Monday Morning Roster Review
By Fred Owens
(Updated)
Prudence, Payroll Or Simply Roster Log Jam?
As noted above if the pitchers are added now, the return of all three restricted list players would require two players be removed from the roster. There’s one likely candidate; Pedro Ciriaco. Gosselin is his replacement so the roster still has the right number of infielders. But who would be the second man removed?
Elmer Reyes recent legal problems make him a candidate to move to the restricted list. In the short term than would open a spot. It appears that the Braves don’t want to do that until they have to and that might be the reason for holding the pitchers up.
Assuming there’s no Braves super secret handshake ceremony involving Jobu and a chicken, the problem is probably roster and payroll. According to Sportrac the Braves are under $100M counting every expenditure that applies to the luxury tax this season.
2015 Cap Totals
| Cap Type | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Incentives | Cap Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Contracts | $64,128,841 | $1,268,898 | – | $65,397,739 |
| Disabled List Money | $10,071,250 | – | – | $10,071,250 |
| Reserve/Suspended Money | $1,307,500 | $300,000 | – | $1,607,500 |
| Dead Money | $22,809,413 | – | – | $22,809,413 |
| $97,009,504 | $1,268,898 | – | $98,278,402 |
We don’t know how much the new pitchers signed for but I’m pretty certain it wouldn’t be enough to worry the Braves payroll wise. Except that they have to move two pitchers from Atlanta in order to bring two up. The potential demotees are Martin, Cunniff, Masset and Cahill. The first pair have options remaining the latter two do not.
Avilan is pretty safe and I believe the Braves would like to keep Cunniff in Atlanta for now. He had a bad outing but he was back in form on Sunday and they like what he adds. That would mean Martin plus one goes down. Masset had a couple of bad outings but was good in Miami and his money isn’t significant anyway even if he clears waivers and elects free agency he’ll be claimed and the claiming team will pay him. That leaves Cahill.
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Cahill is not a reliever. In the bullpen he’s a fish out of water and an expensive one at that. The Braves owe him the remainder of the $5.5M they took when trading for him. Sportrac shows the Braves dead money for this year at $22.8M and adding another $3.8M or so can’t be a popular business option.
I think they’d like to trade him and recoup some value from the trade even if it’s just salary relief and an A ball player similar to the one they gave Arizona. If they can’t they’ll have to do things they’d rather not do and this gives them time to complete their negotiations and make a decision.
That’s A Wrap (Updated)
After correcting my math the most reasonable explanation is that the Braves want to save the three roster spots and try not to remove anyone they may need. If they could package Cahill with another player on the 40 man roster – say Manny Banuelos – they might be able to move the contract and open the slots needed without actually dropping anyone.
The Braves are heavily involved in the draft today but quite capable of making other deals as well. I expect this to be sorted out by Wednesday and the new bullpen crew in place. If as Alan suggests they want to bring up Moylan as well they can swap out Cunniff as they do about the same job.
Speaking of the draft I’ll be here with a live thread when the draft begins tonight and through the first 75 picks at least to provide updates. I’m going to attempt to watch the game, monitor the draft and keep the thread going as well as post on each Braves pick. I will then grab my Xanax and sit in the corner until I recover. Stop by and take part tonight to stay current on the picks and let us know what you think.