions at this point. A mid-season trade may still occur but it is kind of interesting to see what the Braves end goal is. Perhaps there is still a trade somewhere down the line for Iglesias or even Ozuna that clears up money for another starter, but I’m not seeing all this shuffling just yet.
AA trading like an OOTP GM
This makes me wonder if darnaud may be on the move. I can see stassi giving murphy a break here and there. Stassi is still a good depth move as catchers do get banged up but darnaud has trade value and could start for a lot of teams.
uhh this article is about the White Sox trading for Stassi. As in Stassi is not a Brave anymore. I know AA is making a ton of moves, but keep up 😀
I think you made a mistake. They just traded Stassi.
Braves legend Max Stassi.
Just think, how many former braves can say that they never struck out even once when they were on Atlanta’s major league roster?
This year about 6 so far…..
That’s nothing. I have yet to strikeout in my entire professional career.
Speaking as someone who has been through the premature birth nightmare, there is nothing worse than that helpless feeling you get while watching your whole world implode before your eyes. I hope all is well with his family. Never forget, some things are just more important than baseball.
Agreed.
AA trading more than me on The Show…I say let him cook
The White Sox have been busy with the Braves this offseason. Is Dylan Cease next?
No because the Braves will not give up their two top pitching prospects which the Sox have asked for
@Bucsfan, Sox should be asking for a pitcher and either middle IF they can plug in at 2B or a RF. It’s why their talks with the Reds stalled: Sox wanted their top two pitchers when they should have started with Marte or Arroyo. I think the Reds would rather part with Marte than Lower, given their glut of IF prospects.
Ohtani, move over… here’s the real news lol
He can’t move over, his money is in the way…
Do you mean his IOUs?
Wouldn’t be the first time in history a corporation went BK and didn’t have to pay. United Airlines closed for a minute and stuck creditors for probably more than Ohtani is promised. Highly doubt it’s going to happen anytime soon in MLB but after considering the things that we’ve seen in the last four years anything can happen.
Great! Another catcher who can’t hit…..10 yr. career OPS+ 80. Now 3 catchers who can’t hit who replaceed a catcher who forgot how to hit. Chris Getz seems to be the same as Hahn and Willaims.
Disagree. He’s at least sticking to his plan. Can’t say the same to Rick Hahn or Kenny Williams.
At least these catchers can field well enough.
Lol. Wow. AA. You’re good.
Where’s the people saying they couldn’t move stassi, he’s gone 24 hours later. I’m not why perry made that deal. Be interesting to see how much they sent back.
If you pay 90% of his salary and get no return—obviously he can be moved. That looks like what they did here.
But you don’t know what they paid, or even who they are getting back.
Yes, and the Braves just paid all but the major league minimum for get him off their roster. They are getting a PTBNL, so not a good prospect.
You called it two days in advance. Nice job.
Not understanding what AA is doing?
Saving a few bucks here and there. All of these moves were in response to getting Kelenic without giving up any of their top prospects.
It’s a lot of effort to shuffle deck chairs around but he’s saving a few bucks off of Gonzalez/White’s deal in the process. & They have a bench infielder now.
It’s not particularly impressive or anything. It’s still all about Kelenic. That will be the deciding factor if all of this was worth it
You make it seem like a 4A player with no options is worth a teams top prospect. Seattle was moving him now because they didn’t think he would perform well enough next year to remain on the roster. They don’t believe in him and wanted to get something before he would be gone for nothing, when they waived him.
Just playing a game of shuffle board to make fans think the Braves are active. They are not going to sign any of the remaining free agent pitchers, even though some are good enough to be the 3 or 4 starter on the Braves and will not cost tons to sign. The Braves are also not going to get fleeced out of their two top pitching prospects to get one the starting pitchers being dangled on the trade market
Fully agree. I was against this trade until I read why he walked away. Even though I’m a White Sox homer having attended games since the 70’s I kinda expected Stassi to retire rather than play here until I read the entire article. It’s really sad for me. I’ve been through the low times that were entertaining in the 70’s-80’s to attending the playoff games in 2005 and scalping admission to the black out game. This is the ultimate low mark for the franchise in the last 50 years. Stassi had a real reason for walking away last season. Hopefully a team that will go 71-91 won’t depress him more. That’s being generous in the worst division in MLB.
Called it!
Way to go bro ! I want to hang a picture of u up in my office.
I sell nudes too
Looks like the Braves are paying all but the major league minimum. About right for a guy that had a 0.4 average WAR in 4 seasons of actually playing for the Angels.
Nice call. 2 days before this site got the info.
It doesn’t have a figure yet, I doubt they paid to the minimum. A ptbnl is slightly better than a rule 5 draft pickup from a playoff team. the same guy the angels could’ve pick up instead of no one.
The return in this case is a PTBNL or $50k. The same as a Rule 5 pick. Wait for them to update this article.
I think part of AA’s plan was to clear next year of dead money. He brought it all forward to 2024. He’s coming out in the red this year, but he’ll have a lot of flexibility next year.
The only reason he’ll have flexibility for next year is because you will be losing your best pitcher. Not the flexibility you want.
The article quotes the Sun Times writer as saying “the Braves are expected to pay the majority of Stassi’s $7M contract next season.” I haven’t seen a confirmed number anywhere else yet, but some posters here are saying that the Braves are sending “all but the ML minimum” to the Sox in the deal. If there’s a number posted on another site, wish I could find it. Seems the Braves could be sending anywhere from $4M up to $6.7-ish (Stassi owed a $500K option buyout for 2025 in addition to next season’s $7M salary.).
Spotrac has Braves as paying $6.26 million
Plus, it looks like the White Sox will be on the hook for the $500k buyout in 2025 if we’re trying to get technical
They don’t know that for sure, which is why they haven’t added it to the Braves page.
I get it! Chris Getz wanted to acquire Stassi directly from the Angels. But Chris is Anthony Michael Hall and thus has no game. And Perry Minasian is Molly Ringwald. And girls in that circle don’t talk to sad sacks like him. What to do? Offer to do Emilio the wrestler’s homework if he’ll ask her out. So old hallway bully AA got something that Getzie would never be able to get on his own. Hey- it was either that or build a robot girlfriend
So is Dipoto the moody goth chick?
Janeane Garofolo!
Ally Sheedy.
So the upshot is that the Braves traded Cole Phillips and probably about $10M-$12M for Kelenic, Fletcher and two PTBNL, right?
Don’t forget about Kyle Wright! Everyone keeps forgetting how Kyle got this whole ball rolling. Everything always starts with Kyles!
Add in a previous 20 game winner, another previous top prospect and about ten others.
If mentioning Wright, also mention he wouldn’t be pitching in ’24 and the odds are heavily against him returning to form with the shoulder surgery he went through. It’s worth it for KC to see for minimal dollars via arb for 2 years before FA, but any contending team can reinvest those millions more wisely, especially if they have P prospects that would most likely pass him on the depth chart by the time he returns.
Understood but the comment was the Braves only gave up Cole Phillips and money for Kelenic and it wasn’t accurate.
I’m not the author of those comments, but I believe that’s because some believe that Wright along with some of the others would have potentially been cut, to make room on the roster, which NashvilleJeff has stated below. Yes, they continue to roster Soroka in years past, paying him millions via arb to face lengthy rehabs in hopes of what could be, so with ATL’s window fully open, they may not want to do that again with some, like Wright.
Honestly the best move the Braves made this week is the one nobody is talking about when they resigned Angel Perdomo. He was finally starting to find the plate more consistently which was the only issue with his game before going down with an elbow injury that led to Tommy John surgery. If (I know it’s a big if but still) the time off while rehabbing can help him get his mechanics dialed in the Braves have 5 years of cheap control over a dude with Aroldis Chapman type potential.
well said
Perdomo’s major league career 35.8% strikeout rate would be the highest strikeout rate the Braves would have since the days of Craig Kimbrel.
Doesn’t Strider have a career K-rate of 37.2%? A closer that starts…whew!
AA is rebooting one of those shows where they start out trading a stick of gum and by the end they’ve traded all the way up to a space shuttle.
Except he traded a twenty game winner from 2022 and former highly regarded prospects for the used chewing gum.
Why don’t you mention that Wright had a type of shoulder surgery that very few pitchers recover from successfully. He won’t pitch again until he’s 31 (in 2 years) if he does end up being one of the minority that returns to form. Those “former highly regarded prospects” had no minor league options left. The Braves were going to dfa all of them in ST after they failed to make the 26 man roster again. Getting something of value for something you were going to throw away is a good thing.
Yknow I read the story about the Braves getting Stassi, and someone in the comments noted he would be a ‘flip’ to another. I jokingly was going to say it would be the White Sox that they would flip him to, but figured I was just too fixated on this poor regime the Sox currently have….
However, this is a ‘perfect’ move by the White Sox regime, like many many mediocre ones it the past and this off season before it, a bunch of moves to get the superfans excited but in the end mean little to nothing for the chances of any kind of success by the club. I keep hearing the typical superfan rationalizations: “Its a low risk move”…… ‘Good move by the Sox IF the player finds his groove again’, ‘this is to just fill out the minor league system’, ‘its a minor move by the org, wait for the major one(s)’ etc etc. In reality the major moves by this tightwad owner will only be the players he moves OUT of Chicago, not into Chicago and these superfans will be wondering ‘what happened?’ after the Sox have their first 10+ game losing slide next season.. Wait sorry, they’ll be thinking ‘Its early, they can turn it around’.. Yknow, like they did last season… Oh wait…
Sox aren’t competing next year. Aiming for 2025/2026.
@nrd1138 I thought there was a good chance the White Sox was wanting someone like Stassi. His Framing and defense are both good, and it’s been reported that they are looking for a better crop of defenders. Also the White Sox catching crew produced the worst WAR out of every team in the majors last year at -0.8 fWAR, so they were in the need for catching. Plus I though the Braves might be able to include him in a Cease trade, which may be a thing yet since they haven’t officially taken any player yet in their player to be named deal, thus Stassi might just be a precursor to getting Cease should the Braves get all the pieces they need to trade to the Sox yet.
You spend far too much time thinking about the White Sox. They can be completely ignored for a least a year.
Just 2024.
Is it possible that JR has challenged Getz to see how many roster spots he can fill with the money saved by letting TA walk? DeJong, Lopez and Stassi might all be starters in 2024 and Getz still has leftover money for other holes. What would really be sad is if Getz’s bonus is tied into how many roster spots he can fill with that $14M and not having an improved win-loss record in ’24.
As said before good luck finding someone to take on that contract. Braves fans were all saying they could. Instead they found someone to take little bit of it.
“Braves fans were all saying……” Nope—not all of us. The few you read who thought that don’t speak for “all” Braves fans.
Is .226/.316/.394 respectable??? Even for a catcher?
Depends on the defense ability?
Always lookin’ for junk laying around… Why don’t you do somethin’ more productive for once?!
It is for a catcher, he is a decent defender with pop. Best comp would be Chris ianetta.
Max Stassi.Sounds like they traded for a bottle of cologne.
Yes! Eau De TOILET. lol
Sounds like Grandal 2.0. I’d rather Sox just stay with Lee & Perez
Cot’s Contracts says that the Braves are sending $5M with Stassi. They are now $300k above the second threshold. They have deals with the Pirates and White Sox for PTBNL or cash.
The Braves have sent out $10M and Cole Phillips. and got Kelenic, Fletcher and two PTBNL (and/or cash).
Cham-pi-on-ship!!
Why does this post about a team acquisition of a player turns into circle jerk about Kelenic who has done really nothing of value in MLB. Have anyone heard about the social media site call X (formerly Twitter) Who cares about Kelenic. Wait until he’s actually viable to talk about
We care about Kelenic because apparently he is the Braves new left fielder. The Braves are gambling that he’s going to improve, and we hope the gamble pays off.
But if you don’t want to talk about him, no one’s forcing you to post.
Man, the Braves are getting all their spring cleaning done early. Wheeling and dealing. Look at the roster, they basically don’t NEED to do a thing between now and March
So the Braves are sitting at $263 million without adding a starting pitcher? Hmmm seems like they will be rolling with their current players and minor league depth pieces until the trade deadline if they even make a trade to upgrade roster. Can’t imagine they will add much more to the payroll.
Yeah, it seems odd they traded him immediately rather than holding on and seeing if they could trade some of that money. I guess Fletcher is next to go.
Fletcher was the whole reason they obtained Stassi — to get a UT player under control.
Wish we could get a multi player deal but if that’s how it is played…..
I don’t understand, braves fans said they could trade him and not eat this deal. That a good backup catcher is worth 7m…guess not
Don’t accept that Simm!! Hold them to their word! Hold them ACCOUNTABLE!
They definitely ate the money owed to get rid of him. I didn’t figure they would pay that much down to get him to another team. Guess we know why the Angels didn’t straight up trade him now. Seems weird the Braves would pay down that much and add to payroll on players not on the roster. I know that several players with some high numbers will come off the payroll next year, but it is disheartening that they didn’t even attempt to address starting pitching thus far.
I am okay with them taking on the contracts if they were going to use some of the players and not pay down for other teams to take the players pike Gonzales and Stassi. I like the Kelenic and Fletcher additions as potential change of scenery additions, but they took on a lot of money for players not on the roster for this year too. It makes me worried they will not add anything again even at the trade deadline. I hope I am wrong.
The Braves are a stacked team, but they are not a better team than the one that went cold in the playoffs this season. The NL will be hard to win at this rate and no additions being made.
Not getting a 1st round bye may help LAD and ATL come playoff time next year…Gotta stay loose, hot, and hungry…Dodgers had too many days off for sure…
It’s hard to see the Dodgers not running away with the NL west again. Ohtani even as a dh only is a very good addition to an already stacked lineup. The Dodgers young pitchers are more experienced this year and they have a lot of prospect depth in position and pitching terms. They get hate for having financial advantages but they also sign, develop and trade for talent like few other organizations. They are a well run group.
What if the other teams walk him every AB in the playoffs though?
Then probably whoever is hitting after him will have an rbi opportunity. Idk I’d hate to face the Dodgers lineup if they were on a hot streak in the series. The same way for the Braves and Phillies. All 3 have a very dangerous but streaky group of hitters in the 1-4 spots
Agree with all that. But I am a Dodger fan as well. And the last 2 post seasons the hitters have been as cold as ice. Hoping next year is different.
What was the reason to run this back if it was already announced and stated in the first line on December that it was official and already announced…
Because there was an update with additional info?
I feel bad for Max Stassi. He went from an outhouse to the penthouse to another outhouse in a short period of time. I imagine things went like this for him.
Agent: “Max, you’re headed to the Braves!”
Max: “Alright! I’ve got a shot at a championship this year!”
Later:
Agent: “Max, the Braves just traded you.”
Max: “Where?”
Agent: “Chicago.”
Max: “Oh, that’s not so bad. Cubs have a chance to make the playoffs this year.”
Agent: “Max, not the Cubs. The White Sox.”
Max: “What!?!?”
Agent: “Max, you still have a shot at the playoffs…if every team in that division loses 90 games. So there’s a chance.”
Max:
Agent: “Max? Max, are you there? Max?”
Too bad there isn’t a thumbs down option for this poor attempt at comedy.
Just say “Boooooo!”
I knew it was bad after I read it. lol
I think the call went more like this…
Agent:: Max you’ve been traded to the Braves
Max: Why? I’d be a third string catcher…
Agent: Got me…they traded 5 players for a Bummer and trade for you to pay you $7M and more luxury tax.
Max: Just show me the money!
Agent: Max the Braves just traded you to the CWS for a PTBNL and penny pinching Jerrry Reinsdorf..
Max: Just show me the money!
Agent: Yeah, the PTBNL is one of the 5 guys they traded because they only meant to trade 4.
All but league min. That’s rough. Surely we could have dumped more
Stassi for min wage. Sign me up as long as the ptbnl is just dumping your trash.