Atlanta Braves trade away promising OF Randy Ventura
We’ve all been looking forward to the next big Braves trade this Summer… but what came down on Friday was certainly a surprise.
Of all the deals we have been contemplating that the Atlanta Braves could be involved in this Summer, this one was not expected:
The #Braves are receiving international bonus pool money from the Reds in exchange for minor-league outfielder Randy Ventura.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 4, 2017
Okay… so what happened here? Let’s go through all of the reasons why such a trade is perplexing and some reasons why it might have happened.
The Penalty Box
If you’ve been paying attention at all, you’ll recall that the Braves (intentionally) over-spent their International Market spending cap a year ago to bring in players like Kevin Maitan and Abrahan Guitierrez.
The monies spent then brought in a whole pile of teen-aged prospects – 33 in all – during that 2016-17 signing season. That’s a bigger number than usual, but not unprecedented. The previous season saw the Braves grab 23 players.
But because of that spending, the Braves were handed the highest penalty that could be imposed at that time: a 2-year restriction in which no International player could be inked for more than $300,000.
Now that penalty is fairly severe, but not a total show-stopper. Many excellent players have been grabbed within those parameters, including both Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna.
So it isn’t like International Operations Director Marc Russo or Latin American scouting Director Mike Silvestri or International Scouting Guru emeritus Gordon Blakeley opted to take a 2-year vacation. In fact, you can bet that they’ve been planning on this detour for a while now.
For one thing, the Braves still need players to fill out their Dominican Summer team and hey – since these kids are mostly 16 years old, you never know what you might find later, given consistent professional coaching.
So mostly what that monetary limit means is that the Atlanta Latin scouting team have to look harder in their quest for the next Pache, Cruz, Guitierrez, Maitan, … or Ventura.
The Math
With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the numbers have changed in 2017.
Revenue-sharing clubs – most of the so-called small market teams – get to spend $5.75 million internationally between now and next June.
A middle-group of teams get to spend $5.25 million. The large market clubs are held to $4.75 million. This last group (16 teams) includes Atlanta.
So even if the Braves gave $300K to everybody they signed, that’s about 16 players.
Apparently they still needed more.
The Cincinnati Reds are another team that blew the budget last year – signing 44 players in the process. This year, the Redlegs have apparently decided to back down their spending significantly, and their restraint has now allowed the Braves a chance to expand their own.
The new rules permit clubs to add up to 75% more spending power via trades… and they can also jettison their rights to spent every dollar they in their kitty if they choose to be so (Orioles, *cough*) foolhardy.
Details Get Fuzzy From Here
You’ll note that the announcement from the Braves mentions nothing about the monetary component. Cincy was in the $5.25 million spending pool bracket.
According to Baseball America, the Reds have been very slow to sign anyone this Summer. Only 3 names are listed on the signing tracker, topping out at $100,000 for Cuban OF Ruben Paz and with no numbers provided for the other two teens.
The Braves have 14 players listed thus far, with only a $300K and a $185K expenditure noted.
So why did Atlanta need more spending room? How much more did they get? And perhaps more importantly, why trade away Randy Ventura?
About Ventura
There is certainly reason to think that the Braves could ultimately regret trading him away. Ventura was starting to blossom in the lower minors.
This season at low-A Rome, the 5’9″ Dominican-born Ventura (now 20) was hitting .294 with 29 steals and roughly a 20% K Rate with .338 OBP. He’s been a singles hitter – .325 slugger rate with 7 doubles, a triple, and 1 homer.
But Ventura was getting some praise from multiple sources:
the under-the-radar signing of Dominican outfielder Randy Ventura in February 2015 could be as beneficial as any recent acquisition.
The 19-year-old jumped to an impressive start at low Class A Rome this season by hitting .359/.419/.397 in 22 April games. His combination of speed, feel for the game and ability to put the ball in play has caught the eye of the South Atlantic League.
Blake Silvers in our pages just last month:
One player that sticks out as a future possibility for the Atlanta Braves when looking at this year’s low-A Rome Braves team is speedster Randy Ventura, who is among the best in the South Atlantic League… eighth in the SAL in batting average (.297), tied for second in stolen bases (26) and third in hits (97).
There were a few highlights from the weekend, but another reason to keep track of DSL Braves outfielder Randy Ventura. He took over the Braves organizational lead in stolen bases this weekend when he stole his 29th base of the year. To put that in perspective, Eury Perez stole 28 in 60 games for Gwinnett before his promotion to Atlanta.
But now he’s been dealt to the Reds. And we’re left to guess why.
The Possible Reasons
Here’s the best ideas I can come up with from the Braves’ perspective… roughly in order of likelihood:
- The Latin scouts found somebody that *really* want. The only explanation for acquiring international spending power – especially now that the major part of the signing season is done – is that they want/need to spend the money. This also suggests that despite Baseball America’s tracker, the Braves have probably spent most of their allotment already.
- Lack of progress? In theory, more power could still come later from Ventura, but at 5’9″, it’s honestly a crapshoot, but perhaps the Braves were looking for more from him than a singles hitter.
- Duplication? Future blockage? Possible. Suddenly, there’s several outfield candidates budding in the minors, so perhaps Atlanta made the call that cashing him in now was a good play.
- A disciplinary issue? Possible, but I’d honestly say “not very likely at all“. For one thing, the Reds would have to be informed and if the Braves had opted to dump him, then it’s questionable whether any other club would want him under such circumstances.
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On the other hand, the Reds might be seeing a timing thing in their own system and chose to acquire someone who might have the chance of replacing Billy Hamilton in a few years. So it may very well have been Cincinnati taking the aggressor role here in targeting Ventura.
As noted, we still don’t know exactly how much of Cincy’s pool that Atlanta acquired today.
The maximum possible pool acquisition for this year would be $3.56 million and change, but I kinda doubt we’re talking about anything like that.
Getting $1 to $1.5 million (that range is my speculative guess) still would be significant… and would give Atlanta a chance for anything between perhaps 5 to 12 more players or so.
Note that getting this additional spending power means absolutely nothing unless it is actually used.
MORNING UPDATE:
The slot the Reds traded was worth $1.25 mil. https://t.co/yAaWeFKrhP
— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) August 4, 2017
So while we simply do not know all of the details, we’re left to hope and trust that the International team that has done so well in the past few years are still doing great work in the Latin realms of baseball.