Morning Chop: A week full of news ended with a Braves win on Friday

This week was one of the busiest of weeks when it came to Major League Baseball headlines. With a record-breaking signing, health concerns for the Atlanta Braves, and Spring Training games; let’s get up to date on all that has happened recently.

As we all know by now, one of the biggest rivals of our Atlanta Braves, the Philadelphia Phillies, signed former-MVP right fielder Bryce Harper to a 13-year, $330 million deal this past Thursday.

What’s interesting is that Harper opted to not include any opt-outs in his deal with the Phillies. It seems that Harper is making a statement that he is there to stay, and has no intentions of trying to bet on himself in Free Agency again.

We’ll see how that plays out for the 26-year-old slugger.

It’s finally over. 

You hear a lot of complaining during the offseason about how it takes too long for the best players to sign, and that the ‘colluding’ of the teams really waters down the Winter Hot Stove.

But think about it from a different angle: If Manny Machado and Bryce Harper both signed in December during the Winter Meetings – for some reason the made-up time period that teams are supposed to go on spending sprees – then there wouldn’t be such a build up of drama for the 4 to 4-1/2 months of no baseball. The sport would essentially be dead, with nothing but projections and prospect rankings to read. Some of us may like all of that, but not the average baseball fan, I’m afraid.

What would be there to talk about if both players signed at the beginning of the offseason?

Concerns and Good Starts

There were reports this week about arm soreness effecting a few Atlanta Braves pitchers. Well, it gets worse:

During Friday’s Spring Training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays, reliever AJ Minter had to leave after giving up a single to Toronto’s Lourdes Gurriel.

Brian Snitker later said that Minter’s shoulder “checked out [okay]” and that he felt he could have continued had that been a regular season game…. still:  it’s concerning given the other recent ailments.

Mike Foltynewicz, Mike Soroka and Luiz Gohara are already dealing with similar symptoms, so I don’t have to tell you that this isn’t great news for an already sore group. Hopefully these guys will get right. Today they are all scheduled to be checked out by Head Physician Dr. Gary Lourie, so an update on their condition should come soon.

Also, if you were wondering why you didn’t see Dansby Swanson or Josh Donaldson in Friday’s game versus the Blue Jays, here’s another development according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution piece.

"Friday was to be a big debut day for the left side of the Braves’ infield, as new acquisition Josh Donaldson had been scheduled to start his first spring game at third base as well. But just before Friday, the team pulled the plug on that, citing an abundance of caution."

The hits just keep coming for the Atlanta Braves. While Swanson and Donaldson’s status shouldn’t be too much of a concern, it’s getting a little dreary with all of these banged up Braves players.

Better News

On the positive side of things, there is a pitcher on the Braves team that is providing excitement. One of the top Braves prospects, right-hander Kyle Wright, looked great in his first start in Spring Training this past Wednesday.

In Wright’s start against the Cardinals he was about as good as it gets. He struck out three in two innings in route to the Braves shutting out the Cardinals.

Here’s what Manager Brian Snitker had to say about Wright’s performance:

"“He’s a kid with a really nice arm. It was a brief look last year, but I know people are really high on him.”"

Yes people are really high on him for sure. So far, Wright has looked the best out of all the pitchers that have appeared for the Braves this Spring. It’s obviously still early, but what a great sign that one of the young guns is coming out hot.