Last night the Rays designated Corey Dickerson for assignment spurring immediate speculation that the Atlanta Braves were interested in adding him.
While not a perfect fit, Corey Dickerson would improve the lineup and the defense. As a result pundits jumped to the quite logical conclusion the Braves were his next home.
#Braves are trying to add an outfielder, source confirms, and could be a suitor for Corey Dickerson. He grew up in Mississippi, where the Braves are the most popular @MLB team. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) February 18, 2018
Looking more closely at the ripples caused by adding Dickerson, plans shouldn’t be made for his arrival at Champions Field just yet.
The case for Corey
The Rays release of Corey Dickerson seemed, at first glance, a really odd move. He’s never failed to slug over .400 and after becoming a full-time player in 2014, consistently produced over 100 wRC+ and wOBAs of .319 or more. In a full season’s play he’ll hit a couple dozen home runs, thirty or so doubles and steal a base or two now and then.
He hits for a higher average with men on base, hits pretty well in high leverage situations and Baseball Prospectus shows a .281 career Tav, about 20 points better than their .260. He’s been a 2+ fWAR player, close to a 3 bWAR player twice and last season Baseball Prospectus gave him a 3.9 WARP.
Defensively he suffered in Colorado but his UZR and FRAA improved dramatically once he got to Tampa. Among left fielders with 500 innings last season Dickerson ranked ninth in UZR (2.6), 21st in RZR (.866) and BP’s FRAA of 13.5 made Corey number one among left fielders with 400 PA
With two years of control remaining and a relatively friendly contract of $5.65M, the Rays would probably eat $1M in a trade just to get a player back. All things considered, Dickerson looks like a nice fit in Atlanta.