Atlanta Braves rumors: are they still seeking catching or what?
Source and Counter-Sources
I’m going to start with Craig Mish. I do this because he had an earlier note about this topic… and it has now been repeated.
Mish is not without credentials – his self-described twitter bio reads like this: “National Sports Radio host for @SiriusXM Video Livestreams on @Fantasyalarm @swingsandmishes Marlins Podcast”.
He’s not Ken Rosenthal, but he’s also not… well… he’s not me either. With close to 20,000 followers on twitter, he doesn’t need to be making up stuff.
Here are his tweets from November 7th:
Sources indicate the Braves have a strong offer on the table for Marlins All Star Catcher J.T. Realmuto. MIA may prefer him dealt outside of NL East, but at this point team is operating as though a trade is likely to happen.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) November 7, 2018
Sources also indicate Marlins are asking price on Realmuto is a high end young pitching prospect and a position player. A potential two for one.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) November 7, 2018
These were not elaborated upon, nor were they retracted. This despite denials at the time from the Braves’ beat writers. Again, that was nearly a month ago.
So yesterday, he doubles-down with this – which includes strong specifics:
Sources indicate Braves discussions with Marlins for Realmuto include a pkg built around 3B Austin Riley & P Michael Soroka. Marlins are still listening to offers from other clubs.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 4, 2018
It would be hard to categorize the Braves as the “favorite” for Realmuto because a deal is not imminent, but sources say Atlanta continues to pursue Realmuto as much as anyone. Even after the McCann signing.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 4, 2018
There are a couple of related tweets on his timeline – which include talk about the Phillies’ and Mets’ interest. He even opted to “pin” a tweet that’s effectively an odds chart for who gets Realmuto… and he pegs the Braves at the top – 20%.
Of note: if the idea of a ‘high-end pitching prospect’ and ‘a position player’ are the basic requirements in this calculus, then certainly Soroka and Riley meet the standard… so that’s quite consistent.
Certainly, too, J.T. Realmuto would be a great ‘get’ for the Braves with an offensive-minded bat… plus he’s been averaging over 1000 catching innings in his first 4 major league seasons, so he could absolutely take the lead role in a catching tandem (or trio). More on that later.
However, that info from that pair of intriguing tweets was almost immediately shot down by David O’Brien:
Am told that reports of #Braves offering Riley and Soroka for #Marlins’ Realmuto last summer were false and that there’s no validity to latest report that they’re offering those two currently for Realmuto.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) December 4, 2018
Of course, I could also show you conflicting information about whether the Braves are talking with Cleveland about Corey Kluber, too, so you could look at the above as simply a part of the fog that covers the business of baseball during these key months of the off-season.
In Mish’s miniature missives we see consistency and specificity. From O’Brien, we have a direct denial. One of these is not true… yet both come from respectable sources.
Okay… let’s move on, for there’s more to come.