Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Norris, Roster, More
Sep 14, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez (33) pulls starting pitcher Mike Minor (36) during the game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Rangers defeated the Braves 10-3. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Yesterday’s News Brings an Interesting Math Quandry
The addition of relief pitcher Jim Johnson to the club brings the 40-man roster up to its maximum capacity. But that begs a question after this tweet from Mark Bowman (Dave O’Brien also had it):
The #Braves are still hoping to add a setup man and another lefty reliever.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) November 30, 2015
That would mean 42 names for the 40-man roster. That means somebody has to go – two somebodys, in fact.
Candidates?
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- Mike Minor. Wednesday is the non-tender deadline. Unless he can demonstrate as unequivocally healthy shoulder, it’s a $5½ million risk that toorisky to take.
- Shelby Miller. Look: we know teams have been calling about him. The starting pitching market is thin and pitted with frightfully high numbers (J.A. Happ set a high bar to get that rolling). If Miller wasn’t going to be traded, then we’d have heard a strong denial at this point – similar to what we heard about Freddie Freeman. That hasn’t happened. I say he’s gone in the next two weeks.
- They could “cheat” a bit. Paco Rodriguez will definitely go onto the 60-day DL at the earliest possible opportunity… the opening of Spring Training. A reliever could ‘agree to terms’ before then, and then be added to the roster once Rodriguez is DL’d.
- If the Braves can dump the salaries of either Nick Swisher or Michael Bourn via a minor trade, that would also take care of the problem.
Unfortunately, there’s just not a lot of excess roster wiggle-room right now, but that’s exactly why we expect to see some movement… “soon”.
Next: Random News and Notes