Atlanta Braves Mock Winter Meeting Epilogue: A new roster
By Fred Owens
Position players
I made two significant changes to the everyday eight. The first came with the signing of Eddie Rosario. Rosario plays better in left, so Ronald Acuna Jr. moves to right.
The second came with the addition of Yasmani Grandal as the primary catcher for my lineup he plays four days a week and Tyler Flowers gets slotted in against left-handed pitchers.
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I designed this with an eight-man pen – more on that later- and that means a four-man bench of Trey Mancini, Charlie Culberson, Gerardo Parra and Flowers
Mancini gets at least one start a week as does Culberson while Parra gets an at-bat a game, an inning now and then and an occasional start. The four-man bench means Brandon Drury starts in AAA.
Here’s the remainder of the mock active (25-man) roster.
| Player | $ in Millions/yr | |||
| 14 | C | Yasmani Grandal | B/R | $12.00 |
| 15 | C | Tyler Flowers | R/R | $4.00 |
| 16 | 1B | Freddie Freeman | L/L | $21.40 |
| 17 | 2B | Ozzie Albies | B/R | $0.55 |
| 18 | SS | Dansby Swanson | R/R | $0.58 |
| 19 | 3B | Johan Camargo | B/R | $0.55 |
| 20 | RF | Ronald Acuña | R/R | $0.55 |
| 21 | CF | Ender Inciarte | L/L | $5.40 |
| 22 | LF | Eddie Rosario | L/R | $5.00 |
| 23 | util | Charlie Culberson | R/R | $1.30 |
| 24 | OF | Gerardo Para | L/L | $8.00 |
| 25 | OF | Trey Mancini | R/R | $0.58 |
| Active Payroll | $105.94 |
As you can see, the payroll leaves room for emergency additions or deadline improvements if needed.
The remainder of the mock 40-man roster
All of that maneuvering created space on the roster for additions.
| Player | |||
| 26 | SP | Luiz Gohara | L/L |
| 27 | SP | Mike Soroka | R/R |
| 28 | SP | Wes Parsons | R/R |
| 29 | RP | Adam McCreery | L/L |
| 30 | RP | Chad Sobotka | R/R |
| 31 | RP | Grant Dayton | L/L |
| 32 | SP | Patrick Weigel | R/R |
| 33 | C | Raffy Lopez | L/R |
| 34 | Pos | Rio Ruiz | L/R |
| 35 | Pos | Brandon Drury | R/R |
| 36 | RP | Jacob Webb | R/R |
| 37 | RP | Josh Graham | R/R |
| 38 | RP | Michael Mader | L/L |
| 39 | |||
| 40 |
The structure of this roster means that those players will come from minor league free agents or other non-affiliated sources.
No room remains for a Major League Rule 5 additions but minor league Rule 5 additions are high on my list. I’d expect to claim a few of those.
I expect to offer Preston Tucker and Lane Adams minor league deals or split contracts. I added Webb, Graham, and Mader rather than leave them exposed to Rule 5 selection.