Braves News: Reacting to Dansby’s departure, Michael Brantley, more

There is a lot to digest for Atlanta Braves fans at the moment. With Dansby officially heading to the Chicago Cubs on a seven year deal, we now have to figure out what the Braves plans are for the shortstop position and really the whole of free agency. They seemingly have a little money to spend with the luxury tax not a major problem, but it is unclear how or if they will do so.

However, it does seem appropriate to do a bit of a post mortem on Dansby’s negotiations with the Braves and why the team may have decided to not offer more to Dansby this offseason. These considerations are never simple, but it is seeming more and more like the Braves had a value that they were comfortable placing on Dansby and weren’t going to waver from that number.

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So where do the Braves go from here this offseason? The marquee free agents have already been signed, so now the Braves will have to look to either the trade market or to internal options to fill the void at shortstop. Amongst the remaining free agents, it sounds like Elvis Andrus remains a leading option.

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We took a look at why Michael Brantley could have been a good fit for the Braves earlier this offseason. However, he decided to stay with Houston as he signed a one year deal worth $12 million that also includes around $4 million in incentives. A bit of a bummer as Brantley seemed like he could have been a good option to round out the Braves’ lineup (with some obvious defensive limitations), but Brantley seems to have enjoyed his time in Houston.

One name that we hadn’t heard much about on the free agent market this winter is Justin Turner. Turner’s best days are behind him to be sure, but he looked like his former self in his last 70 games or so and it looked like the Red Sox and Dodgers were both looking at the veteran. In the end, Boston won the bidding as they signed Turner to a two year deal.