Atlanta Braves Trade Options: Center Field

Precursor: My favorite spot for checking payroll calculations is Cot’s Contracts, and according to Cot’s the Braves current payroll sits at 97 million.  21 million of the 97 million is paying players that aren’t on the roster (Dan Uggla, Carlos Quentin, James Russell), which leaves 76 million paid out for current players, not that this matters as money is still money no matter if it’s paying former or active players.

According to Hart at the beginning of the year, the payroll was going to be north of 100 million and south of 120 million.  There’s some flexibility here, but the amount the Braves are willing to spend to fill the hole is anyone’s guess, if they’re willing to spend any at all.  One would guess that there’s money still there as the Braves were willing to give Hector Olivera and deal that would’ve paid him 10 million per year over the course of 5 years. Yes, there’s been a lot of action since then, with the Braves trading away a large chunk of salary, while taking on a large chunk of salary, but the end result is still 97 million: 3 million less than the floor of Hart’s projection, 23 million less than the ceiling.  For this exercise, let’s meet in the middle and say the Braves have 13 million for this year.

When the Braves traded away Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr., the Braves opened the bank up for future spending, as next year’s commitments are just south of 54 million.  With the increase of payroll for the new stadium likely to start next year and the prospect plethora that was acquired this offseason, the future is looking good.  However, let’s focus on the now, and that now is simple:

The Braves have money to spend, both now money and future money.  Let’s get to the options: