Atlanta Braves Catcher Choice Breakdown
Because he’s still often mentioned…
Brian McCann
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- Turned 32 in February
- LHH, 6’3″/225
- Home: Athens/Duluth, GA
- Was 2nd round selection of the Braves in 2002
- Under contract with Yankees for 2017-18 seasons, $17m each year. 2019 option vests at $15m with possibly reachable criteria for 1,000 PA in ’17-18 and 90 catching games in 2018. He will be 35 that year.
- Games played, last 5 seasons: 121, 102, 140, 135, 81 (current)
- Batt. Avg., last 5 seasons: .230, .256, .232, .232, .234
- OPS+, last 5 seasons: 87, 118, 94, 107, 105
- bWAR, last 5 seasons: 0.8, 2.3, 1.8, 2.8, 1.2 (total: 8.9)
- Wins Above Average: -0.7, 1.0, -0.1, 0.9, 0.1 (total: 1.2)
- Caught Stealing %: 24%, 24%, 37%, 36%, 24%
- WP: 34, 17, 29, 55, 17. PB: 6,3, 10, 1, 4. ERR: 2, 4, 2, 7, 3.
McCann’s value is in his power, and Yankee Stadium has been very friendly to him. Put him elsewhere and that’s reduced (he enjoys a sizable advantage in home-field homers).
Tyler Flowers
- Turned 30 back in late January; oldest (barely) of this group
- RHH, 6’4″/260
- Home: Roswell, GA (Chipola College, Marianna, FL)
- Was 33rd round selection of the Braves in 2005
- Current contract with Atlanta extends for another season. He’ll be with us.
- Games played, last 5 seasons: 52, 84, 127, 112, 53 (current; injured)
- Batt. Avg., last 5 seasons: .213, .195, .241, .239, .253
- OPS+, last 5 seasons: 89, 62, 97, 82, 109
- bWAR, last 5 seasons: 1.1, 0, 2.3, 0.8, 0.3 (total: 4.5)
- Wins Above Average: 0.5, -1.0, 0.8, -0.5, -0.3 (total: -0.5)
- Caught Stealing %: 25%, 26%, 27%, 32%, 29%
- WP: 12, 24, 51, 37, 21. PB: 1, 8, 9, 15, 3. ERR: 2, 4, 8, 5, 1.
Flowers’ reputation as a solid defender and pitch-framer will keep him in a job so long as he can still walk and crouch.
Ranking the Options
Lucroy is clearly the best, though he’s a wild card for a couple of reasons:
- Cost to acquire in terms of prospects… the Brewers are basically auctioning him off as I write this.
- Cost to keep. The Braves would probably like to see if he’d entertain an extension. Getting that accepted would first require tearing up his cheap 2017 rate. It would not surprise me if it took a 5 year, $100 million offer to get that done.
As a result, the timing is probably bad for Atlanta: if this were the off-season, it might be a different story. There is a chance that they might be submitting an offer to Milwaukee, but while we would all be pleased if they did, we’ve heard nothing to suggest that this is happening.
Ranking the Rest:
- Ramos
- Wieters
- McCann (close to Wieters; age difference matters; would require a trade)
- Flowers
Ramos will likely be fairly affordable. Even if he comes in somewhere around $11-14 million per year, that’s a good value. Wieters should be taking something in that immediate neighborhood, but Boras will make him… and everyone else… sweat it out. I don’t see the Braves wanting to play that kind of game.
There are no guarantees here. Free agents are… free to choose. There is a real possibility that Atlanta can’t get any of these guys (excepting Flowers of course).
There is an argument to be made that if you want a more ‘sure’ thing, then go throw prospects at Milwaukee and buy yourself a catcher that way. But even doing that means the uncertainty of 2018+.
If the Braves want Ramos, they should go in strong and quick at the end of the year to try and get ahead of the market. I would not underestimate the possible influence of Eddie Perez here, especially if he happens to be chosen as the next manager.