I will apologize right up for the lack of specific information here…but I’ll bet we’re all curious about who was meant by an interesting Anthopoulos comment today.
Routinely, many General Managers will conduct most of their Winter Meetings business in the mornings and then meet with the media in the afternoon. That is also the practice of the Atlanta Braves.
It seems that some Braves’ representatives – both Brian Snitker and Alex Anthopoulos – had plenty of time to make the rounds today (the last full day of the event) as they both talked with beat writers and the national press.
That suggests that things are moving slowly at Disney World this week, and that’s largely true: a few big deals have been made (Stanton, Ozuna, Gordon, and Ohtani), plus several top relief pitchers have signed, and a few minor transactions have been made.
The Braves have been left watching thus far, and that was reflected in this comment that was picked up by the AJC’s Dave O’Brien:
#Braves GM Anthopoulos said not much activity today, no advancement on potential trade or signing, but did learn a player in whom they're interested is available via trade, which they weren't sure would be case (not Yelich; not a player who's been mentioned publicly, AA said)
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) December 13, 2017
Okay… so who could that be? Is there something that happened that could help us figure this out?
First, a few thoughts about this search:
- I expect he was referring to a position player: there are still a lot of free agent relievers out there; hardly any are being offered via trade. The available starting pitchers are pretty well known at this point.
- We’re looking for a defensive upgrade more than an offensive one.
- We’re probably looking for somebody without a long-term commitment.
- We’re definitely looking for somebody flying under the radar… and thus not a ‘big’ name, for the resources needed to land such a player would make it difficult to do much of anything else via trade.
There’s also this statement from this afternoon:
Anthopoulos said while #Braves would consider adding a FA on 1-year deal or trade for veteran w/ yr or 2 left on deal, they also would make room if they could land a frontline starter controllable for long-term years.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) December 13, 2017
Most of that could apply to either a position player or a pitcher, while the end of it sounds more like a ‘Chris-Archer-type’ starter. For now… we’ll consider some possible position players.
Also of note: the Braves currently have 3 spots on the 40-man roster open.
YANKEES
With Stanton now in pinstripes, New York clearly has a surplus of outfielders… though a couple of those names have been bandied about in public: Jacoby Ellsbury and Clint Frazier. So we can probably rule them out.
However, perhaps the Yankees aren’t thinking along the same line as other people. What if:
- Brett Gardner. Hits only around .260, but gets on base at a .350 clip and will steal up to two dozen bases a year and provides average LF defense. He gets $11.5 million in 2018 with a $2m option buyout for 2019.
Aaron Hicks? Not likely unless they were to find another CF option, so that’s probably not the mystery man.