The Braves will open the season without their starting catcher. Sean Murphy will be down four to six weeks after breaking a rib when he was hit by a Will Kempner pitch last week. Murphy and Chadwick Tromp are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Atlanta will need to make some kind of move by Opening Day.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Braves are giving some thought to adding Yasmani Grandal or James McCann. They’re the top two unsigned veteran catchers. Neither player would land more than a couple million dollars on a one-year contract. The Braves would need to decide whether it’s worth rostering a veteran if Murphy only misses the first few weeks of the regular season. Tromp is out of options, so they’d probably wind up cutting a catcher once Murphy returns.
The Braves also have a high-upside alternative. Drake Baldwin is one of the top handful of catching prospects in the sport. The former third-round draftee hit .276/.370/.423 with 16 homers between Double-A and Triple-A a year ago. Baldwin spent more than half the season at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he appeared in 72 games. He’ll turn 24 just after Opening Day. Baldwin should play in the majors at some point this year. He could break camp as the starter, which would keep Tromp in the backup role.
Atlanta would need to add Baldwin to their 40-man roster, but they could open a spot by placing Joe Jiménez on the 60-day injured list at any time. An outside acquisition would need to go on the 40-man anyways, so that’s unlikely to be much of a deterrent. Baldwin could get his first look at major league pitching and head back to Gwinnett for regular playing time once Murphy gets healthy.
McCann or Grandal would be less exciting, if arguably steadier, alternatives. They’re both mid-30s veterans who have plenty of experience working with big league pitching staffs. McCann has spent the last two seasons as Adley Rutschman’s backup in Baltimore. He hit .228/.274/.382 during his stint with the Orioles. McCann grades as a below-average pitch framer but has a strong reputation for his work with pitchers. He threw out a slightly above-average 23.5% of base stealers and wasn’t charged with a passed ball in 559 2/3 innings last season.
The switch-hitting Grandal appeared in 72 games for the Pirates. He hit .228/.304/.400 across 243 trips to the plate. That was his best offensive showing since a 23-homer campaign with the White Sox in 2021. Grandal continues to post excellent pitch framing grades, as he has throughout his career. He was charged with five passed balls across 560 1/3 frames, though, and he only managed to nab six of 72 opposing basestealers (an 8.3% rate). Grandal had the slowest pop time — average time to throw to second on steal attempts — among 83 qualified catchers, per Statcast.
Madison Wisconsin’s Drake Baldwin, that is. Good hockey player too.
The Braves should prioritize information acquisition over performance stabilization. This is not about sentimentality for a prospect. It’s about maximizing the long-term value of a short-term crisis. The Braves should view this as a unique opportunity to “stress test” Baldwin in a high-pressure environment with minimal long-term risk.
@Jagsmanohman
Okay… boomer!
@Jagsmanohman
I was talking directly.
i wish i could write four sentences and have it classified as a dissertation
Yeah, stupidity is a prized asset here at MLBTR. Gotta know your audience.
Most who watch Baldwin believe he is ready. It is also true the Braves would appreciate real time at bats for Baldwin for 2 weeks to see how ready he is. At the same time, a two week sample is enough to eliminate a year of control? Of course if Baldwin is what he appears to be then Baldwin would be extended on the next year or so. AA really wants catching depth. If they could lose Leon or Caseli with clauses on their contracts that will also be in play. We don’t know what kind of clauses either catcher may have and that may be more in play than Baldwin’s ability or years of control. We all will know soon enough.
Unless he has a terrible spring training, it makes the most sense to add Baldwin to the 40 man roster and open the season with him and Tromp. Not sure how much Tromp is making but if they sign a veteran, they are basically throwing away that salary (or Tromp’s salary) once Murphy is healthy as they won’t carry 3 catchers.
Also, Baldwin is going to be called up anyways this year and Tromp will most likely be DFA’d once that happens so add Baldwin now which will give them time to evaluate him. If he plays well, they can DFA Tromp once Murphy returns. If he struggles, they can keep Trump and send Baldwin down to AAA once Murphy is back. The only downside with this is that it eats up that 40 man roster spot they have been holding onto from Jimenez, but it’s better than paying a full year salary to an outside catcher who will be cut within 4-6 weeks of signing.,
Well, if you read it, you would know it’s one of the few coherent thoughtful posts you will see in the mlbtr comments.
Sign Alex Jackson!! Can be found in the bargain bin on the closeout shelf next to the blue light special.
Would d’Arnaud look good about now? I can’t believe you didn’t mention it in the article.
No point in mentioning d’Arnaud. He was a free agent and no longer under contractual control. It was his decision to leave, not the Braves’ decision to trade him or let him go.
He was a free agent because the Braves declined his option which surprised quite a few people.
Doesn’t matter why he was a free agent, the fact is that he was.
FWIW, it must have been that at 36, the Braves didn’t believe he was worth the salary called for with the option.
@Blue Baron
It actually does matter because if they picked up his option he would not have been a free agent.
As for Baldwin, I’m not concerned about if he is ready or not. I’m concerned about starting his clock for a 2-3 week stint and then what? Will they send him back down, or are they going to have him platoon with Murphy when he gets back? I want to see Baldwin play and continue to develop. He needs to be playing more often then not. A platoon with Murphy could stunt his development since he wouldn’t be playing 5-6 days a week.
It was completely the Braves decision to let Travis go, and it was a poor one. They had an option on him that at one point they seemed inclined to pick up, which suggests it likely wasn’t the age or the money.
Atlanta made the choice to let go of Travis because Alex didn’t want Snit platooning him with Murphy, taking away the option. Again, poor move. Travis was solid and a leader. Now they’re going to be replacing him with a lesser player, if they’re not willing to try Baldwin.
Overall, Alex is a really good GM. For whatever reason, he has a blindspot when trying to fill the Catcher position, though. Nearly every move he’s made there has been a misstep.
You wrote all that and the answer to why they didn’t pick up his option is in the article. Drake Baldwin. Zero doubt in my mind the decision was made because AA knew their top prospect is a catcher who is ready. I realize an injury has happened now and your hindsight is 20/20. But you don’t go into a season knowing you need to give your best prospect significant playing time this year to see what you have but have him completely blocked barring significant injury. And you definitely don’t spend an additional 8 million to block him.
braves25: And if pigs had wings, they might be able to fly.
The bottom line is that he was a free agent, which is all that really matters.
Outlaw: Actually, it was a smart decision from a business standpoint.
His contract with the Angels for the AAV of $6 million is concrete evidence that the market didn’t value him at the $8 million level.
It’s certainly possible that he offered the Braves the chance to match the Angels’ offer.
d’Arnaud was more than willing to leave once the Braves declined his option. He and his brother opened a baseball academy in Southern Cal during the off season. Braves did him a solid by not picking up his option.
I don’t disagree that Baldwin is ready to be given a shot. If Atlanta is contemplating adding a Catcher though, they may have reservations. If they weren’t sure, they should have kept Travis.
Um, the Braves declined his club option.
This makes no sense to me. The Braves already have Sandy Leon and Curt Casali in camp if they need a veteran catcher. Baldwin seems to be ready, so why not give him a shot? If he’s not ready, then why not bring Leon or Casali up for a couple weeks.
I wonder if maybe the Braves think Murphy’s injury will linger?….
Casali and Tromp are not hitting in ST.
Leon and Baldwin are!!
Grandal is a terrible defensive catcher. A better move would be to trade for Jason Delay. He still has an option left to sent down as well. The Pirates have 3 catchers ahead of him. He is younger with better defense and a sneaky good hitter.
I still to this day do not understand the Contreras trade. Still a baffling decision.
What’s not to get? They traded from a place of depth to get a more mature, proven C and signed him to an extension. If Murph is on the IL (as expected) to start the season, he’ll have been on the IL twice in his now 7th season.
I’m not saying that the deal doesn’t look awful rn, but AA made the right move in the moment. Still early on in the deal, and Contreras can have the same injury luck that Murph has had.
Just zip it
He absolutely did not at the time, which is why I was baffled by the trade. The Braves were coming off a catching tandem that provided 5+ WAR and Contreras hit 20 HRs in split time with D’Arnaud. Then to pull off a multi team trade to get and immediately extend Murphy replacing that productive tandem with less WAR per game played? It made no sense then and makes no sense now.
The Braves had pitchers who openly complained about throwing to Contreras. That’s why he was traded. He didn’t become an even serviceable defensive catcher until he got to Milwaukee who happens to be excellent at producing great catchers. It’s as simple as that. Murphy was coming of phenomenal years in Oakland (which nobody ever seems to mention), and absolutely raked in the first half of his 1st season with the Braves. He had 5.2 fWAR his last season in Oakland and 4.9 fWAR his 1st season in Atlanta. And if you look at his underlying analytics, he hit the ball just as hard as he always has last year, but was one of the most unlucky players in baseball due to a spiked ground ball rate (probably from never really feeling comfortable after his early season oblique, which he’s admitted). He’s a prime bounce back candidate if I ever saw one.
You’re missing a massive part of the deal in that to swing it ATL had to give up Fuller, a top 50-75 prospect at the time. The Braves already had a solid catching core and ended up trading a top prospect to end up paying more $ for a possible slight upgrade at catcher when they had bigger needs elsewhere. For example they were getting 0 to negative value out of their third OF spot in 2022 and stuck with Rosario into 2023 who didn’t bounce back that much. How much they gave up to get a slight upgrade at C was why it was a baffling deal at the time and still is to many people.
They had a catcher that their pitchers actively complained about throwing to. That’s a huge problem. Good for Contreras that he’s worked to fix some of those issues in Milwaukee, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a reason he was traded or that you’re undervaluing Murphy by quite a bit. Fuller was and is completely inconsequential.
Kyle Muller
That’s what I meant. Stupid Autocorrect. Muller was never a top-50 prospect was he? I don’t remember that.
He was ranked by a few in the 50-75 range. Hard to find links that aren’t paywalled. Baseball Prospectus had him at 56 in 2022. baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/72047/202…
Maybe they can trade Murphy for William Contreras
Maybe they can trade Sean Murphy for Willson Contreras.
Just see how Baldwin does for a couple weeks. If he is struggling, put Sandy Leon in there. No need for Grandal.
James McCann makes a ton of sense here and honestly the Braves should probably sign him before the Yankees realize they need another Catcher
The Braves hesitation with promoting Baldwin is twofold. He’s not ready defensively. As fans we see the batting numbers but not the defense, particularly how he works with the pitchers in calling a game. And they need to make sure he doesn’t earn a full year of service time in ‘25 so they can control him through the ‘31 season. I also think McCann makes sense.
Didn’t Sale and at least 1 other Braves starter literally just come out and rave about throwing to Baldwin? And AA has never cared about manipulating service time and if he succeeds would probably just sign him to an extension.
You’re right Fowler. Ian Anderson also praised Baldwin’s defensive ability and locker room demeanor. So did AJSS.
ATL is gonna be terrible this season imo. 4th place.
Lots of polls think they are going finish high but I agree with you. I dont see them doing very well and could say the same thing about Minnesota,too.
Why? I’m genuinely asking.
Right because they are only projected to have the 2nd most wins in NL this yr
@Lou, stop getting your opinions from Lou Sassoll, his opinions notoriously stink, seek out Mick Foresight, or Marmaduke Murgatroyd for a better crystal ball prediction.
Tigers have lots of minor league catchers. Venterns with good defense skills but not much offense. Good probably trade cheap for cash.
I think Grandal would make some sense even if Murphy were healthy right now. Tromp isn’t really a great backup option, and having a better platoon option behind Murphy would be beneficial.
I have to say, Murphy could have perhaps done a bit better to get out of the way, but there you have it. Kempner didn’t even appear to apologise.
mlb.com/video/sean-murphy-out-4-6-weeks-after-hit-…
I think some players are not good at getting out of the way or avoiding being hit by pitches, and some are better than others in doing so.
I’d rather roll with Baldwin and add to the back end of the rotation or add bullpen depth. Robertson is still available no? Certainly he’d be a perfect addition to the bullpen
Baseball executives could make a lot money and have a long career just by asking fans what they think and doing the complete opposite.
Might as well go with Baldwin. If he does good then that’s an absolutely amazing plus. Plus you can loose a title in April and May. If Baldwin struggles you send him down when Murphy is back that way he doesn’t gain a year of service time and if he does succeed you still can send him down again around the All Star break to gain that extra year of service time. The manipulation doesn’t have to be at the beginning of the year.
Don’t forget McCann can hit with his nose. Not the normal skill set.
McCann is a stud for that bloody nose double header stand. He gives you all you need in defense and general meme worthy clubhouse presence. go get’em Braves.
Christian Vazquez is available… Please…
If Tromp is the catcher, some unofficial coach named Mosk will be calling the pitches.
A team that possibly has someone named Chadwick Tromp as their starting catcher shouldn’t think about printing up World Series tickets.
TBH, I’m surprised that McCann hasn’t been signed to a minor league contract already.
No relation to that actor that murdered someone with differing political views on set or that pedo singer.
Couldn’t waste any money on a catcher. They have enough options to get through Murphy’s injury
The numbers don’t pop but McCann is the perfect backup. Good teammate, tough as nails, and can hit a little
Call the Athletics and see if the Braves can re-acquire Shea Langaliers!
This isn’t about anything but mining options for added depth.