When the Atlanta Braves traded for Mauricio Dubon, the veteran utility man was likely to fill one of two roles. Either he was going to get the bulk of the reps at shortstop and the Braves would just have to accept his offensive limitations or he was going to serve in his usual utility role and Atlanta would find an everyday shortstop.
Now, according to the trade rumor mill down at the Winter Meetings, it appears as though Atlanta is in the bidding for another utility free agent and all bets are off as to what the Braves are up to.
According to ESPN's Jorge Castillo, the Braves are interested in Willi Castro which is both extremely interesting as well as potentially another bad omen for those that have been hoping that Atlanta would not trade Ozzie Albies.
If the Braves sign Willi Castro, Ozzie Albies may never be more expendable and that is sad
Before we get to the Albies train of thought, lets appreciate just how weird of a move this would be for this Braves organization. Sure, there are teams that happily employ multiple utility players and mix-and-match lineups with them, but Atlanta under manager Brian Snitker was definitely not that team as players' roles were pretty locked in and inflexible. Clearly the organization thinks that things can/should change under new manager Walt Weiss.
Aside from that, the mere act of trading for Dubon was already bad news for Albies. It set up a situation where the Braves could still pursue an everyday shortstop and if they found one, they could trade Albies and still be covered at second base with Dubon. If Atlanta were to add Castro as anything other than a bench player, the Braves would probably have to move somebody. That said, Castro's bat isn't all that exciting in the lineup everyday, so a bench utility role with Dubon every day at short may be the most logical explanation.
We'll see how serious the Braves' interest in Castro is soon as more and more information becomes available from the Winter Meetings. So far, the pace of actual moves has been very slow and it is unlikely many actual transactions will happen Tuesday night and Wednesday as executives generally start leaving town. However, Atlanta and Alex Anthopoulos are definitely setting the stage for something and don't be surprised if it involves Albies' departure.