Braves News: Reacting to trading Justyn-Henry Malloy, Matt Olson, more
We still await word as to what the Atlanta Braves will be doing at shortstop next season. With Dansby Swanson’s wedding coming up, we may have to wait even longer especially if Dansby is truly involving himself more in his free agent negotiations than Freddie Freeman did last offseason.
However, the Braves did make a move earlier in the week to acquire reliever Joe Jimenez from the Tigers in exchange for prospects Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jake Higginbotham. Alex Anthopoulos pointed to Malloy in particular when talking about how its tough to part with prospects you like but that the team is contending for a World Series title right now. However, given how thin the Braves are in the minor leagues when it comes to position player talent, it is fair to wonder if trading away Malloy, who was one of few true bright spots amongst Braves position player prospects, for one year of a reliever was a mistake.
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Matt Olson had a fine season in 2022, although it is fair to say that given the shoes he was filling and the associated expectations, Braves fans were likely hoping for a bit more out of him. However, with some encouraging peripherals and some helpful rules changes coming in 2023, Olson could be poised to have a breakout season next year.
We also got a bit of an update on the current state of the Dansby negotiations from Mark Bowman. It looks like in terms of actual offers on the table that the Braves most recent figure was a six year offer in the $16-$17 million range per year. However, Bowman noted that there had been a lack of communication since the end of the year which precipitated Dansby calling Alex Anthopoulos recently which appears to have been a positive conversation.
MLB News
The Mets have been on a spending spree in order to get back to at least parity with where they were last season. After re-signing Brandon Nimmo to an eight year, $162 million deal and signing David Robertson to a one year, $10 million deal, the Mets are projected to have a payroll of around $320 million next season which is….a silly amount of money.
As for the top free agent left on the market, Carlos Correa, he has no shortage of suitors. With the Twins seemingly pushing hard to bring Correa back, the Giants have entered the arena for his services after being unable to snag Aaron Judge.