A quick tweet from last evening from Ken Rosenthal actually had a bit of snarkiness to it:
Tanking? Maybe not. #Braves pursuing veteran relievers - including O'Day. Story:... https://t.co/kn2hQWgJJI
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 20, 2015
Rosenthal’s accompanying article had the details that twitter just can’t support, and it expanded on this notion of Atlanta pursuing top-quality relief help:
"The Braves, according to major-league sources, are pursuing at least two free-agent relievers — right-hander Darren O’Day and lefty Matt Thornton.In fact, rival teams involved in the bidding for O’Day believe that the Braves might wind up making him the highest offer.O’Day, viewed by many as the top reliever on the open market, is seeking a four-year deal between $28 million and $36 million, sources say."
Braves Not Pursuing O’Day: Doesn’t pass the smell test
Okay, yes: the bullpen was supposed to be a priority. Yes – the Braves frittered away several wins last season due to bullpen meltdowns. But could this really be the case? Would the Braves go after the best reliever on the open market and offer him ~$8 million a year for 4 seasons (and as a point of comparison: Craig Kimbrel is scheduled to get $11 million in 2016)?
In a word… no.
While the #Braves might have had initial interest in O'Day, that interest has evaporated as his cost has risen.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) November 20, 2015
MLBTR suggests that while Darren O’Day may now have “several offers in hand”, it is likely that none of them reach that asking price indicated by Rosenthal. As far as the Braves are concerned, I imagine that once the price escalated above roughly $4 million annually, they probably invited him to sample the catered spread in their Boca Raton suite at the General Manager meetings before politely concluding their meeting.
Ken Rosenthal did pick up on one point: if the Braves truly intend to be competitive in 2016+, going after O’Day would be an obvious turn signal in that direction. Obviously, it would take more effort than that – like finding a hitting third baseman and catcher – but it would not be out of the question.
In absence of that, though, every commentator has picked up on the point – that same one made about Kimbrel during Spring Training : why pursue a premium name if you’re not intending to play premium baseball?
Next: 40-Man Roster Moves Made
There are still opportunities to enhance the bullpen: Thornton is still out there; so is Ryan Madson. Jason Grilli should be back at some point (May?) and those who finished with the club in October are still mostly with the organization after finishing strong. So this isn’t entirely a matter of choosing “improve or don’t improve”… it’s more like “how do wish to improve?”