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Report: Atlanta Braves Showing Strong Interest in Chris Sale

By Alan Carpenter

Oct 2, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) pitches against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at U.S. Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) pitches against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at U.S. Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Aug 11, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Glenn Sherlock (53) looks over a lineup card prior to facing the Philadelphia Phillies at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 11, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Glenn Sherlock (53) looks over a lineup card prior to facing the Philadelphia Phillies at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

BRAVES PITCHERS ON 40-MAN ROSTER (23)

  • Biddle, Blair, Cabrera, Collmenter, Dickey, Foltynewicz, Gant
  • Hursh, Jenkins, Johnson, Krol, Morris, Perez, Rodriguez, Roe (add Ramirez)
  • Simmons, Teheran, Vizcaino, Whalen, Winkler, Wisler, (Chris) Withrow

BRAVES HITTER ON 40-MAN ROSTER (12)

  • Flowers, Recker, d’Arnaud, Freeman, Garcia, Peterson, Ruiz, Swanson
  • Inciarte, Kemp, Makakis, Smith

That’s 35 names.  Sounds like there’s plenty of room on the list for transactions, but that’s actually not the case.  Let’s start with Bartolo Colon, for instance (h/t Ryan Cothran for the corrections).  Now we’re at 36.

This Friday, November 18th, is the deadline for teams to set their roster up for Rule 5 draft protection.  Back in September, Fred gave us some things to look forward to as this date approaches, including the names of several that would need protection.

The team has already made several background moves in this direction:  out-righting some; losing others.

But there’s only so many roster spots available for the minor league clubs as well, so even as some of these players are being removed, they have to have new landing spots.

Atlanta also has been hoping to re-sign Jeff Francoeur this Winter – a 37th name. If a Catcher is still to be obtained, then that would be a 38th name.

So there’s only about 3-4 slots that the Braves could use to protect prospects.  From Fred’s list, there were several that might require such a move:

With only 2 names… we’re pushing 40 already.

These would be the most likely… Fred listed 8 others (and this might not quite be the complete list, but it’s close).  But if just all of the above were placed on the 40-man, then we’re over-flowing the list and that gives Atlanta no “wiggle room” for the rest of the off-season.

Could a Big Trade Serve to Resolve This Crunch?

One way to fix this problem without losing ‘value’ (i.e., losing players on waivers with no compensation) would be to use them in a trade.

It could be that Coppolella has realized that the loss of an odd starter or two – especially when compared with the possibility of getting a prize such as a Chris Sale – doesn’t seem like a hard choice to make.

It could be the killing of two birds with one stone… or removing 2 or 3 names from the 40-man roster while adding one very big name.

On top of that, Sale would be a controllable name… through 2019.

Let’s now see what such a deal might look like.

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