Atlanta Braves looking for a bat after the rain left town

Other considerations

Here are a few other things the Atlanta Braves might consider.

• Bryant required two separate IL stints in 2018 with a shoulder injury, 15 days and 22 days and suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss games in July, August and September in 2019
• Marcell Ozuna missed 32 games with a shoulder injury
• Kyle Seager missed April and the first week in May recovering from surgery on his left hand

On December 11, Ken Rosenthal writing for The Athletic ($), suggested the Braves liked Bryant but weren’t as high on his defense.

"Bryant ranked 15th in the NL with a .903 OPS in 2019, but he has dropped from 14th to 22nd to 31st in defensive runs saved at third base the past three seasons, which is one reason the Braves and other clubs are not necessarily enamored with him at the position."

I believe Bryant’s third base defense began to suffer when Joe Maddon started playing musical positions with his lineup. Star players want to know where they’re going to play day-to-day Before Maddon Bryant had positive DRS and UZR numbers every year.

The Atlanta Braves have the best infield coach in MLB; Ron Washington will get him back to form pretty quickly if the Braves go that way.

Similarly, Kyle Seager’s bat and Trey Mancini’s zone recognition would come around under Kevin Seitzer’s guidance.

Starling Marte stole 25 bases in 31 attempts last year; that’s an 80.5% success rate. Marte would make the top of the order extremely dangerous and flexible.

Nolan Arenado’s eight sacrifice flies in 2019 ranked ninth in MLB, Mancini had five, Marte four, Castellanos three, Seager and Bryant two, and Ozuna one.

That’s a wrap.

That’s an unbiased look at the 2019 season for players we’ve discussed, make of it what you will.

This morning Alex Anthopoulos told Atlanta Braves A-List members, that he had a cleanup hitter at the top of his list, and stomped on any suggestion that LMC was restraining spending.

He said he had yet to ask for money and been told ‘no’. He went on to say the Braves had exceeded payroll budgets two years in a row. (Private message I can’t link.)

Unrelated directly, Daniel Greenberg of ESPN Chicago just tweeted that the Braves and Cubs were talking about Bryant again. I’m sure they are talking to the Cubs and everyone else who might fit the Braves’ needs. I’m also sure he’ll have the deal in the books before any reporter knows about it.

Now back to… The hunt for a bat for October.