While Alex Anthopoulos said the payroll would increase in 2025, the Atlanta Braves reduced their projected payroll (so far) by declining their option on Travis d’Arnaud, trading Jorge Soler, and non-tendering Ramon Laureano.
Unlike teams that use platoons and rotate their starters through the DH slot, the Braves expect everyone except the pitcher and catcher to play every day and have one of three full-time DHs in the NL.
The payroll moves and the Braves' play-every-day strategy make shopping for bargains to fill out their bench the logical move.
Under the radar depth pieces the Braves should consider at Black Friday prices
The Atlanta Braves are looking for a fourth outfielder. If you were building the perfect fourth outfielder, it would be a player capable of playing all three positions, who takes his walks, swings at strikes but strikes out less than the league-average, understands his role, and isn’t expensive.
If reports that the Braves want a left-handed bat are accurate, the player they want is Mike Tauchman. The Cubs non-tendered Tauchman because he’s arbitration-eligible for the third time and plays at 34 in 2025.
Tic-Tauch
Mike Tauchman’s a late bloomer; drafted in 2013, he didn’t enjoy a full season in the majors until 2019. After struggling in 2020 and 2021, Tauchman played a year in Korea before being signed by the Cubs in 2023.
Over the last two seasons in Chicago, he’s batted .250/.360/.372/.732 with a 20.7% K-rate and a 13.7% walk rate, posted a 110 wRC+, .328 wOBA, and been worth 2.8 fWAR. His career splits show he has held his own against same-sided pitching, albeit in a smaller sample size, so starting every day for a week or two doesn’t create a gaping hole in the lineup.
Baseball Savant confirms Tauchman’s awareness of the strike zone and puts his 2024 walk rate in the 98th percentile and his chase rate in the 88th.
Patrick Dubuque and Craig Goldstein described Tauchman in a post for Baseball Prospectus.
"“…he’s the present day’s purest form of a 1980s fourth outfielder...good plate discipline…cover all three outfield spots, and barely enough power to get it over the outfielder’s heads. He’d have batted leadoff for the 2024 Kansas City Royals…”"Patrick Dubuque and Craig Goldstein
When he signs, Tauchman will be under team control via arbitration, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if a team offered him a two-year deal to buy out that option.
Why the Braves want a lefty when two of the three preferred starting outfielders are lefties, and Ronald Acuña Jr. isn’t going to play every day escapes me. I suspect they’d be happy with a righty who isn’t a platoon player, and since these are my choices, I’ll add one of those too.
A Righty Option
Randal Grichuk was the Angels’ first-round draft pick in 2009. The Halos traded him to the Cards, where he became an everyday player for three seasons. He followed that with four solid years for Toronto before becoming a part-time player with the Rockies, Angels, and Diamondbacks.
He hits righties and lefties at roughly the same clip and was a key player in Arizona’s 2024 title chase, batting .291/.348/.528/.875 and hitting a dozen homers in 279 PA. Based on those numbers and his ability to play a corner outfield slot every day if needed,
He turned down his $6 million option with Arizona in search of a multi-year deal. Grichuk is a year younger and has more power than Tauchman, and his work on a pennant-chasing team will likely get him a longer contract.
He’s a Hoby, Not a Hobby
Sometimes teams do things that make me wonder what they were thinking. The perennially cash-strapped Brewers non-tendered a reliever who faced 891 batters over 211+ innings in the last three seasons pitched to a:
- 3.44 ERA,
- 3.14 FIP,
- 3.19 SIERA, and
- 1.11 WHIP,
- Posted a 24.4% K-rate,
- 5.1% BB-rate, and
- Allowed 0.74 homers per 9 IP.
My best guess is that they didn’t want to give 34-year-old lefty Hoby Milner the huge arbitration raise of (checks notes) $700K he earned. Okay, I guess. It’s true that Milner’s velocity isn’t amazing, but batters have only barreled 22 balls (4%) in the last three years, and when they hit the ball hard, it’s on the ground.
Milner’s Baseball Savant page shows his success in bold red bars. The Braves’ bullpen lost Jesse Chavez and Joe Jimenez, and the Roster Resource depth chart shows Angel Perdomo, who hasn’t pitched since 2023, Allan Winans, and Dylan Dodd as the support pieces for Raisel Iglesias et al.
Give me Milner, please…now.
That’s a Wrap
I expect Grichuk to get more money and years than Tauchman, but Tauchman is exactly what rumors suggest the Braves are looking for in a fourth outfielder. Giving him two years and $5M seems a good investment.
Everyone is worried about replacing Arcia, so let me calm your fears; that isn’t happening because there’s not a good option out there. Meanwhile, the Braves need a starter and bullpen help. Adding Milner adds depth to the pen, and the cost of Milner and Tauchman is low enough to give Alex Anthopoulos some payroll room to sign the starter they need.