With the World Series nearing an end the important offseason dates fans need to know become even more important. We've discussed how important this winter is for Alex Anthopoulos to get the Braves back to where they need to be, and now we're going to discuss one of the important early decisions the front office will be tasked with.
Once the Braves make their decisions on the four players with club options for 2024 Anthopoulos will turn his attention to the arb-eligible players on the roster. As a reminder players with three or more years, but less than six years of Major League service time are eligible for salary arbitration if they are not already signed to a contract (i.e. Austin Riley) for the upcoming season.
The Braves have six players on the 40-man roster who are arb-eligible this offseason; Anthopoulos will have to decide which players are worth offering a contract, and which will be non-tendered thus making them a free agent. The non-tender deadline is November 22.
The Braves have until November 22, 2024 to decide if these non-tender candidates are worth keeping on their 40-man roster
As I mentioned previously, Atlanta has six players who will be considered non-tender candidates based on their service time. While most of these decisions feel pretty straightforward, a couple of these players are borderline for being offered a contract for 2024.
We'll take our time to dive through each candidate as well as list their projected cost in arbitration via MLB Trade Rumors. In my opinion only two should be brought back in 2024, so let's start with them.
Jarred Kelenic (projected $2.3 million)
The former top prospect has struggled to find his footing at the Major League level thus far. In his first season with Atlanta, Kelenic had his share of shining moments in the summer. However, the same swing and miss problem that has plagued him so far in his young career led to his at-bats being very limited down the stretch for the Braves.
Last season the Braves planned to hand the left field job to Kelenic and live with the results expecting the rest of the offense to carry the load. Next season they are not afforded the luxury to retain those expectations.
However, this doesn't mean Kelenic is a player not worth keeping. His tools and hard-working attitude at the very least makes him a valuable fourth outfielder for the club. And with his projected salary to come in under $3 million it's a no brainer to keep the Kelenic experiment going into 2025.
Dylan Lee (projected $1.2 million)
The unsung hero of the dominant Braves bullpen, Dylan Lee could step into a larger role next season as the teams top lefty option. A.J. Minter will be a free agent and should he find a new home that would leave Lee and Aaron Bummer as the two lefties down in the bullpen.
Given how Lee has pitched as a Brave when healthy there's no reason to doubt he won't continue to excel in whatever role Snit asks him to fill. Because Lee is still under three years of service time (and a non-closer bullpen piece) he doesn't project to break the bank in arbitration. With that low cost it's basically a layup for AA to bring Lee back in 2025.
Dylan Lee of the @Braves was outrageous last night throwing his slider 13 times (15 total pitches) and generating a line of 1.2IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K. His slider generated 4 whiffs, and was not put into play at all - winning our RP Pitch of the Day for June 16th pic.twitter.com/IQPs0Pql7g
— Baseball Prospectus (@baseballpro) June 17, 2024