Report: Atlanta Braves working on adding left fielder

Way Out in Left Field

There are still three significant free agents who could be acquired (merely) via a sufficient number of Franklins.  Here they are (with current age in parentheses):

• George Springer (turned 31 in September)
• Marcell Ozuna (turned 30 in November)
• Michael Brantley (33; turns 34 in May)

Of these three, only Springer is believed to be an everyday outfielder at this point in their careers; the others would need days off at the least, with Ozuna more of a pure DH option… an option that the Braves still cannot assume will be available to them.

Thus when all three are looking for multi-year deals, only Springer rates as a true left field (or any outfield position, really) option… and he will be expensive.

Yesterday, I teased the idea that Atlanta might wish to consider a ‘crazy wild card’ option for left field.  That option is Springer.  Here’s why he could actually make sense for the Braves — and why he might need to reconsider his own options:

• After getting Lindor, the Mets are perhaps less of a possible landing spot for Springer than they had been.  While he’d be a perfect fit there, the idea of getting two top-end-priced free agents may not work well for their own payroll as it’s approaching the ceiling.
• Aside from the Mets, the Blue Jays are the only other club he’s been linked to this off-season.  That’s pretty much because no one else has the funds to make an offer.
• Toronto, however, has significant drawbacks.  One of these involves the Canadian Government’s COVID restrictions.
• Another involves the taxes:  33% federal taxes plus 13.16% provincial taxes… plus surtaxes in Ontario (which is a 56% surcharge to the 46% taxes already being collected).
  • As Springer would be coming from a state (Texas) with no income tax, this would hit especially hard… and thus the Blue Jays would be obligated to make a huge overpay to even be competitive with other offers.
• Georgia’s income tax rates peak at 5.75%.  So even if you consider the top current US Federal income tax bracket is higher than Canada’s (37% to 33%), the Braves could offer Springer a substantially lower contract value and he’d still be way better off.

Do I expect this to happen?  No — it may still require a 5-year deal to land Springer, but it is interesting that a 5x$20m offer for his services in Georgia would require Toronto to respond with something in the $30m-per-year range just to be competitive.

Now let’s check the trade candidates…