Atlanta Braves Have 3 Questions to Resolve this Off-season

Sep 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Atlanta Braves third baseman Hector Olivera (28) hits a single during the fourth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Third Base – Hector, or… ?

I’m not concerned about Hector Olivera‘s bat.  His glove might be another story, though, and that seemed to be signaled from Fredi Gonzalez when he was conducting his year-end interview with the beat reporters.  During that session, he mentioned Olivera going to Puerto Rico for a few weeks of Winter Ball – and fielding instruction was mentioned.  In addition, the idea of using him in left field actually came up.  The answer to that question?  ‘Not yet.’

That suggests work with his bat.  But fielding is more likely the real issue. In 21 games, Olivera was credited with 4 errors – three of them fielding errors.  Note also that in 42 games at 3rd base, Adonis Garcia was tagged with 10 – 8 of those being of the fielding variety (he had 8 more at AAA).

Want another point of comparison?  While Chris Johnson was with the Braves, he handled 627 games at third with 75 errors (includes Indians games this season).  It’s clearly early yet, but Olivera is close to doubling that pace.

The Braves are clearly hoping that the additional reps in Puerto Rico will help, but all of this does raise the possibility that a Plan B might be needed.

THE QUESTION:  Does Olivera stick at third base or does he elsewhere on the field?

THE OPTIONS (in order of likelihood):

• Hector stays at third… suffer along with him there until Rio Ruiz or Austin Riley can get to the majors (which could be a couple of years for either one).
• Move Olivera to Left Field, bring in Adonis Garcia for 3rd.
• Move Olivera back to his natural 2nd base position… see how Jace can do at third
• Move Olivera elsewhere – execute a trade for a ‘bat’ to play at third base… and to that point…

Okay, I can’t help it – but since we have a GM who has been making deals like this, it suddenly doesn’t seem as whacky as it might have just 16 months ago:

CRAZY OUT-OF-THE-BOX IDEA.

Execute a trade with Cincinnati to provide them with young pitching while the Braves take some of their bloated payroll.

• Cincy gets 2 pitchers they desperately need (I don’t really care what their names are in this fantasy) and Jace Peterson.
• Atlanta gets Brandon Phillips and Todd Frazier.
• Braves move Olivera to Left Field, Phillips to 2nd, and Frazier to 3rd.

Implications:

• Atlanta loses control of whatever pitchers might be involved (most with another 5+ years), but their pipeline would continue to feed new ones in, so that’s not a loss that they can’t overcome.
• Payroll:  Adds approximately $8-8.5 million for Frazier, $13m for Phillips.  Frazier has another arbitration year in 2017; Phillips is due $14m in 2017 for the last year of his deal.
• It adds two significant bats to the lineup… without being a huge contractual burden.
• The Gotcha:  Phillips has 10-and-5 rights, so he could veto a deal.  Also rumor is that he’s not a ‘clubhouse guy’.  However, he’s originally from Stone Mountain, GA, so maybe…

It’s the off-season:  if you’re gonna dream, dream big.

Next: Catcher Questions