Braves Highest Bidders on Tomas?

Reviewing the Brew

Yes – we are indeed having daily drips of new information about the Braves’ pursuit of Cuban ball-masher

. Last evening,

Jeff had a couple of nuggets for us

. This morning, we have new bits to share:

this from Corey Brock

, who is to the Padres what Mark Bowman is for the Braves – both work for mlb.com.

"A source told MLB.com that the Padres have not made the highest current bid for Tomas, who is reportedly seeking a five- to seven-year deal with an annual salary of about $15 million. Last week, a source told MLB.com that the Braves and the Padres were the front-runners for Tomas."

So if the Braves and the Padres are the “front-runners” and the Padres do not have the highest bid in, then…the Braves do have the highest current bid?  That’s pretty much what I would glean from that.

Do note that we cannot rule out the Giants by any means:  their interest is ramping up after having lost Pablo Sandoval – but they are also pursuing some bigger-name pitching, so their interests seem a bit divided.  But for the moment at least, it does seem as if the Braves are indeed making a very strong push for Tomas.

Business Trip to the Dominican Republic

This is the time of year in which members of the Braves’ Front Office and coaching staff typically venture to the DR to check in on the Braves’ baseball academy down there. That turns out to be convenient in this case since it is also where Yasmani Tomas happens to be hanging around, conducting meet-and-greet workout sessions for all interested parties. In fact, it’s apparently gotten to the point that he’s reportedly tiring of the “dog-and-pony” show.

Nonetheless, it was the Braves’ turn – again – yesterday:

It is hard to know just how much to read into this report: yes, everybody who would need to see/evaluate him did so. Yes, they were already in country, so it wasn’t like they had to go way out of their way to find him. But no one significant was missing from that group, either (given the expectation that Coppollela is making the “road trips” on behalf of the Braves’ two-headed General Manager position).

In the coming days, I think we’ll know a little more about whether this evaluation has strengthened the Braves’ interests. If we stop seeing new information, then that may tell us that the Braves have backed off.

There’s one thing more:  if the photo from this article is both recent and representative of what Tomas looks like, then we might be able to put to rest any concerns about his conditioning: the “chunkiness” of some past photos simply is not there.

So with that: it’s probably down to the Giants, Braves, and Diamondbacks… in some order… at least today… with the Padres hanging around.  

More on the D.R.

One other piece of information to share, since we’re talking about the Dominican Republic:  

Sounds good – could be a nice way to help attract better prospects and assist in their development – along with the cash payments, of course. Clearly, the Braves are interested in the International market again, and that’s highly encouraging for the future.