The last week has seen a flurry of activity in the free-agent market. If anecdotal info is to be believed, the Atlanta Braves seem to be doing little to drive the action their way.
First there was George Springer:
Interesting bit from @DOBrienATL:
— Dallas Britt (He/Him) (@DallasBBritt) January 21, 2021
“It surprised me to learn the Braves were actually in on Springer until the end. I don’t know how serious they were, but that’s what I was told by someone in the organization, that there were several who wanted him badly.” https://t.co/wZTACNNQXP
That makes me wonder just how “badly” he was wanted.
Then there was J.T. Realmuto.
On Jon Heyman’s “Big Time Baseball” podcast with Tony Gwynn Jr., they discussed the Realmuto situation just before the Phillies inked him. While Heyman said that there was mutual interest between the player and Atlanta, he still believed (correctly, as it turned out) that the Phillies would ultimately sign the catcher.
Atlanta Braves drive the on-field action, but not in the off-season.
Even last yesterday, the Braves were said to be involved in the negotiations for reliever Darren O’Day, whose $3.5 million option was declined back in November. They gave him a buyout of either $250K or $500K, depending on your source.
The Yankees have now signed O’Day to a $2.45 million deal for 2021.
Now: none of these numbers represent “chump change”, but from all of these interactions, it appears that Atlanta is simply waiting on someone to choose them despite not offering a better deal.
Sorry, guys, but I don’t care if we’re talking about $500K or $50 million: money (and years) are going to do the most talking here… and so far it’s looking like the Braves are akin to an accountant poring over his dinner checks with a calculator to make sure the waiter doesn’t get a tip more than 15%… while every else is giving up 20%.
That’s just not going to get it done, and now nearly all of the best bats are gone from the market: Springer, LaMahieu, Brantley, Realmuto.
Only Marcell Ozuna remains on the free-agent market, and that, of course, is because he should give all of his gloves to a local thrift store and make sure he’s never caught using one again.
So unless Atlanta has a shrewd trade ready to go (and there have been precious few of those across MLB lately), the bat pursuit is probably over… with Atlanta left on the outside of the party.
Contrast the above with this from the Blue Jays’ General Manager:
Ross Atkins: George Springer was the #1 target for us when the offseason began and we're glad that he was attracted to the Toronto community as well. #TimandSid #BlueJays
— Alex Seixeiro (@AlexSeixeiro) January 27, 2021
See the difference?
Alex Anthopoulos was quoted earlier in the off-season in an interview saying that he would not “force” any deal to happen. Apparently, he’s held true to his word.
Unfortunately, that’s not the way to acquire the kind of players needed to help his team. Instead, you get the leftovers… maybe.