Atlanta Braves at the Mock Winter Meetings day 3: Free agents and more
By Fred Owens
A catcher needed and a mock signing is made.
Early in the afternoon, the Padres and Jays Sim-GMs joined me to put together a simulated three-team deal that would bring Francisco Mejia to Atlanta send William Contreras to San Diego and with a group on players moving to Toronto and another trio moving from Toronto.
The idea there revolved around the timing for each of these premium catching prospects: Mejia is essentially major league ready and Contreras needs a couple more years in the minors… thus getting a swap done made some sense for the competitive ‘windows’ of each club.
Anything that complex had to go to the commissioner who had concerns. We tried to address them but after three hours the commissioner killed the deal. We were sad, but I had a contingency plan.
Shortly after I received the notification, I inked Yasmani Grandal to a mock three-year, $36M deal. While my simulated Atlanta Braves will lose a draft pick, we now have two of the top defensive catchers in the game as simulated teammates.
As a switch-hitter, Grandal allows my manager to use Tyler Flowers strategically instead of a random every other day rotation.
Sergio Romo
As I studied the bullpen, it became clear that most of them were the same type of pitcher; power arms with everything arriving quickly. I looked for options and found Sergio Romo.
Batters know what Romo’s going to throw and they still have trouble hitting that slider. He’s an experienced arm, never panics and adds some personality as well. He’d earn $5M for one year if we weren’t simulating everything.
I thought the pen was complete then I had an opportunity to do my Tim Taylor Impression and add more power by adding Ken Giles from Toronto.