Trades
After all of the big trades the Braves made this off season it’s unlikely that we’ll see another shocker. There are however small trade options that could fill the platoon platoon bat role well. The teams known to have excess outfielders are of course the Red Sox and the Dodgers.
The Dodgers made everyone blink when they signed Chris Heisey earlier this post season making an already crowded outfield seemingly over stuffed. Since then they traded Matt Kemp but that still leaves Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Scott Van Slyke, Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig as well as Heisey to fill three positions. They’ve been trying to move Ethier who will earn at least $56M in the next three seasons. So far the Dodgers haven’t been willing to take on enough contract money to make the soon to be 33 year old outfielder palatable for any trade partners.
Another 33 year old earning nearly $66M over the next three years is Carl Crawford and they appear to be stuck with him too. Since leaving Tampa, Crawford has never been the player he was for the Rays. He has a weak arm, little power and the speed that was his main tool is aging quickly.
The player everyone wants is Van Slyke who’s proven himself versatile and would be a perfect fit in Atlanta. The Dodgers however would have suitors willing to offer a lot more than Hart has shown himself willing to give. I can’t see a situation where we would match up well enough to steal him from LA ahead of other teams.
The Red Sox outfield is equally stuffed to the gills with Allen Craig, Shane Victorino, Jackie Bradley Jr. Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez, Rusney Castillo, and Daniel Nava looking for jobs. Ramirez, Betts, Castillo and Craig aren’t going anywhere. They would love to move Victorino and his $13M contract but would probably have to throw in some prospect incentives for a team to take his money too.
The Braves could take the money IF the Sox were willing to add a high level pitching prospect like Edwin Escobar and I could see Hart taking Victorino and his salary. Whether the Sox would do that for someone like Avilan and a couple of low level prospects to make the deal look better will depend on how badly they want to shed salary to sign an Ace this year. For Hart the idea of grabbing a guy like Escobar -who projects to be a solid number three starter – makes solving your left field dilemma with Victorino tempting even if you have to take his whole salary. That said the more probably candidate is Nava.
Even though Nava turns 32 in February he’s still just in his first arbitration year and will earn an estimated $1.9M according to MLBTR’s arbitration model. Last year wasn’t his best season, that was 2013 when he posted an .813 OPS in 536PA. This year that dropped to .706 in 408PA . Nava’s minor league numbers however have always been well above that.
His AAA slash is .278/.375/.424/.810 but he’s not a big home run hitter, he averages about 10 homers a year and walked as often as he struck out in the minors and never posted a minor league OBO under .372. The OBP remained high when he got his shot in the majors (.362) and he proved himself useful on defense as well He seems to fit what Hart is looking for in a platoon outfielder but the Braves aren’t alone in needing that kind of help.
Other names you may hear are Craig Gentry (Oakland) and Michael Choice (Texas) who were traded for each other just last year. Neither settled into their new home well nor are they big threats at the plate. Of the two the 25 year old Choice is the better option.
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