An MLB journalist may have stumbled onto some news about the Atlanta Braves… a rare commodity, indeed.
With apologies to the long-ago band Climax, precious and few are the rumors we, too, are shared from the Atlanta Braves front office. Yes… I am that old.
It indeed is rare to hear something of substance from an Alex Anthopoulos-run ship; if only the US Government could keep its secrets this well. So if this rumor is true, it means only one thing… the source came from the other side:
More on the Braves’ pursuit of an outfielder: according to a source, Atlanta has Michael A. Taylor on its radar. Taylor is in the first year of a two-year, $9 million deal with the Royals.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 30, 2022
This actually contains a bonus: two rumors for the price of one:
- The Braves are in “pursuit” of an outfielder
- Michael A. Taylor is one possible target
This isn’t terribly surprising, given that left field has been something of an offensive hole for most of the year. But would Michael A. Taylor help fill that void adequately?
The Braves certainly have to know all about him, given that the 31-year-old played for the Nationals from 2014-2020 (a period of time that included their own championship season).
He’s a right-handed hitter, though, which doesn’t completely jive with the expectations for a trade target.
That said, either the Braves have a platoon situation in mind or there’s the fact that — this season — Taylor is hitting .294 in 163 AB vs. right-handed pitching (and just .229 against southpaws).
Taylor is enjoying a bit of a resurgence in KC. After hitting .196 during his final season at the nation’s capital, he’s improved to .244 in 2021 and now .275 this year with a .345 OBP.
Taylor doesn’t hit for much power, but let’s face it: the Braves have enough of that to go around… what they’re really missing is base-runners.
Taylor has been a really good fielder at times in the past, though the numbers seem to be against him this year. That would likely not be a problem in Atlanta, though, as he’d play left field instead of his more customary center.
Effectively, that would give Atlanta three center fielders roaming the grass at Truist Park.
Taylor is working on a 2-year deal with the Royals that runs through next season for a total price of $9 million. That’s certainly affordable for Atlanta given what we looked at this morning.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will be short one outfielder for tonight’s game against the Braves:
D-Backs trading David Peralta to the Rays for Christian Cerda, a 19-year-old catcher, per source. @ByRobertMurray and @JeffPassan were on it.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 30, 2022
But that news on Taylor is one rumor… and thus far it’s only sourced from Mark Feinsand… no other baseball reporter has confirmed his report.
Of course, it’s also quite plausible, and such reports are also in short supply during these last few hours before the trading window closes for the season.