Braves sign Charlie Morton

From Anthopoulos:

“We had an extremely short list of [starting pitchers] we would consider, basically two to three. And obviously we got two,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said. “These were the two guys that were at the top of our list, Charlie and Drew."
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Wonder who was/is the third FA starter. Lester, maybe, on a rebound deal? Doubt it’s Bauer, given his likely price-tag.
 
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Carp said:
I'd rather bring back King Felix. I was really interested in seeing him suit up for us before COVID killed that.
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Super said:
either one for cheap sounds good to me.
i think Hamels will still end up getting a somewhat decent contract, AKA not the minimum. Felix is a guarantee to sign for the min tho.
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Yea, I think Hernandez would be the more likely re-do, given likely costs. Hamels was at least effective the last time he was healthy and pitched; Hernandez has to prove he can re-invent his entire game to suit his old-man arm.
 
clvclv said:
Payroll now sits at just shy of $123 million following the Morton signing. Trading one of the surplus arms (not named Wright, Wilson, or Muller) for Rosario and non-tendering Duvall would bump that number to ~ $128 million. $12 million left doesn't get you Ozuna, but it might very well get you Carlos Santana if there's a DH while leaving enough room to bring one of Melancon or Greene back.
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Payroll must be a LOT higher than expected. No way AA blew 26 mil on Smyly and Morton without having to add a big bat or some hitting options.
 
Heyward said:
Payroll must be a LOT higher than expected. No way AA blew 26 mil on Smyly and Morton without having to add a big bat or some hitting options.
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I read something earlier that put this in good context - this is essentially like $1M more than we paid Hamels + Folty last year
 
Super said:
true. however it seems it wasn't much of a secret.
i think he would have just retired if the Braves or Rays didn't want him at X amount. the Rays didn't, but the Braves did.
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It probably is that simple, so most dynamics at play in the FA market don't matter in his case.

I'm happy with the Morton deal, and meh on the Smyly deal. As long as they can fill the holes on offense it's all good.
 
Freshmaker said:
I read something earlier that put this in good context - this is essentially like $1M more than we paid Hamels + Folty last year
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Rotation is pretty well covered, especially if Soroka has to miss the first month. Even without Soroka, Smyly/Morton/Anderson/Fried/Wright or Wilson is damn good.
 
Heyward said:
Payroll must be a LOT higher than expected. No way AA blew 26 mil on Smyly and Morton without having to add a big bat or some hitting options.
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There's not much doubt AA will be looking to add some offense, but just how nuts he'll be willing to go to add a big name is debatable. Ozuna provided huge production from one spot, sure, but don't forget the fact that Ozzie missed a month and Acuna missed two weeks.

With the much-improved rotation, he doesn't need to blow every dime he has left on ONE HITTER. While an extra 6 weeks worth of production from Acuna and Albies plus a couple of solid adds to platoon with Riley and Duvall won't likely replace every last drop of Ozuna's production, it will make up a good chunk of it. Just because most of the available names once you get past Ozuna/Springer/Brantley/Bryant/Turner aren't particularly sexy that doesn't mean they can't be productive fits in an offense that already has 5 pieces like Acuna/Freddie/Ozzie/d'Arnaud/Dansby already in place.

Whole lot of sleeping on Dansby - he's quietly gotten better every year, and a breakout this year or next before he can become a free-agent certainly isn't out of the question. Pretty reasonable to see him being a 20/20 guy as soon as this year if there's a full season IMO.
 
Its honestly shocking just how impressive AA's first few years have been as a GM. The only main gripe I have had has been his drafting, but there is still a lot of time for me to be totally wrong about the quality of the players we have taken and his strategy in general.

But from the way he secured Albies and Acuna long term, the way he has added major talent to this team with virtually no long term risk, the way he's traded for talent without sacrificing too much prospect capital... Its all just been astonishingly good. Seriously, find me another team around the league who has been able to significantly improve the short term outlook of their team without strapping themselves to deals that you know they'll regret 3-4 years down the line. Maybe the Rays? But they kinda do it in a completely different way.
 
Enscheff said:
Short term deals are always higher AAV than long term deals, so that's not overpaying.

AA overpaid in the sense that the only bidders were the Rays and Braves, and the Rays already told everyone they weren't willing to go anywhere near $15M.

I'm going to take these SP signings as indication AA has a payroll of $140M+, so that's nothing but a good thing.
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Almost all fa signings are overpays by this logic. They sign for the most money. Exceptions are certain hometown discounts. But basically all fa signings are not trade assets from day 1.

I get you point and agree

To me this is great news.

I wonder if the rays thought the covid economy was going to allow the, to get him for 10-12 or if their covid budget required them to get to 15. Maybe they were thinking 2/20.

I like that Alex isn’t playing the I am a smart gm game where it’s all about value. He’s being a smart gem in the real world. He gets his guy and he gets to move on by offering a solid contract. He didn’t try to save every nickel to show he’s so smart and got him for 13 or smyly for 9.

As you said it’s speaks highly to the idea that we have 140-150 million.
 
I really like the idea of signing Joc to platoon with Duvall. I’m not sure how recently he’s done it but I know he has experience in CF if needed. Also he mashes righties. He could be very useful on a 1 or 2 year deal and should be pretty affordable. I think we should look to put most of our financial resources in upgrading 3B. Whether that’s making a deal for Bryant or possibly Seager. If we went for Seager we might be able to unload Ender in that trade as well.
 
Slippyjms said:
I really like the idea of signing Joc to platoon with Duvall. I’m not sure how recently he’s done it but I know he has experience in CF if needed. Also he mashes righties. He could be very useful on a 1 or 2 year deal and should be pretty affordable. I think we should look to put most of our financial resources in upgrading 3B. Whether that’s making a deal for Bryant or possibly Seager. If we went for Seager we might be able to unload Ender in that trade as well.
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Perhaps something like De La Cruz and Inciarte for Seager
 
Smyly and Morton are good grabs for the rotation. I could definitely see Felix coming back on another minor league deal.

Now AA has the rest of the off season to work on getting the lineup in order.
 
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