Atlanta Braves: My week as Braves GM
Clearing up a rotation spot and some salary
After a night of pizza with Twins representatives discussing their new manager and the interesting analytical ideas they have around their lineup, it became clear they had interest in one particular Brave hurler, one that had just been acquired during the 2018 season.
The Twins had declined options on Ervin Santana and Logan Morrison, which opened salary for 2019, but it also meant that their rotation was Jose Berrios along with Kyle Gibson, Jake Odorizzi, and Michael Pineda (coming off injury and no guarantee). They wanted innings bad, and thought Kevin Gausman could be the guy to do it.
After moving plenty of salary, they also had a hole in the bullpen. With Kevin Gausman likely going to make nearly $10 million, this looked like an opportunity to get an excellent return while also freeing up some salary and give a rotation spot to the young arms ready to launch onto the scene.
It also allowed me to have a long talk about the team’s relationship with a particular Georgia-born outfielder. He became the centerpiece to the return on the deal.
The final deal:
Atlanta Braves receive: Byron Buxton, LaMonte Wade, Jovani Moran, Minnesota Twins collective bargaining agreement selection
Minnesota Twins receive: Kevin Gausman, Mark Melancon, $10M from Braves for salary of Melancon ($7M in 2019, $3M in 2020) and $4M from Giants for Melancon 2020 salary, plus international slot money (the Twins hope to pursue Yusei Kikuchi)
Tremendous depth
After that deal, I had to call Anthopolous, who was beginning to feel better but was also incredibly pleased with the quick progress I’d made. Thinking the agents and other GMs were likely still thinking they could swindle me based on my inexperience, he gave me the green light to pursue one guy that I thought was out of range when things began.
When the Astros put a qualifying offer on Marwin Gonzalez, most figured he was going back to Houston, but with the freedom in salary, I now had the green light to make a “Godfather” offer to Gonzalez.
Having never met Scott Boras, the first sit-down was intimidating, and he certainly saw the value in his client as being very high within the game. He could not get the Astros to come to terms, which led to the decline of the offer, and with the market rank of the Braves now pushing the team into a spot where the 2nd-highest pick is lost on a qualifying offer free agent, Gonzalez had been off the chart previously.
The numbers Boras was asking were crazy – 5 years, $20 million per season. However, Alex had told me where the rumored Astros offer had been. I made my counter, and it took a little completion on the details, but the contract was eventually signed.
Signed: Marwin Gonzalez, 3 years, $39 million base guarantees, no option years, but incentives based on games started each season that could make the deal worth as much as $51 million.