If the Atlanta Braves are going to contend in 2018 they need an everyday left fielder. We’ve heard a lot of rumors and know who topped the fans list, but now he’s headed to Milwaukee.
Craig Edwards over at Fangraphs agrees that the Atlanta Braves should try to challenge this year. Earlier in the week I posted a proposal to acquire Danny Salazar, today Il suggest options for left field.
If you’re still in mourning over losing Yelich this may fill the void or at least give you somewhere to vent. On the upside we’ll retain out best prospects and the moves indicated enhance the lineup.
Who’s left for left?
In Abbot and Costello’s Who’s on First routine, Why played left field. In the case of the 2018 Braves creating a lineup that’s good enough to challenge is why they would make a trade.
The folks over at Talking Chop went in-depth on the Braves trading for Adam Duvall. Their discussion is full of lots of good information so I won’t send a lot of time on him, They conclude that Duvall is an average player for whom the Reds will require an above potential price and doesn’t do much for the lineup. I agree so Ill move on.
Only a few teams have outfielders worth considering and most of them wouldn’t trade them because they have postseason dreams. Oddly enough the team most likely to make a deal just traded for Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain.
The Brewers started today with Domingo Santana, Keon Broxton, Brett Phillips and Ryan Braun then added Cain and Yelich As Alan said they now have a glut of outfielders and need a starting pitcher. They made an offer to Yu Darvish but I believe Cain’s signing Indicated that Darvish was going to turn them down. He’ll probably sign there tomorrow after that prediction.
It’s hard to put a number on the Brewers payroll, they’ve been as high as $104M, sits about $94.5M now and are committed to about $64M next season. Lynn fits into their budget, Arrieta’s a stretch unless the contract is back-loaded a bit but I suspect they’d like to stay under 110 to give them some wiggle room later.
With that prologue lets look at the Brewer options and a couple under the radar ideas.