While there are still some big needs on the Atlanta Braves roster, Alex Anthopoulos is continuing to work the things he has some control of.
There’s no reason to wait when trying to put together bench and minor league depth pieces, so on Sunday, the Atlanta Braves opted to bring back a player who saw very limited action for the club in 2020:
Pablo Sandoval has a minor-league deal with the Braves, source confirms. He’ll earn $1 million if he makes the roster. First: @JonHeyman
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 24, 2021
The reports haven’t said so, but this signing almost certainly includes an invitation to Spring Training — it would be highly unusual if not.
The Atlanta Braves re-sign the ‘Kung Fu Panda’ to take another shot at a bench/backup role.
He’s now 34 years old and has struggled at the plate in most seasons since 2014 — 2019 was a notable exception — but the Braves think that there’s at least a glimmer of hope that Pablo Sandoval has enough left in the tank to back up Austin Riley while also giving him a chance to provide switch-hitting bench support.
In 2019, there was a glimmer of that former skill: an .820 OPS with 14 homers and a .268 hitting average over 296 plate appearances for the Giants. Since then… just .214 last year for San Fran and Atlanta (with no hits in 4 appearances for the Braves).
He’ll have to earn that, no doubt. This is a minor league deal, while implies that the 40-man roster — which was filled up on Saturday — is not changed.
Still, these moves (both the Saturday waiver claims and this signing) are the kinds of deals you normally see at this time of year when clubs are trying to fill out their roster with bench pieces, depth pieces, and AAA hopefuls.
The difference here in 2021, of course, is that these players are usually inked after all the heavy lifting has been done. Heck, the Braves still don’t even have a backup catcher… though if rumors are accurate, there’s perhaps a reason for that.
But say what you want about Sandoval: while he’s certainly had his issues, he also owns three World Series rings. That kind of experience is rare in the Atlanta clubhouse.
No, it’s not the kind of move we’ve been craving, but don’t short-sell the factor of having that kind of experience to share among a group of players still hungry for rings of their own.