Are The Braves Bidding on Jae-gyun Hwang?
By Fred Owens
To sign him or not to sign him, is that the question? Graphic Created by Fred Owens for Tomahawk Take
Who’s in the Hunt
Aside from the Braves who’s looking for a third baseman? The list isn’t long but it is interesting. The Angels need to either bring David Freese back or find a replacement. They didn’t make a qualifying offer to Freese in the hope they could encourage him to come back a lower price but they could well look for a younger player who would likely be about the same price and possibly less in AAV. Other team with a need include the White Sox, Tigers, Padres, Indians, Pirates and Marlins could all be players.
The Pirates won the right to negotiate with Kang for $5M and signed him to a four year contract with 10.75M and a fifth year option at $5M. It’s reasonable to assume that both prices will rise slightly as a result of Kang’s success. How much is a guess that because we have no way of knowing who might be serious enough to pay above the odds. I’d suggest that $10M might get the right to negotiate with him, the contract would probably look something like Kang’s, four or five years at $5 to $6M.
That’s A Wrap
It’s really hard to say how the Atlanta Braves view Hwang. The Angels have deep pockets and there was even a rumor the Yankees would be in on Hwang. The Braves could however see this as a way to be aggressive in the free agent market and try to change the mood of at least a few Braves fans.
Hwang obviously fits. He’s a good third baseman, base runner and hitter and he’s inexpensive. His posting fee isn’t counted against payroll and the long term investment would be relatively small.
Whether the front office sees it that way is a question only they can answer.