Arbitration Eligibles: Atlanta Braves
The Braves are next in our 2013 Arbitration Eligibles series. Matt Swartz's salary projections are below.
- First time: Tommy Hanson ($4MM), Jason Heyward ($3.5MM), Kris Medlen ($2MM), Jonny Venters ($1.4MM), Cristhian Martinez ($700K)
- Second time: Paul Janish ($900K)
- Third time: Martin Prado ($7.7MM), Jair Jurrjens ($5.5MM), Eric O'Flaherty ($3.8MM), Peter Moylan ($800K)
Let's begin with the Braves' three arbitration eligible starting pitchers. Jurrjens, 27 in January, spent the 2011-12 offseason immersed in trade rumors and was demoted to Triple-A four starts into this season. He rejoined the club in June, and after six more starts was moved to a relief role. A DL stint for a groin strain capped off the lost season and his Braves career. Most expect Jurrjens to be non-tendered at the end of the month. It's worth noting that if there is a team that valued Ervin Santana at $12MM, there might be one that values Jurrjens at less than half that salary.
Jurrjens' move to the bullpen was tied to Medlen's promotion to the rotation. The 27-year-old was ridiculously good in 12 starts, posting a 0.97 ERA, 9.0 K/9, 1.1 BB/9, and 0.54 HR/9. He'd undergone Tommy John surgery in August 2010, and initially returned to the Majors in a relief role. Medlen was so good as a starter that the Braves lined him up to start their play-in game against the Cardinals. If the Braves are sold, they could consider locking Medlen up to a Johnny Cueto-type contract, four years and $27-30MM plus a club option.
Hanson, 26, pitched better than his 4.48 ERA but allowed a lot of hits and home runs in a disappointing campaign. The team's Opening Day starter, he missed some time with a back strain this season and his average fastball velocity fell below 90 miles per hour for the first season in his career. He still managed a healthy strikeout rate at 8.3 per nine innings. The Braves were unable to dump Jurrjens before his value tanked; now they must assess Hanson's value for the next three seasons and determine a course of action. In the short-term, he'll obviously be tendered a contract.
Prado had a strong year primarily as the team's left fielder, providing value on both offense and defense. It seems likely the 29-year-old will move to third base for 2013, with Chipper Jones retiring. Prado is entering his walk year, and the Braves could try to lock him up in the range of Howie Kendrick's four-year, $33.5MM contract.
Heyward is arbitration eligible for the first time, fresh off the best season of his young career. Nick Markakis' six-year, $66.1MM extension would be a solid target, though that deal was done nearly four years ago so the Braves may have to do better. Janish began the season at Triple-A in the Reds' organization, missed a month with a broken wrist, and was dealt to Atlanta in mid-July. His season ended in September with a dislocated shoulder, and he's a non-tender candidate.
In the bullpen, O'Flaherty, Venters, and Martinez are in good standing. O'Flaherty, 28 in February, is entering a contract year. The Braves could look to tack on a free agent year. Moylan had shoulder surgery in September 2011 and signed a minor league deal to return to the Braves in January. He wouldn't cost a lot through arbitration, but is a candidate to be non-tendered if the Braves would prefer to have the roster spot open for now.
If only Prado, Hanson, O'Flaherty, Heyward, Medlen, Venters, and Martinez are tendered contracts, the Braves are looking at an estimated $23.1MM for seven players.
Matt Swartz's arbitration projections are available exclusively at MLB Trade Rumors. To read more about his projection model, check out this series of posts.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Astros, Morgan, Veras, Braves
The latest outright assignments…
- The Astros announced that Fernando Abad, Sergio Escalona, Edgar Gonzalez, Jose Valdez, Kyle Weiland and the recently-DFA'ed Matt Downs have been outrighted to Triple-A. All will become free agents except Weiland, who has been placed on the Triple-A roster.
- The Brewers have outrighted Nyjer Morgan to Triple-A, the team announced. Morgan was a key part of the Brewers' NL Central-winning team in 2011 but struggled last season, hitting .239/.302/.308 and getting less playing time in the Milwaukee outfield. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes recently projected Morgan as a non-tender candidate.
- The Brewers also confirmed that Jose Veras has elected to become a free agent after being outrighted off the 40-man roster yesterday.
- The Braves outrighted right-hander Erik Cordier to Triple-A, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports (Twitter link). The 26-year-old pitched at three levels this past season, posting a 5.85 ERA with 7.5 K/9 in 32 1/3 total innings. He walked 32 of the 155 batters he faced, however. The Braves announced that they also outrighted catcher J.C. Boscan and left-hander Robert Fish off of the 40-man roster. Boscan elected free agency, according to the team.
Braves Claim Jordan Schafer
The Braves announced that they claimed outfielder Jordan Schafer off of waivers from the Astros. Schafer played in the Braves' organization from 2005-11 before going to Houston in last summer's Michael Bourn trade.
Schafer appeared in 106 games for the Astros this past season, posting a .211/.297/.294 batting line with 27 stolen bases as the team's primary center fielder. The 26-year-old spent most of August on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. Now that Bourn's a free agent Schafer provides the Braves with some insurance in center field. Atlanta originally selected him in the third round of the 2005 draft.
Quick Hits: Yankees, Mets, Indians, Ross
With just one day to go before option decisions are due and only a few days remaining before free agents can sign with any team, here are the latest links from around MLB…
- The Yankees should consider pursuing players such as Carlos Beltran and Jeff Keppinger in the coming offseason, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes.
- Meanwhile, the Mets should check in on A.J. Pierzynski, Marco Scutaro and Randy Choate in the view of the Post’s Ken Davidoff.
- Brian Cashman of the Yankees and Chris Antonetti of the Indians have some of the toughest offseason assignments in baseball, former GM Jim Bowden writes at ESPN.com.
- It's not a foregone conclusion that David Ross will return to the Braves, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes (on Twitter). The Braves would like to re-sign the catcher, but he'll draw interest following a strong season. He's a possible fit for the Tigers in my view.
Braves Exercise Three 2013 Options
2:03pm: The Braves announced they've exercised the options for McCann, Hudson and Maholm.
10:46am: The Braves are expected to announce today that they've exercised the 2013 contract options for Brian McCann, Tim Hudson and Paul Maholm, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). The Braves have until tomorrow to decide whether the players will return to Atlanta for another year or become free agents.
McCann recently underwent shoulder surgery that was more extensive than expected, so there was some question as to whether GM Frank Wren would exercise the $12MM option. The 28-year-old hit 20 home runs and posted a .230/.300/.399 batting line in 2012, the worst offensive season of his career.
Hudson will earn $9MM in 2013 instead of a $1MM buyout. He posted a 3.62 ERA with 5.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 179 innings with the Braves in 2012. Joining him in the rotation will be Maholm, who posted a 3.67 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 189 innings this past season. The 30-year-old left-hander will earn $6.5MM.
Braves Would Like To Re-Sign Ross
The Braves have contacted David Ross' agents at Sports One Athlete Management and made it known that they'd like to re-sign him, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. O'Brien adds that Ross has made it known he'd like to return to Atlanta.
With Brian McCann now a possibility to miss the beginning of the 2013 season, re-signing Ross likely becomes more of a priority for general manager Frank Wren. Ross, who will turn 36 during Spring Training next season, hit .256/.321/.449 with nine homers in 196 plate appearances for the Braves in 2012.
Ross initially signed a two-year, $3MM contract with the Braves prior to the 2009 season. He elected to sign a two-year extension worth $3.25MM prior to the 2011 season rather than testing free agency. The veteran will likely require a larger annual commitment given his strong play over his tenure in Atlanta. He'll represent one of the more desireable options on the free agent market for catchers.
Olney On Braves, Cano, Otani
The latest from ESPN.com’s Buster Olney…
- Brian McCann’s $12MM option for 2013 no longer seems as appealing as it once did, Olney writes. The Braves are working to address many offseason needs with a modest payroll and McCann's recent shoulder surgery was more extensive than expected. Olney points out that the Braves could attempt to negotiate a deal at a lower salary or exercise the option and trade McCann to a team such as the Rangers or Yankees. Of course the Braves could simply bring the catcher back for another season in the hopes that his shoulder recovers.
- Next year’s free agent class might be light on impact talent other than Robinson Cano, Olney writes. In general it probably doesn’t make sense to expect stacked free agent classes at a time that teams are locking up players to extensions that cover their prime years.
- Japanese pitching prospect Shohei Otani intends to pursue a career in MLB, and a number of teams are interested in the hard-throwing right-hander. The Red Sox and Rangers “have done the most work in this arena,” according to Olney.
Quick Hits: Yankees, Orioles, Scutaro, McCann
The Yankees are not talking about a potential Alex Rodriguez trade with the Marlins, according to GM Brian Cashman. Cashman said Keith Olbermann’s report about trade talks is "not true," according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. It’d be an unusual time to discuss a trade, as the Yankees are still in the playoffs and the Marlins have uncertainty in their front office. On to today’s links…
- Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette said Jim Thome "did a nice job" in Baltimore and "added a real veteran presence,” Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Thome sounds undecided about his next step, but he could re-sign with Baltimore this coming offseason. Making room for him on the roster could require some creativity on the part of Duquette and manager Buck Showalter.
- Baseball executives Brian Sabean (Giants GM), Dan O'Dowd (Rockies GM) and J.P. Ricciardi (Mets special assistant) agree that Marco Scutaro is a talented played with toughness, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. The Giants infielder stayed in the game to deliver a key hit after being knocked down by Matt Holliday’s overly aggressive slide in the second game of the NLCS.
- Brian McCann could miss the beginning of the 2013 season to recover from shoulder surgery, so the $12MM club option on his contract presents the Braves with a quandary, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes. McCann doesn’t have much to worry about in Olney’s estimation. Either the Braves bring the 28-year-old back or he hits free agency and draws interest from many teams, especially AL clubs looking at him as a catcher/DH.
- It's too soon to know if the Braves will pick up the option, but MLB.com's Mark Bowman would guess that McCann will be back.
Brian McCann Could Miss Start Of 2013 Season
Braves catcher Brian McCann underwent shoulder surgery today and, due to a larger-than-expected tear of his labrum, will be out of action for 4-6 months according to a team press release (passed on MLB.com's Mark Bowman). McCann is expected to resume light baseball activities by mid-February and full activities by mid-April, so it seems likely that the six-time All-Star will miss at least the first couple of weeks of the 2013 season.
The Braves have until three days after the World Series to decide about exercising McCann's $12MM team option for 2013, or they could buy the catcher out for $500K. The option was thought to be a foregone conclusion despite McCann's career-worst .230/.300/.399 slash line in 487 plate appearances given McCann's track record, the Braves' lack of other catching options and the belief that the surgery would correct the issues that hampered McCann's performance.
I'd argue that Atlanta is still likely to pick up the option for these reasons, though McCann's chances of receiving a multiyear extension beyond 2013 are very questionable. The added uncertainty about McCann's health may also cause the team to look for a stable backup option this winter. There is mutual interest between the Braves and long-time backup David Ross, reports David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but the team doesn't see Ross as a viable everyday solution should McCann be forced to miss an extended period of time. Ross, a free agent, has a .816 OPS in 663 plate appearances for the Braves over the last four seasons.
Hudson Wants To Finish Career With Braves
Following the conclusion of this year's World Series, the Braves will have three days to decide on whether or not to exercise a $9MM option on Tim Hudson or pay a $1MM buyout. It seems practically inevitable that they'll pick up the option, but David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Hudson is hoping for more than just one final year as a Brave:
"I’d love to stay here,” said Hudson … who’s been with the Braves for eight seasons. “Obviously for next year, but I’d love to stay here as long as they’ll have me.”
Hudson, 37, pitched to a 3.62 ERA with a 5.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 179 1/3 innings of work for the Braves this season. His 55.5 percent ground-ball rate ranked seventh in all of baseball among qualified starters, but still represented a noticeable departure from the 62.2 percent mark he posted from 2007-10.
The sinkerballer missed time with bone spurs in his ankle this season, but told O'Brien that he believes the back surgery he underwent last November has prolonged his career:
“I felt better this year than I have in a while, except for the ankle,” he said. “My arm felt great all year, my back never gave me any problems, so that was definitely encouraging. I feel good that I can pitch for a while longer.”
The Braves, of course, don't have to decide on a long-term extension right now. Hudson would like to discuss such a deal this offseason, but the Braves could simply wait to see how he fares in 2013 before deciding on his fate. There are some signs for concern that would merit such caution. Hudson's ERA rose in both 2011 and 2012, his ground-ball rate declined in each of those seasons, and his 5.1 K/9 in 2012 was his lowest since 2004. Hudson's sinker also averaged just 89 mph — a full 1.5 mph drop from 2011.
The Alabama native has been with the Braves since being acquired from the Athletics following the 2004 season. In hindsight, that trade looks like a steal, as the Braves gave up just Juan Cruz, Dan Meyer and Charles Thomas. While all three were highly regarded, none developed into a superstar. Hudson, meanwhile, has pitched to a 3.52 ERA in 1,441 2/3 innings for the Braves.