It wasn’t surprising that longtime clubhouse favorite Charlie Culberson rejoined the Braves on a minor league deal last month, though eyebrows were raised at the news that Culberson was attempting to become a pitcher after 11 MLB seasons as a utilityman. In an interview with Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Culberson said he began to pursue a pitching in earnest last August when he was playing with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, and he wasn’t entirely alien to the process given his 7 1/3 career innings of mop-up work at the big league level. “I loved pitching growing up, loved pitching through high school and here I am now getting a chance to try it on now toward — I’m not going to say ‘toward the end of my career’ but at this point in my career, I’m getting to try pitching,” Culberson said.
Culberson turns 35 in April, and Atlanta’s stacked lineup meant that he appeared in just one Major League game in 2023, despite several months on the active roster. It remains to be seen if pitching will provide Culberson with any clearer path to playing time, yet his fastball clocks in at 94mph, and his repertoire also consists of a split changeup and a cutter. He has also spent the last six months working with coaches and pitching instructors, and embracing the inherent difficulties of learning a new craft so deep into his career.
“For me, this has been a challenge making a position change, but I’m still playing baseball. I know how tough that is transitioning, and I’m sure it would be probably tougher transitioning out of baseball,” Culberson said. “Everything is just not gonna come easy for a lot of us in life, and at some point, you have to be ready and able to do something different, do something that’s not comfortable. Get out of your comfort zone.”
More from around the NL East…
- The Mets had some limited interest in Eduardo Rodriguez and old friend Seth Lugo this past offseason, The Athletic’s Will Sammon writes, though “neither exchange got serious.” Apart from a serious push to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Mets generally stayed away from pursuing any longer-term contract candidates, as such explorations into players like Rodriguez and Lugo were more akin to routine due diligence. Sammon notes that the same looks to be true of the Mets’ recent talks with J.D. Martinez, even if a probable one-year deal with Martinez would be less expensive than that it would’ve cost to land Rodriguez or Lugo. E-Rod ended up signing with the Diamondbacks for four years and $80MM, while Lugo (who pitched for New York from 2016-22) inked a three-year, $45MM contract with the Royals.
- Victor Victor Mesa was so highly touted as an international prospect that he received a $5.25MM bonus from the Marlins in 2018. Despite all the hype, however, Mesa has hit only .233/.289/.289 over 1211 career plate appearances in the minors, and The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson writes that his time in the Marlins organization now looks to be over. While there hasn’t been an official parting of the ways, the 27-year-old Mesa isn’t expected to attend Spring Training camp, and was temporarily placed on the restricted list last July after leaving the Triple-A team prior to the start of a series in Gwinnett. Victor Mesa Jr. was also signed to a $1MM bonus at the same time as his older brother, and the younger Mesa has developed into an intriguing prospect, ranked by Baseball America as the sixth-best player in Miami’s farm system.
At the rate it’s going the Scott Boras players(JD Martinez, Snell, Chappy & Belli)will be waiting until after the draft to sign. I think at least a couple of these guys will sign on 1 year “pillow” contracts and as soon as JD drops his price on a 1 yr deal, he’ll be a NY Met.
Most likely at least two of those four will be signed within three weeks.
The players make the final decision not their agent. They can wait two to three weeks and be ready for the full season.
It may seem like a long time to you, but it is not.
You can say the players make the decision, but the agent has more say than you give credit for. It’s not a coincidence that the players who make the decision to wait until right before spring training to sign tend to be Scott Boras clients. Not just this year, but every year. If you have another explanation, I’d love to hear it.
“You can say the players make the decision”..The agent is the legal & negotiating expert and the player in most cases is a novice, rube who has been given a pass(in education & most everything else)most of his life because of his athletic talent. What I can see, is Scott Boras leading most players around by the nose and making all the key decisions. In most legal environments the client(player) has limited knowledge of the matter at hand and relies on the lawyer(agent) for his expertise. Scott Boras is a lawyer and operates much like any other lawyer.
On the average, Boras clients do well.
If there is a guy I would worry about getting shafted it is Chapman, because Boras will try to sell Belli first and then Chapman.
I only see four fits for Chapman Giants, Cubs, Angels and maybe Blue Jays.
Would be amazing if Giants and Boras announced a simultaneous signing of Snell, Belli and Chapman.
Funny thing is I am not sure that would take Giants out of fourth place. And I say that as someone mindful of the Giants having had more success this generation than almost all.
The new “pillow” contract is now two years, with an opt out after one.
A LOT of the remaining players are flawed and have serious questions attached to their underlying numbers; I think they’re going to have to swallow their pride and take less than they hoped.
“The new pillow”…Yep.
I still have both Chapman and Bellinger going to the Cubs!
Bellinger just makes sense and Chapman will end up being a value too good for Hoyer to pass up.
Bellinger to the Cubs. Chapman to SF. Snell to Angels. JD Martinez to the Mets. Montgomery to Texas, possibly SF in a stunner). Soler to the Blue Jays. And I think Cincinnati is gunna get Cease.
They gotta sign somewhere. I think this strategy by Boras is rather stupid. At the end of the day the player needs the team more than the team needs the player.
This strategy is neither stupid nor smart. The market is certainly still there for guys like Snell and Monty.
Same for Belli.
Guys like Chapman, JD and Jorge Soler and competing for spots. Twenty teams would take that as backups but only so many will pay good money.
For a guy like JD, there is no qualifying offer- and he is a DH.
I think Boras has a track record with lots of success and a few failures. Which players are willing to take that risk past Match 2nd or 3rd? We’ll but we have three weeks to wait.
Who could Snell possibly sign with at this point? You are talking maybe 5 teams. I think it’s 50 50 he signs with the Angels I really don’t see another good fit for him.
Back in November the market was wide open. Now it’s not. And that’s a mistake on the agents part.
Angels are most likely I agree.
San Francisco Giants are second most likely.
I do not rule out any big market team yet. Rangers, Phillies, Yankees, Astros, Blue Jays, Cubs, Braves (followed by trading Fried), even Dodgers, look for a deal with a lot of opt-outs.
Yeah Angels maybe Giants then who knows. Most of those other teams you mentioned would be more interested if they hadn’t already made big moves. Cubs don’t need a lefty I think they make sense for a Cease or Bieber trade. Mariners do need a lefty and he’s from the area but they are poor.
The strategy does have its flaws. Many teams have already spent their budgets, at least to the point of not being able to add a large salary. That limits the competition for the player by reducing the number of teams who can bid. It gives the player fewer options. Its no longer where they want to play. Its now choosing from the few offers, if there is more than one. It gives more leverage to the teams, which leads to lower offers and fewer years. Please list the market for these guys as it stands, and be reasonable. They have to have the money, and still have a need.
Pretty much. I can still remember Harper pretending he wanted to play in Philly during his introductory press conference. That has worked out but only because the Phillies have spent like fools since signing him. He left what at the time was a clearly better team.
Angels have the need, but have spent most of the Ohtani savings, and don’t go more than 3 years on pitching. Giants have both need and money. Rangers have first half need, but have spent up to last year. I don’t see a big move on their part. Phillies aren’t spending Unless the price comes down. Its not a need. Yankees don’t think its a need, and spent big on Soto. I’m not expecting the Astros to surprise twice. Blue Jays have enough pitching. Cubs have pitching. Braves have spent their budget and its not a need. I will never say never on the Dodgers this off season. So Giants is your market, realistically. Pillow contracts change everything, but are proof the strategy of waiting did not work.
Seattle could be in the Chapman, Snell, and Belli market if they choose to…it’s just a matter of busting open John Stanton’s piggy bank which he keeps clenched tightly between his nether cheeks.
Yeah the Mariners make sense except they are poor. Or at least claim to be poor.
Not a chance Braves are signing Snell and trading Fried.
Braves aren’t trading Fried. Likely won’t resign him either.
AA is the best GM in MLB because he thinks ahead of guys like me and possibly you.
Did you think there was a chance they would pass on Freeman and sign almost as a big a contract for Olsen?
I put the odds at maybe 1%. The only reason that I see it that low is because AA would not give Snell the opt-outs. But if you expect AA to do something or not do something, don’t be surprised when the outcome is different. Atlanta locks up young stars for lower salaries. That will not happen with Fried. If they were LA or NY – any of those four teams – they could just play Fried this year and let him go.
Hat – see rabbit.
He didn’t trade Freeman and they won the series that year. Do you honestly think that with a team with the best odds of winning it this year AA is going to mess with that and trade Fried and sign a Boras client to some huge long term contract. AA has never done anything like that.Fried may leave next off season, just like Freeman and Swanson and AA will simply pivot to someone else.But that’s after this team takes it’s shot.
Spending like fools has brought them back to back NLCS appearances, who’s your favorite team?
And the Tigers are not even in the conversation because they are so economically conscious and fiscally conservative.
Victor Victor ten niner. What’s your Mesa?
Victor Victor Mesa
Mr. Victor Victor Mesa
China Clipper calling Alameda
Zilch
you tried I guess
Victor Victor sounds like a Loser Loser with those stats.
He has 5.25M reasons not to care if someone thinks he’s a loser.
@mlbfan
The issue is that these guys have qualifying offers attached to them, unless they wait. So what team would give up a draft pick, or in some instances, international $$, for a 1 year pillow contract? Makes it complicated.
“Qualifying offers attached to them”..That’s why I think they’ll wait until after the draft when the Qualifying offer, draft pick compensation goes away. Scott Boras has gone down this road many times before. His top tier guys get paid extremely well and many other, lesser players are left out on an island, swinging in the wind.
MLB fan
Unfortunately, it’s been an extremely boring off-season.
“Boring off-season”..I would agree and I think the RSN mess has a lot to do with it. When teams are unsure of future revenues it will impact today’s signings. Thank God we’re only, what 4-5 weeks away from regular season baseball.
Waiting until the draft is epic dumb. That’s 10 or even 15 million in lost wages foe the player poof gone. Draft pick is worth maybe 10 million and probably not that much.
Ok, so the draft in during the all-star break in July, aftertaste eh halfway point. Say, the player signs a $14MM contract of which, retroactively only $6MM is left. Why not sign now for $10MM?
Which of his players got what they were looking for by waiting until after the draft to sign?
A pick has an average value around $7m.
It doesn’t complicate anything—it just gets calculated into the price.
Insane that JD still isn’t signed. Should have at a minimum 3 years $80 million by now.
“Insane that JD still”…JD should JUMP at a 1 yr $13M contract, if offered(That’s what Justin Turner got). I think you may be right, that he may be seeking multi yrs and that’s why he’s unsigned. In the year of the RSN crash, it’s foolish for an older player to seek a highly paid multi year deal, because that’s not happening.
Aging like fine wine.
Good thing you aren’t a GM lol
Right, because then my team would win the World Series basically every year and other teams would all throw around the “cheating” accusation.
At least until you went bankrupt.
You are high on goofballs
You are high on goofballs.
He isn’t worth more than a one year sub QO value offer
Adjusted WAR of around 7 last year when adjusted for stadium, age, bilingual, etc.
Lol. Brandon Belt owned him. He’s rickety can’t stay on the “DH batting circle.”
In reality he was worth less than 2 WAR, doesn’t draw walks anymore, SO are way up, XBH in decline, still has a nice smile.
He’s a pure HR signing who won’t get on base and move players along which is the new way of the game. In the team with the most players on base in front of him in the game, his RBI total was completely overstated.
He’s a 15m/1 guy which is a significant overpay, particularly for teams who are taxed dollar for dollar.
Can you say ‘Adam Duvall?’
J.D. Martinez had 2.2 fWAR and 1.9 bWAR last year. No idea where you’re getting 7.
Also, WAR has no adjustment for age or being bilingual.
It’s pretty wild to think some of these guys are likely battling over $150m to $175m.. Don’t get me wrong, money is money, and you want to set your family up for generations.. BUT that’s probably the equivalent of the average Joe battling over $59,900 and $60,000.
Maybe not just money but opt-outs.
Suppose Snell would take 7 years $210 million and has offers of 6 years $150 million
Perhaps now he will counter with 6 years $170 million and opt-outs after 2 or 4 years
And then maybe a team with counter with different dollars, opt-outs, etc. Give it three weeks more
So when you are wealthy, you shouldn’t seek to maximize your value and simply allow the billionaires who pay you to get a discount?
That is the equivalent comment to your claim. “When you’re a billionaire, slowly shouldn’t your workers respect that and devalue themselves?”
What appalls me is that every team should have a plan.
No billionaire would allow his real business to be run so haphazardly. The plan should already be in place. And none of the BS about “windows of opportunity”, “tanking” or “advanced metric projections”.
Put a team out there with the intention of winning.
Give the fans what they pay for.
Never trust someone with two first names.
Words to live by!
Don’t the Padres have a prospect named Henry Henry?
“-Never trust someone with two first names.”
I amend that to “never trust anyone with THE SAME two first names.”
It’s got to be pretty frustrating on the part of some of these veterans. On the one hand you’ve got prospects who have never been in a big league game getting handed long term extensions, and on the other you’ve got younger stars getting contracts that run until they’re 41 years old. Some of these guys are healthy with proven records and they aren’t getting near the same kind of attention.
Top to bottom best division in the NL. Second only to the AL East in MLB
I think as soon as one signs the rest sign really quickly. The top 3-4 are holding the rest of bench players up.
I think soler goes to the giants
Victor Victor has done very little in turn of developing as a hitter and his minor league numbers resemble the 26th man on a bad major league team (or a starting Outfielder in Oakland).
Mesa Jr. Though showed some power last season hitting 18 Home Runs at AA
Well, Mesa sure has disappointed disappointed.
Would be a great story if Culberson pulls it off. Odds are definitely against him. You hear a lot of folks around Braves organization last few years say he’s about as solid of a guy you’ll come across. Easy to cheer for.
It’s amazing to be on an active roster for a couple of months and only get into one game
Victor Victor Mesa sounds like a name Key & Peele would come up with in one of their skits.