Atlanta Braves Morning Chop (Lester, Unprotected Prospects)
Reports: Braves, free agent Lester to meet in Atlanta this week
Only time will tell if it’s a matter of convenience … or another major piece of a continually evolving puzzle.
According to multiple media reports, including FOX Sports baseball insider Ken Rosenthal, the Braves will meet with free-agent pitcher Jon Lester on Thursday, presumably to discuss a long-term contract with the former ace of the Boston Red Sox (2006-14) and Oakland Athletics (latter half of 2014 campaign).
Lester, who turns 31 in January, is generally regarded as the No. 2 starting pitcher of this winter’s free agent class, behind former American League Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. For close-proximity sake, Lester also maintains an offseason home in suburban Atlanta.
“This Week” Means “Today”
Editor’s Notes: There have been several news items about Lester this week:
- Toronto is interested in Lester
- The Cubs are interested in him (recall that Theo Epstein – formerly of the Red Sox – is running the Cubs now)
- The Royals have talked to his agent.
- The Cardinals are interested.
- The Red Sox met with Lester – in Atlanta – late last week and gave him an “aggressive” offer… which contrasts starkly with a “lowball” bid he received from them during the last season prior to the trade deadline. One wonders if Lester will hold that against the Red Sox – after all, they first lowballed him, then traded him… as far away as they could.
- Reports are that the Red Sox offer is in the range of $112M to $120M for 5 or 6 years – which compares favorably to the idea I floated yesterday: 6 years, ~ $114-118M. Such a contract could be make affordable for Atlanta.
- This morning, though, MLB Trade Rumors postulated a deal of 6 years, $153M for Lester’s services.
- The Braves’ meeting is today. We may have more about that later on in another post.
Unprotected Prospects
Last yesterday, in case you missed it, Fred gave us the run-down on changes to the 40-man roster that will allow Atlanta to protect many of their better prospects from being snatched by other clubs.
Atlanta Braves pitcher
J.R. Graham(72). Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Unfortunately, there isn’t enough roster space to protect everybody.
Here are the players omitted from that roster protection that will undoubtedly be lost to other teams via the Rule 5 Draft in December:
There are others that can be taken – an exhaustive list would be pointless, frankly – but these pitchers will most likely be the targets.
CODY MARTIN – This is simply puzzling to me personally… and here’s why:
As the Braves searched for complementary pieces for the big league roster at the trade deadline, one name that popped up when talking to other teams was righthander Cody Martin
That is a quote from the beginning of a Baseball America article from August 12th. Apparently, other teams wanted Martin via trade. Frank Wren didn’t budge. Okay, that’s understandable. But now he’s going to be available for free to any club that wants to throw him on their major league roster. So I really don’t quite get that move… particularly since the Braves still have a pitching slot up for competition (at this point) and Martin had at least earned a shot at competing for it.
Well, it’s likely he will still get that shot: with another club.
Martin threw 156 innings at Gwinnett this season – his first full AAA year – with a 3.52 ERA. I would expect him to be one of the very first players taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
J.R. GRAHAM – Graham is a former 4th round pick of the Braves from 2011 (three rounds before Martin was taken in that same draft). He once threw 100 mph – but doing that as a starter proved to be too much for his 5′-10″-ish frame, and he’s been battling shoulder ailments over the past couple of seasons. At this point, the transition to reliever is nearly complete. Clearly, that has diminished his value to the Braves, but it also preserves his dream of getting to the majors. For a club looking for a low-cost relief option, Graham could be a good one – and that might very well get him into the majors in 2015… likely faster than he could have hoped for with Atlanta.