Atlanta Braves add an infielder and outfielder and confusion

4 of 4

What does all this mean?

Remember with Alex Anthopoulos said he wanted better defense as a priority?

This is an example of that philosophy. Our backup infielders – Flaherty and Dansby-Swanson-lookalike Charlie Culberson – are both well above average with their glove. When Bourjos plays center the defense there remains among the best; he plays right really well too so if Nick Markakis sits or gets injured that’s covered too; in fact defense there improves.

The addition of two players on major league deals means Ezequiel Carrera and (thankfully) Danny Santana head to Gwinnett. They are on minor league deals so no roster move is needed yet,

At this moment the 25 roster looks like this

1	CF	Ender Inciarte	14	SP	Julio Teheran
2	2B	Ozzie Albies	15	SP	Mike Foltynewicz
3	1B	Freddie Freeman	16	SP	Brandon McCarthy
4	C	Tyler Flowers	17	SP	Sean Newcomb
5	RF	Nick Markakis	18	SP	Anibal Sanchez
6	LF	Preston Tucker
7	SS	Dansby Swanson	19	CL	Arodys Vizcaino
8	3B	Rio Ruiz	20	RP	Jose Ramirez
	Bench		21	RP	A.J. Minter
9	C	Kurt Suzuki	22	RP	Peter Moylan
10	INF	Charlie Culberson	23	RP	Sam Freeman
11	INF/OF	Ryan Flaherty	24	RP	Dan Winkler
12	OF	Lane Adams	25	RP	Rex Brothers
13	OF	Peter Bourjos

And the rest looks like this.

26	C	Chris Stewart	AAA	35	RP	Jesse Biddle	AAA
27	2B/3B	Ryan Schimpf	AAA	36	RP	Shane Carle	AAA
	Starters			37	RP	Adam McCreery	AA
28	SP	Max Fried	AAA
29	SP	Matt Wisler	AAA	38	Inf	Johan Camargo	10 Day DL
30	SP	Lucas Sims	AAA	39	SP	Luiz Gohara
31	SP	Aaron Blair	AAA
32	SP	Ricardo Sanchez	A+	40	RP	Grant Dayton	60 Day DL
	Relievers			41	RP	Jacob Lindgren	*
33	RP	Akeel Morris	AAA	42	RP	Chase Whitley	*
34	RP	Jason Hursh	AAA			* DL probable

I expect Schmpf to be the first casualty when a 40 spot is required. Ruiz has options and can be sent down when Camargo comes back. This makes Adams’ spot tenuous when Ronald Acuna gets the call unless somebody else goes onto the 60-day DL.

Depending on when Gohara is ready to return, Brothers or Winkler could make way for him.

That’s a wrap

At least for now. I saw someone on Twitter talking about Jose Bautista being in Negotiations with the Braves. That smells like a troll to me as Joey Bats makes no sense in Atlanta, we already have people who play the outfield badly and hit under .200 in the system.

The moves almost assuredly mean Tucker and Adams or Bourjos platoon in left; a Ruiz / Flaherty platoon at third looks like the future at third until Camargo returns.

Next: It only hurts when he moves it . . .

The week has just started and things are hectic already. As more develops we’ll keep you informed here at the take.

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