An early look at which free agents Atlanta Braves could target
By James Kunkle
Yasmani Grandal
Signing Yasmani Grandal would do two things for the Atlanta Braves. It would give us a good catcher who has experience on good teams and being in the playoffs and it would relegate Tyler Flowers to strictly a backup.
You don’t sign Grandal with the intention of platooning him.
The Brewers can retain Grandal by simply exercising their $16 million option, so this might be for nothing here, but maybe not?
The soon to be 31-year-old has plenty of power and could actually slide right in the middle of the Braves order.
Mike Moustakas
Another Brewer who could soon be a free agent and who could help the Atlanta Braves is Mike Moustakas. Much of the same story that applied to Grandal applies here. Milwaukee can bring back “Moose,” but they will have to pay.
Will Milwaukee elect to spend their funds toward pitching?
The two-time All-Star has always been known to hit some home runs and have the ability to knock in runs.
Defense is not as good as Braves fans have come to love with Donaldson, but it is respectable.
The downfall to Moustakas is you can’t expect a .300 hitter as his career average sits at .252. Not much else is out there for the Braves unless they make a trade for a third baseman.
Nicholas Castellanos
Nicholas Castellanos was connected to the Atlanta Braves for what seemed like the entire 2019 season. He was eventually traded to the Cubs were he mashed and was their team’s best hitter throughout August and September.
Castellanos proved he could be a 30 home run hitter in the right situation. His numbers in Detroit were misleading for two reasons.
One was the fact that Comerica Park is huge. Second, let’s be honest, the Tigers were just brutal last year.
Still in his twenties, Castellanos will surely be able to land a 4 or 5-year deal this Winter.
Marcell Ozuna
Yes, the guy that killed us in the NLDS series would be a good fit for the Braves. Marcell Ozuna seemingly hit a double right down the line every time he faced us in the latest playoff series.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have him hit the doubles for us next time?
Despite that, Ozuna did have a down year at the plate in 2019, especially in the second half. His average of .241 was a career low and more than 30 points off of his career average of .272.
Even with that said though, Ozuna still managed an OPS of exactly .800 and was just shy of 30 home runs and 90 RBI.
Put him after Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna, and those numbers will surely jump up.
Yasiel Puig
Admittedly, I only included Yasiel Puig on this list due to the lack of star power in the upcoming free agency class.
Puig isn’t an elite player in my estimation, but he is a good player still. I just don’t see him being a great fit on this current Atlanta Braves team.
The one positive I can tell you is due to him being traded mid-season this past year, he cannot be tied to draft pick compensation.
We all know how the Braves feel about giving up a draft pick at least until the International sanctions are extinct.