Braves sign Jordan Walden to minor league deal

[GovClintonTyree]

Obviously, no downside here, but it's a tough road ahead for Walden with those mechanics and nagging shoulder issues. Should be pretty straightforward in ST . . . if he's healthy and the velocity is there, he should make the OD roster no questions asked. I'm not optimistic.

Well-put. This does not, however, dampen my enthusiasm for thethe's brand of optimism.

[GovClintonTyree]

Yep. .230 BA/7 HR/49 RBI on a WS-winning team at $15MM. With the Gold Glove, his WAR must surely be above 4.0!

That would be defense-and-baserunning driven WAR, I'm told. Also, you used the wrong stats to determine whether he sucked or not. His wOBA was .282 and WRC+ was 72. I think those are bad.

His overall WAR was 1.5, which, at $9m per WAR, means he was only a slight overpay.

Heh.

[thethe]

That would be defense-and-baserunning driven WAR, I'm told. Also, you used the wrong stats to determine whether he sucked or not. His wOBA was .282 and WRC+ was 72. I think those are bad.

His overall WAR was 1.5, which, at $9m per WAR, means he was only a slight overpay.

Heh.

I still miss watching Heyward everyday but it was pretty obvious to me that giving him a big contract was a mistake.

Have the negabraves had a mea culpa yet? Is it still too early to call?

[jimsnores]

And to make this come full circle all we need is for the Cubs to release Heyward and sign him to a minor league deal.

Even now, neither a release or a minor league sign is on the horizon for Heyward for a long time. He will likely never reach his formerly awesome potential, but it's way too early to assume he is hopeless. Cubbies have too much invested.

[nsacpi]

I still miss watching Heyward everyday but it was pretty obvious to me that giving him a big contract was a mistake.

Have the negabraves had a mea culpa yet? Is it still too early to call?

If you look at 2016 then it is easy to say a big contract is a mistake.

If you look from the 2013 off-season, which is when I believe extensions were given to Freeman, Simmons, Kimbrel and Teheran, I think the answer is less clear. Heyward put up WAR totaling 12.7 over 2014-2016. That's 1 less than Freeman. And I think a small discount should be applied because of more of his value being tied to his defense. That still leaves him at close to 4 WAR per season over the past three years. So I would say the answer to the question depends on whether a hypothetical extension after the 2013 season was priced for production above or below 4 WAR per season.

Looking at one particular season may yield the emotional satisfaction of feeling vindicated, but is too small a sample for evaluating the merits of a long-term extension. With small samples you will get big swings in your assessment. A bigger sample smooths those swings (acting as a sort of Prozak). If you look at the vantage point of last off-season, you would be making an assessment after Heyward put up a 6 WAR season and Freeman put up a 3.4 WAR season, with a worrying wrist injury. From the vantage point of last off-season, I think the verdict of whether the "right" player had gotten the extension might have been different.

Of course, there is also the unknown of what it would have taken to extent Heyward, but here we enter the realm of speculation, Ramadon's inside information notwithstanding.

[Russ2dollas]

We didn't know about the Shelby miller deal at the time. But we clearly won the last yr of heyward.

1 year of Shelby plus inciarte and Swanson is a big win. I haven't given up on Blair and Jenkins.

Heyward a best bet IMO is for fowler to leave and to play cf. bc he's not hitting enough for rf.

That deal for double that production cripples us.

I have to think we easily out war heyward with neck and inciarte. Swanson and inciarte could do it themselves

[50PoundHead]

I've missed watching Walden's 59 foot slider.

As for the Heyward/Miller deal, it's turned out well for us thus far. I'm really curious to see if Heyward can turn it around with the bat. He's become the Eddie Brinkman of right-fielders.

[rico43]

With Walden signing a minor league deal, Braves are still at 36 on the 40-man roster, according to MLB.com.

A suggestion that they might look to sign former No. 1 pick Cory Rasmus. He was very good in2014 with the Angels, and is completely recovered from muscle surgery last summer. DFA by the Angels, he opted for free agency. Still only 29.

[rico43]

Here is Braves 40-man as over November 15:

PITCHERS
Biddle, Blair, Collmenter, Cabrera, Colon (pending physical, apparently), Dickey, Foltynewicz,. Gant, Hursh, Jenkins, Johnson, Krol, Morris, Perez, Ramirez, Paco Rodriguez, Roe, Simmons, Teheran, Vizcaino, Whalen, Winkler, Wisler, Withrow.
CATCHERS
Flowers, Recker
INFIELDERS
d'Arnaud, Freeman, Garcia, Peterson, Ruiz, Swanson
OUTFIELDERS
Inciarte, Kemp, Markakis, Smith

[mfree80]

With Walden signing a minor league deal, Braves are still at 36 on the 40-man roster, according to MLB.com.

A suggestion that they might look to sign former No. 1 pick Cory Rasmus. He was very good in2014 with the Angels, and is completely recovered from muscle surgery last summer. DFA by the Angels, he opted for free agency. Still only 29.

An intriguing idea. Might be a prelude to a Kakis trade?

[rico43]

More signings!

Cuban RHP Elian Leyva, Cuban national via Spain. Will be 27 in 2017.
RHP Ramon Morla, a Tommy John patient who was a former infielder in Mariners system.
RHP Isaac Sanchez, also from Mariners system, was in Pirates system from 2010-15.

FYI: Orioles have already removed Jed Bradley from their 40-man and outrighted him to AAA. Would've liked another go at him.

[blueagleace1]

An intriguing idea. Might be a prelude to a Kakis trade?

Cory Rasmus, NOT Colby. Think you may have the two confused.

[mfree80]

Awww. Yes indeed.