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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: fetching more catching

By Alan Carpenter

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 14: Catcher Kurt Suzuki #24 of the Atlanta Braves looks on against the Washington Nationals in the second inning at Nationals Park on September 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 14: Catcher Kurt Suzuki #24 of the Atlanta Braves looks on against the Washington Nationals in the second inning at Nationals Park on September 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 08: Kurt Suzuki #24 of the Atlanta Braves in the dugout during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 8, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 08: Kurt Suzuki #24 of the Atlanta Braves in the dugout during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 8, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Wither Suzuki?

It’s also fair to wonder if the Braves signed the right guy.

Suzuki was clearly the better player offensively in 2018 and accounted for 2 fWAR by himself (Flowers was at 1.2 – mostly for his defensive grade; others combined for -0.2 or -0.3, depending on rounding errors).

Suzuki says he wants to “find a way” to get back to Atlanta… and why not?  He’s thrived there in posting his best results in any season since being a member of the A’s in 2008-2009, and this sharing of duties with Flowers has clearly worked well for both of them.

The fact that he’s the elder of this pair (just turned 35 last week) hasn’t slowed him a bit.  In fact, you could argue that this system the Braves have developed is a good model going forward:  older receivers that play roughly every other day.

The problem, though, could be financial.

A couple of days ago, the MLB Trade Rumors site wrote up an off-season market evaluation for catchers.  Suzuki is listed with Martin Maldonado as being the best “timeshare” options below the everyday free agent options of Wilson Ramos and Yasmani Grandal.

If the Braves paid $6 million (yeah – it’s $4 million plus the buyout) for Flowers, then you’d think that Suzuki would command at least that much… so that’s kind of a lot for 2 older catchers that might see time catching up with them soon.

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