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Meat and Potatoes: Atlanta Braves Weekly Recap 3/14/16

By Philip Tapley Jr.

Mar 1, 2016; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop Erick Aybar is late with the tag at second base on Baltimore Orioles shortstop Paul Janish (15) during the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2016; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop Erick Aybar is late with the tag at second base on Baltimore Orioles shortstop Paul Janish (15) during the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
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Erick  Aybar has been the source of recent trade rumors. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Erick  Aybar has been the source of recent trade rumors. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /

Welcome to the 2nd edition of “Meat and Potatoes,” your new go-to for a weekly recap of Atlanta Braves news, notes and links, posted every weekend.*

[*I was on the road and dealing with wifi issues this weekend… just pretend it’s Saturday if you will.]

The Lead

Erick Aybar has been in the news as a potential candidate to replace the Cardinal’s recently injured starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta. The Red Birds will be without Peralta for 2-3 months and, as the speculation goes, Aybar is a good fit because he only has one year left on his contract and Atlanta doesn’t figure to contend this year. Aybar was my immediate thought when I heard about the Peralta injury as well, but dealing him would leave the Braves pretty stinkin’ woeful in the middle infield. They have depth there, but not all depth is created equal.

Aybar isn’t likely a game changer with the Braves this year, given the condition of the rest of the roster and his performance last year, but there seems to be a steep drop in on-field value from the veteran to whoever would back him up. Still, this trade talk makes the decision to sign both Gordon Beckham and Emilio Bonifacio look a little more practical.

If Aybar was to become the latest addition to the Braves transaction parade, we could assume that Beckham and Bonifacio would be the internal options to start at short stop, though Daniel Castro would be a wild card in the conversation as well. Castro started 8 games at short last season for a Braves club that did not include Beckham or Bonifacio.

News and Notes

Chacin looks to be a lock for the Braves rotation is the current mood holds. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
Chacin looks to be a lock for the Braves rotation is the current mood holds. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports /
  • Jhoulys Chacin has had two nice appearances lately in his bid to make the Braves rotation. His numbers back up the optimism of many in the blogosphere that Chacin is a bounce back candidate with potential to return a strong value to the Braves:

With the release of Kyle Kendrick and the relatively modest usage of Ryan Weber, it seems hard to call Chacin anything but a front runner for a spot in the rotation coming out of the Spring. From my vantage, the question now is what will happen to Chacin when Folty returns. That will be particularly puzzling if Manny Banuelos is healthy and showing some life in the rotation at that point. Fred Owens discussed the smoke clearing on the Braves Rotation situation here.

Speaking of Banuelos, he, Jason Grilli, and Mike Foltynewiz are moving right along with their rehab, as Jeff Schafer of these pages notes.

  • As feared, Andrew McKirahan has gone down with a torn UCL and will miss the 2016 season. Read more about the lefty’s second unfortunate Spring Training with the Braves here from Alan Carpenter. Atlanta responded vigorously, snatching up veteran reliever Phil Coke on a minor league deal without an invite to Spring Training. Well, depth moves matter too. More on that Coke deal here from Fred Owens.
  • Rule 5 Notes: Evan Rutckyj really struggled in his outing on Sunday. He was erratic with command, and didn’t have great movement on his pitches. It’s early, and it’s a small sample, but my first Spring look at the lefty has me scaling back my optimism on the Braves keeping the 2015 Rule 5 pick on the roster all year. Daniel Winkler, on the other hand, has been strong as of late. He struck out 5 and limited batters to 1 hit in 2 innings this week. The righty looks like a strong candidate to make the roster despite a large pool of hopefuls.

More from Tomahawk Take

  • In a trend lending credibility to those skeptical that he will be the Braves second baseman for much longer, the very athletic Jace Peterson has been playing all over the diamond this Spring. He played at 2B, 3B and RF this week. It’s likely a minority view, but this writer has a hunch that the Braves figure Peterson’s trade value will be enhanced if he shows that he can play several positions. If that sounds like idle speculation to you, try this on; Peterson’s role may very well be as a utility man in the not so distant future, so why wait to start the process? Here are more of my thoughts on Jace.

Perhaps less interestingly, Emilio Bonifacio has also seen time in both the outfield and infield this Spring. Maybe the NL East can agree to spot us a few wins this year in recognition of our versatility…

  • Hector Olivera is leading MLB hitters in hits this Spring with 14, and he comes in 4th in Batting Average among qualified hitters at .438. He sports a nifty, average-driven .941 OPS in 32 ABs this Spring. We’ll remember our grains of salt and whatnot, but that aint’ nuthin’ folks.

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