Looking Ahead - The 2020 Offseason Thread

2021 Free-Agents:
3B - Justin Turner ($19 million)
OF - George Springer ($21 million)
OF - Michael Brantley ($16 million)
OF - Joc Pederson ($7.75 million)
OF - Mark Canha ($4.8 million)
UT - Tommy LaStella ($3.25 million)
DH - Nelson Cruz ($12 million) - Looking for a 2 year deal

SP- Trevor Bauer ($17.5 million)
SP - Masahiro Tanaka ($23 million)
SP - Jake Odorizzi ($17.8 million)
SP - James Paxton ($12.5 million)
SP - Marcus Stroman ($12 million)
SP - Jose Quintana ($10.5 million)
SP - Mike Minor ($9.5 million)
SP - Robbie Ray ($9.43 million)
SP - Kevin Gausman ($5.3 million)
SP - Taijuan Walker ($2 million)
RP - Blake Treinen ($10 million)
RP - Ken Giles ($9.6 million)
RP - Liam Hendriks ($5.3 million)
RP - Keone Kela ($3.725 million)
RP - Brandon Workman ($3.5 million)
RP - Tony Watson ($3 million)
RP - Trevor Rosenthal ($2 million)
RP - T. J. McFarland ($1.8 million)
RP - Greg Holland ($1.25 million) - Royals looking to re-sign him
RP - Jeremy Jeffress ($850K)



2021 Final Year Of Arbitration Or Team Options:
C - Wilson Ramos ($10,000,000)
C - Robinson Chirinos ($6,500,000)
C - Mike Zunino ($4,500,000)
1B/DH - Carlos Santana ($17,500,000)
1B/DH - Edwin Encarnacion ($12,000,000)
1B/DH - Daniel Murphy ($8,000,000)
1B/3B/DH - Todd Frazier ($5,750,000)
1B/DH - Eric Thames ($4,000,000)
2B - Kolten Wong ($12,500,000)
2B/OF - Dee Strange-Gordon ($13,500,000)
2B/3B - Eric Sogard ($4,500,000)
2B/3B - Howie Kendrick ($4,000,000)
LF - Bret Gardner ($10,000,000)
RF - Adam Eaton ($9,500,000)
LF/DH - Eddie Rosario ($7,500,000)

SP - Jake Arrieta ($20,000,000)
SP - Corey Kluber ($18,000,000)
SP - Jon Lester ($15,000,000)
SP - Mike Leake ($15,000,000)
SP - Anibal Sanchez ($12,000,000)
SP - Chris Archer ($11,000,000)
SP - Chase Anderson ($9,250,000)
SP - Gio Gonzalez ($7,000,000)
RP - David Robertson ($12,000,000)
RP - Brad Hand ($10,000,000)
RP - Roberto Osuna ($10,000,000)
RP - Hector Neris ($7,000,000)
RP - Steve Cishek ($6,750,000)
RP - Sergio Romo ($5,000,000)



*** Salaries listed are what they were due to make in 2020 ***

*** Bold = Option Not Picked Up ***
 
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Kendrick is an interesting option for our problem at 3b. I would say Stella! instead, but the A's are going to go after him hard. They loved him. Pederson would be fantastic in a platoon with Duvall.
 
What would people pay for Springer? I think he's a legit RH bat, similar to ozuna, but would be very valuable in Left Field. If you are worried about blocking Waters, you still have the option of him being awesome and having Waters,Springer/Acuna/Pache rotate through OF and DH. If would be insurance if you wanted to keep Pache down or Pache does not hit. You could trade Duvall or have a great bench option. An OF of Springer, Pache, Acuna would be amazing on defense.

If he is willing to sign for 3-4 years, then I'd be interested. It would eat up almost all of our likely money and that is a concern.
 
He's coming off a down year, but I wonder if Eaton might not be an option to replace Markakis to platoon with Duvall (assuming he's retained). Reports have always had him as a good clubhouse guy, and he's had postseason experience. His 2021 ZiPS projections aren't awful, and he'd probably be a cheaper option than Pederson.
 
Dalyn said:
Kendrick is an interesting option for our problem at 3b. I would say Stella! instead, but the A's are going to go after him hard. They loved him. Pederson would be fantastic in a platoon with Duvall.
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Not sure Kendrick fits since he's right-handed - if they're pinching pennies, AA's probably looking for left-handed mates for Riley and Duvall.
 
I know Riley is cheap, but how much of a leash do you keep with him?

yes he can hit some majestic homers, but his strikeouts and lack of plate discipline are a bit depressing to watch.
 
The Braves may not have enough cash to do anything other than give Riley more time to continue improving. He showed real signs last year, and it's reasonable to be optimistic he can do so again in 2021.

I'd love to see them upgrade 3b, but teams can win with a 1 win everyday player at the bottom of the order making league minimum.
 
The Chosen One said:
I know Riley is cheap, but how much of a leash do you keep with him?

yes he can hit some majestic homers, but his strikeouts and lack of plate discipline are a bit depressing to watch.
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Your points are well taken but if he had some help in the bottom of the order and considering his defense, age, power et al he is not a bad choice at least while drawing pre arb money. As an aside, pull up Braves stats on Baseball Reference Riley and Duvall are easy to compare.
 
Enscheff said:
The Braves may not have enough cash to do anything other than give Riley more time to continue improving. He showed real signs last year, and it's reasonable to be optimistic he can do so again in 2021.

I'd love to see them upgrade 3b, but teams can win with a 1 win everyday player at the bottom of the order making league minimum.
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will be interested to see how his 2021 season looks since he will be facing broader competition around the league rather than the same pitchers often like this year.
 
I wonder if Adam Wainwright makes sense as a one-year veteran band aid at the bottom of the rotation. Anthopolous is obviously less prone to the feel-good prodigal son signings than some of our previous GMs, but he could come cheaper than some other options on account of his age.
 
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From the 2019 season to the 2020 season...

Riley's xwOBA improved from .309 to .325.

Riley's LD/FB exit velocity held at 94.1 mph.

Riley's O-Swing% decreased from 41.3% to 37.1%.

Riley's Z-Contact% increased from 73.7% to 83.3%

Riley's K% decreased from 36.4% to 23.8%.

Riley's BB% increased from 5.4% to 7.8%.

So Riley made more contact, swung at better pitches, struck out less, walked more, all the while giving up nothing in terms of contact quality. Those are very real improvements from a young cheap player, and unlike the fluky Camargo season, I have no problem "seeing what he can do" for another 300-400 PAs in 2021 while he is still very cheap...especially if the Braves can't afford many upgrades.

Riley's main issue in 2021 was he hit WAY too many GBs...up from 26.2% to an insane 41.7%. If he gets that back down under 30% and maintains his improvements everywhere else, he should be a .240/.310/.480 type hitter that fits just fine in the 6/7 hole at league minimum.
 
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Cardinals dropping Wong is probably a sign of how bad it's going to be for FA this year. Klaw is only one source, but he has Wong at the number 9 FA this year and the Cardinals didn't want to pay him one year and 10 million.

If someone signs a long term deal, I wonder if a team can talk them in to taking less money this year and putting that money elsewhere in the contract.

I am really interested in the Springer option but Law has him getting a 6 plus year deal and I don't see that from AA.

Klaw's list had a lot of potential 1 year deals listed. Paxton, Quintana, Minor, Gausman, Ordorizzi, Kluber, Archer, Lester.
 
Kluber seems like a very interesting buy-low candidate. The Indians turned down his $18M option, so he should come much cheaper than that.

A SP, a LHH to replace Markakis, and a RHH to replace Ozuna is all the the Braves really need to be clear contenders in 2021.
 
Enscheff said:
Kluber seems like a very interesting buy-low candidate. The Indians turned down his $18M option, so he should come much cheaper than that.

A SP, a LHH to replace Markakis, and a RHH to replace Ozuna is all the the Braves really need to be clear contenders in 2021.
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Replacing Ozuna is going to be tough. Sure, they don’t have to be MVP candidates like Donaldson and Ozuna were, but we’re definitely going to need a bonafide slugger. Not sure there’s much out there to fit that bill.
 
Brad Hand has been placed on waivers.

If he clears the Indians intend to exercise the buy out to his 10m option to save 9m.

I would not think he would go unclaimed.

That's a contender walking away from a very reasonably priced and still fairly dominant closer.

It's going to be a mess out there.

Guys like Melancon, Greene may be CHEAP.
 
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