Are the Atlanta Braves Shopping at the WBC
By Fred Owens
Sayonara?
Go West . . . East Young Man
Unable to find a job here Balentien moved to Japan and signed with the Yakult Swallows. He hit 31 homers for Yakult that year but managed just a .228 batting average. In 2012 things improved; strikeouts dropped from 131 to 92, OBP increased shot up from .314 to .386 and he continued to mash with another 31 home run season.
In 2013 he owned Japan’s Central League posting a .330/.455/.779/1.234 line with 145 hits that included 17 doubles, 61 home runs and 131 RBI. Clearly Balentien figured something out. Late in 2014 suffered a hamstring injury that according Yakubaka.com eventually required surgery.
. . .(Balentien) had surgery on his left Achilles in October last year and hit a couple of bumps along the way (in his recovery), but still managed to make the active roster a few days earlier than originally planned.
Unfortunately, his much-anticipated return might have ended in smoke as he tweaked his left hamstring while running down a fly ball hit by Yomiuri’s Shuichi Murata in the 5th inning. . .
While the injury hobble him he still finished 2014 with a .301/.419/.587/1.007 line and 31 homers after 112 games. The re-injured hammy limited him to only 15 games in 2015 so it wasn’t a surprise that his return in 2016 and showed the effects of missing all that time.
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His 31 homers and 20 doubles proved the power was still there and he continued to walk more and strikeout less though he did K 116 times . His final line was still and impressive .269/.369/.516/.885 but not close to the seasons before his injury.
Home Sweet Home?
In case you missed it – or rather because I know 99% of us missed it – back in October Nick Cafardo noted that Balentien was ready to come home after six years in Japan. If that’s truly the case he’s punched up his résumé quite but during this WBC.
At 32 years old he’s no kid and obviously his time in Japan cured him of any laziness he had as a young player. His record shows that he’s learned to take his walks and not swing at everything in his zip code and his power plays everywhere. So should the Braves be interested? I think so.
I’ve looked around the league and can’t find anyone who might be affordable that looks better. Obtaining a highly rated young player is going to cost prospects and the payroll budget is nearing the overdraft protection line at about $121M.
Balentien can play both corners and has experience in center. He’s not as quick as he once was and I wouldn’t want him out there but in an emergency he could work until we get Lane Adams up from Gwinnett. He would provide the big thing we don’t have now, a power bat off the bench and those are pretty scarce.
That’s A Wrap
Way back in the first WBC the Atlanta Braves grabbed a sidearm reliever from Australia named Peter Moylan and last week they signed Karl Triana so it wouldn’t be their first purchase at this event. Whether they want to take a flyer on Balentien and how much he would ask is the question.
Balentien is a proven player albeit in Japan. In fact his 60 home run season is the record for Japanese leagues. When the Mets brought Kazuo Matsui over they paid him $5M but Matsui was young so perhaps a better comp would be Byung Ho Park.
Last year the Twins had a rush of blood to the head and paid the posting fee and gave him a five year $12M deal. His first contract year cost them $2.75M and that might be enough to bring a guy back who wants to show major league teams what they missed.
The contract could even be a bit back loaded with say two years and $5m with incentive to $6M structured with $1.5M this season and 3.5M next. I have no idea if he would take it or even if he would hit here, though I suspect he would. If however the alternative is Emilio Bonifacio, sign me up.