Atlanta Braves: Free Agent Options to Fill Out the Bench

How I would put together the Brave bench for 2021

Keep in mind that in this exercise I’m only focussing on free agents. There are certainly bench players out there who could be available in a trade that makes a ton of sense, but finding those players is difficult and just speculative.

At least we know free agents are out there to be had at the right price. And speaking of price, I’m looking for players that we can get for less than $5 million in 2021.

With the Braves only paying Ozuna $12 million this season, I’m hoping that means AA recognizes that more moves need to be made, and doing that gave him the flexibility to fill out the roster.

For a 26-man roster and 13 of those spots likely going to pitchers and eight going to the starters in the field, that leaves five spots for the bench (check my math).

One of them has to be a back-up catcher, and as I said at the top, I’d give Contreras or Jackson the opportunity for that job — whichever one looks better in spring training.

I have a feeling the Braves won’t do that and will sign Flowers or another veteran for $2-4 million. I’d prefer to save that money for the rest of the bench.

Camargo gets a spot on my bench. I’ve been as hard on him as anyone, but if he can ever commit to being a bench/utility guy then he could become a really good player and have a nice career similar to that of Marwin Gonzalez.

Also, if things don’t work out with Austin Riley at third, I like the insurance policy of having Camargo as the back-up. Camargo also still has two minor league options if the Braves needed to send him down.

The Braves desperately need some left-handed bats, so I would certainly be targetting Reddick for the bench.

I would really love Villar, but I think that’s a bit unrealistic. If we can’t get him, then I’m fine with Adrianza being the back-up at shortstop.

With my final bench option, I’d probably go with Duvall. If something happens to an outfielder, then I like having that outfield platoon option already in place with Duvall and Reddick.

You just wonder if Duvall could get a starting job somewhere else, or how will do in a bench role where he really struggled when the Braves first traded for him.

But this is what my bench would look like:

C – Contreras

INF – Camargo

SS – Adrianza

OF – Reddick

OF – Duvall

Duvall would also be a good late-game defensive replacement for Ozuna.

And this also assumes that the Braves are able to trade Inciarte, or perhaps they just end up cutting him.

I’m still not in love with that bench, but I think it’s certainly better than what they have now. That’s really just adding two players in Reddick and Duvall for likely a combined $6-8 million.

Again, I’m highly concerned with the depth of this team on the bench and think it needs to be a high priority over the next couple of weeks.