How Marlon Byrd Might Resolve Multiple Atlanta Braves Problems
The Braves are in a serious quandry about Hector Olivera, but Marlon Byrd‘s suspension has a chance to help them wriggle out of this jam
Hector Olivera has become the 800 lb. gorilla in the room that nobody wants to talk about. He has accepted an 82-game suspension from MLB, despite court proceedings that still are a long way from being resolved.
Way back… in 2015… the Braves wanted Olivera to play third base for them. That made sense. It kinda justified the whacky trade that was engineered between the Dodgers and Braves (with the Marlins thrown in for comic relief) that had us all scratching our heads at the time.
But then the Braves discovered that he can’t actually play third base. Well, at least there’s left field… he at least seemed to be a serviceable option out there.
Until April 13th when he was arrested.
Meanwhile, there have been developments
Ender Inciarte got healthy. Mallex Smith has arrived on the scene. Even Jeff Francoeur is hitting. The Braves have discovered this wonderful thing called “outfield defense”, and how it helps to… well, at least it’s keeping some games closer.
But he could play second base… his natural position.
Can he? That’s far from certain at this point. Besides, there’s at least five names of players that Atlanta has who likely could man the position better:
Heck, if you didn’t care about offense, Erick Aybar could also do better there.
No – none of these guys (at least the current major leaguers) are going to be All-Stars at the position, but it is most probable that all would supplant Olivera right now.
In short, even if Olivera were back today… he probably doesn’t have a starting role.
Weighing the Gorilla
These are the problems that Atlanta will face before August 1st, the date in which Olivera becomes eligible to return (criminal proceedings notwithstanding):
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- No position for him, excepting possible bench bat
- A guaranteed contract (~$1.8m for the balance of 2016, $28.5m beyond)
- A contract that cannot be cancelled
- The PR issue of a player with a domestic abuse complaint following him
The Braves have already released a lot of ‘dead money’ contracts this year – and that’s a big part of the problem. But the real issue with Olivera is that most of his contract isn’t 2016 money – it’s the 2017-2020 resources that aren’t in the bank yet.
That is why the deal was made with Cleveland to send Chris Johnson out for Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher last year. It wasn’t to reduce payroll obligations overall. It was entirely to shorten the window of those obligations and get them off the books after 2016.
Olivera can’t be traded (not technically so, but realistically) and he can’t be released (because he’s owed too much in future monies). Thus Atlanta has to figure out how to deal with that future $28.5 million.
However, there may be a glimmer of hope… and oddly enough, Marlon Byrd and the Indians could be the way out.
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