Atlanta Braves Roster Decisions Loom: Bourn or Swisher, Who Stays?

On late Sunday night, MLBTradeRumors ran a piece derived from an answer from the latest Mark Bowman piece for the Atlanta Braves regarding the future of Nick Swisher or Michael Bourn in a Braves uniform.  Surprising absolutely no one, Bowman confirmed that the Braves are of course trying to unload one of the pair of outfielders.  He also indicated that Bourn was the one more likely to be on the move, as Swisher provides a switch hitting bat and a backup first base option for Freddie Freeman.  And no, Freeman is not going anywhere, and the joke won’t be funny.

There’s no doubt that both of these players can’t properly exist on the Braves 25 man roster to begin the season; an influx of low cost depth signings supplementing the existing players makes having both of them together a bit redundant.  This only gets harder, weirder, and even more redundant with this mornings news that the Braves have agreed to bring back the versatile Kelly Johnson.  Johnson also seemingly negates Bowman’s point about Swisher being the only backup at first base.

Signing Gordon Beckham and Emilio Bonifacio alongside Johnson have given the Braves 3 new versatile bench options to work with.  As it shakes up, here is the projected Braves starting 8:

C Tyler Flowers
1B Freddie Freeman
2B Jace Peterson
3B Adonis Garcia ??
SS Erick Aybar
LF Hector Olivera ??
CF Ender Inciarte
RF Nick Markakis

And the bench options:

OF/1B Swisher
OF Bourn
INF/OF Kelly Johnson
2B/3B Gordon Beckham
INF/OF Emilio Bonifacio
C AJ Pierzynski

A very veteran bench for sure, but do you want your only backup shortstop option to also be your only backup center field option in Emilio Bonifacio?  Bonifacio has been regarded as a solid second and third baseman in his career, but his limited work at short and center in his career has not been well received.  He also hit a miserable .167/.198/.192 in his 2015 stint with the White Sox.  That’s worse than both Bourn and Swisher.

And obviously having Olivera in left field is still a big experiment.  What if that doesn’t work out, and he goes back to third base?  Would you rather have Bourn or Swisher in that situation? I’m here to ask that very question… which one would you give up?  Certainly they are very different players…

Next: The Speedy Outfielder

Bourn is a former speedster and defensive wizard, but has been bit by the injury bug in the worst place for those types: the hamstring.  He’s also 33 and has regressed significantly in his defensive metrics ever since leaving the Braves after the 2012 season, but both DRS and UZR liked his very limited work in left field last season.  DRS was kind to his center field play (6), while UZR was a little sour at -3.8.  No matter how you slice it, you have a guy who is serviceable at all 3 outfield positions that can also give you some bursts of speed, while maybe not much coming from his bat.  He hit just .238/.310/.282 last season, and has never been a significant run producer.

Here are the ZIPS projections for Bourn in 2016:

.246/.307/.326 with 16 stolen bases

So to break it down, here are the pros and cons:

• Can play centerfield
• Can play outfield relatively well
• Can still be somewhat of a speed threat
• Has no power
• Bat is in serious decline
• Is left handed

Next: The Slugger

Before you vote in this poll, remember that neither of these players will likely generate over 350 plate appearances this season, even in the event of injury.  Both have expensive options tied to plate appearances and the Braves definitely do not want to carry either of these guys next season.  We’re speaking from a bench/supplemental perspective, and given the nature of the roster as it stands, there will be lots of platoons and tandems already at other positions like second base, third base, and possibly even left field.

That being said, who do you like for the roster?  I’m personally going with Michael Bourn, as I value defense from my bench and the ability to play center field.  Guys like Matt Wisler will thrive with a great outfield defense all around. I also think Swisher would be easier to potentially trade, especially to an AL team that could part time DH him if need be. I’d also argue that in the event that the Braves need a Nick Swisher type, one already exists on the 40 man roster in Joey Terdoslavich.  It’s obvious the Braves have never handled his development that well, even after trading their entire outfield last offseason, but he is a switch hitter with a bit of power that can handle the corner outfield and first base positions if need be.  Of course, one could say Bonifacio is very similar to Bourn, but I view Bonifacio as an infielder first.  It’s also likely that the Braves might outright release one of them, as the Kelly Johnson signing must come with a corresponding 40 man roster move.

Neither will be easy to get rid of, but for the current state of the Braves, I have to go with Bourn almost every time.