Braves trade Marco Gonzales and cash to the Pirates for a player to be named later

The Braves have traded Marco Gonzales to the Pittsburgh Pirates along with cash for a player to be named later per ESPN’s Jeff Passan and has been confirmed by the Braves.

This deal would appear to be all about the money, as Gonzales is owed $12 million this season and can be a useful player, but is not the impact starter that the Braves would like with the state of their roster. Why pay $12 million for Marco Gonzales when you have Bryce Elder in pre-arbitration?

Gonzales was acquired in the Jared Kelenic trade about 48 hours ago, as Seattle also did not want to pay Gonzales $12 million in 2023. Seattle sent $4.5 million in cash to Atlanta in that deal, but there were a number of other pieces involved.

Braves acquire Jarred Kelenic, Marco Gonzales, Evan White from Mariners

The Winter Meetings are underway and the Atlanta Braves wasted no time in acquiring an outfielder. The Braves are acquiring outfielder Jarred Kelenic, left hander Marco Gonzales and first baseman Evan White from the Seattle Mariners according to a report by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Atlanta is sending right-hander Cole Phillips and righty Jackson Kowar to Seattle to complete the deal.

The Braves get Kelenic who just turned 24 and is still a work in progress at the major league level. He had his best season to date in 2023, appearing in 105 games while hitting .253/.327/.419 with 11 home runs and a 108 wRC+. He suffered a broken foot after kicking a water cooler in a game against the Twins last July. Kelenic returned to action in September.

The deal is essentially a money dump for the Mariners. Gonzales appeared in just 10 games before undergoing season ending surgery due to a nerve issue in his forearm. He posted a 5.22 ERA and a 4.28 FIP in 50 innings. Gonzales will make $12.25 million in 2024.

Braves’ Reynaldo Lopez: Gets three years, $30M from Atlanta

Lopez signed a three-year, $26 million contract with Atlanta on Monday.

The deal contains an $8 million club option or $4 million buyout for the 2027 season, so Lopez will net $30 million over the life of the deal. Atlanta had already re-signed Pierce Johnson and Joe Jimenez and traded for Aaron Bummer and they’ve now brought in Lopez to reinforce their bullpen. Lopez made a full-time move to relief in 2022 and has produced a 3.02 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 146:45 K:BB over 131.1 innings covering the last two seasons. Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Lopez will be stretched out during spring training to give Atlanta a rotation option, with the possibility that he could contribute both as a starter and reliever. In all likelihood, Lopez will wind up in the bullpen and step in as one of the top setup options in front of closer Raisel Iglesias

Royals add Anderson, Wright in pair of trades with Braves

The Royals and Braves were busy trade partners on Friday, executing two separate trades that landed Kansas City two pitchers.

First, the Royals acquired reliever Nick Anderson for cash considerations. A few hours later, the clubs swapped a pair of former first-round pitchers, with Kyle Wright heading to Kansas City and Jackson Kowar to Atlanta.

Wright, 28, will likely miss all of 2024 after undergoing right shoulder surgery, but he led the Majors with 21 wins and a 3.19 ERA in 2022, becoming the first Braves pitcher to lead the Majors in wins since Tom Glavine in 2000. Wright was an integral part of the 2021 World Series champion Braves when he allowed one run over 5 1/3 relief innings against the Astros that October.

The No. 5 overall pick in 2017, Wright has a 4.45 ERA over parts of six Major League seasons. Additionally, he has an option remaining and isn’t a free agent until 2027.

White Sox trade for Soroka, Lopez, 3 others from Braves

White Sox receive: RHP Mike Soroka, INF Nicky Lopez, LHP Jared Shuster, SS Braden Shewmake, RHP Riley Gowens
Braves receive: LHP Aaron Bummer

Bummer is under contractual control through ‘24, with club options for ‘25 and ‘26.

Lopez, who played for the Royals from 2019-23 and hails from Naperville, Ill., figures to bridge the gap at shortstop from Tim Anderson to Colson Montgomery, but he can effectively play around the infield. The left-handed-hitting Montgomery—the top White Sox prospect and No. 17 overall per MLB Pipeline—should arrive in the Majors sooner than later in ‘24.

Braves to host 2025 MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta after losing 2021 festivities over Georgia voting laws

Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, will host the 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced in a press conference Thursday afternoon during the owners meetings.

“I commend Terry McGuirk, Derek Schiller, the entire Braves organization and the Atlanta Sports Council for leading this effort,” Manfred said. “As a model of success on and off the field, the Braves deserve to host the All-Star Game. Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta will provide fans a world-class experience in 2025. We look forward to working with the Braves and local leaders to deliver a memorable All-Star Week that brings people together and benefits the community in many ways.”

With the All-Star Game also comes several days worth of fun, most notably the Home Run Derby which takes place on the Monday night. The All-Star Game is a Tuesday night in July.

This will mark the third time that Atlanta has hosted the Midsummer Classic. Atlanta Stadium (later named Fulton County Stadium) hosted the event in 1972, the seventh season with the Braves in Atlanta after their move from Milwaukee. In 2000, the Braves’ relatively new home, Turner Field, also hosted the annual festivities.

Recall that Truist Park was set to host the All-Star Game in 2021, but commissioner Rob Manfred decided to move the event to Denver (Coors Field, home of the Rockies) in protest of a voting bill by the Georgia State Legislature. The Braves ended up winning the World Series that season.

Braves bring back Jiménez on 3-year, $26 million deal

The Braves signed right-hander Joe Jiménez to a three-year contract worth $26 million, with the reliever set to make $8 million in 2024 and $9 million in each of the final two years of the deal. Jiménez has agreed to donate 1% of his salary to the Atlanta Braves Foundation.

Jiménez, 28, played his first season with Atlanta in 2023 and went 0-3 with a 3.04 ERA over 59 appearances.

Braves re-sign Pierce Johnson to two-year, $14.25M deal

he Braves re-signed reliever Pierce Johnson to a two-year, $14.25 million contract Wednesday in the first offseason move for the team that posted baseball’s best record this season.

Johnson, who provided the Braves with a hard-throwing option out of the bullpen after being acquired from Colorado, will make $7 million each of the next two seasons. The deal also includes a $7 million club option for 2026 with a $250,000 buyout.

Nick Castellanos slugs 2 home runs as Phillies advance to NLCS

The Phillies steamrolled the Braves in Games 3 and 4—first by taking it to young starter Bryce Elder on Wednesday then following it with three home runs against ace Spencer Strider in the clincher. Philadelphia gave Atlanta a taste of its own medicine, outhomering the Braves 11-3 in the series, including nine in the two home games, tying a postseason record for home runs in back-to-back games. The Braves led MLB in long balls during the regular season but came up short in this series.

“Well, to start with, Trea and Harp and Nick, I mean I can’t tell you how big they are on our club right now,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I don’t think the moment gets them at all. In fact, the moment, I think, helps Harp a little bit. But Trea has been unbelievable. That home run he hit today was huge. Nick’s two home runs were huge. Harp’s two home runs yesterday were huge. Those guys just—they step up.”

Meanwhile, the Braves, who topped the majors with 104 wins in the regular season, are left with unanswered questions. Like, why have they dominated the regular season but can’t get it done against their division rival in the postseason?

“That’s a good question,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I wish I had the secret sauce for that. I feel like last year all of a sudden, they got everybody healthy. And they got big-time players on this team. Yeah, I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

Ex-Mets catcher: Clubhouse ‘sanctuary’ violation started postseason Phillies-Braves beef

The Braves clubhouse resembled a stunned boxer after getting pummeled in a 10-2 loss to the Phillies in Game 3 of the NLDS on Wednesday. Players were searching for answers.

One player, former Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud, thought the media provided extra motivation for Philadelphia after Bryce Harper was thrown out at first base to end Game 2.

After the game, Braves infielder Orlando Arcia was heard in the locker room saying, “ha-ha! Atta boy, Harper,” according to according to FOX Sports’ Jake Mintz. Soon after, the quote was spread by various outlets, gaining millions of views and making its way into the Phillies clubhouse and into Harper’s ears,

As a result, the two-time MVP responded with a three-run home run, his first of two on the night, that traveled 408 feet, staring down Arcia as he rounded second base - an image that has since been turned into t-shirts.

After the game, d’Arnaud took issue with Arcia’s comments being made public.

“The clubhouse is a sanctuary and I think when things like that get out it doesn’t make people want to talk to the media at all,” he said, via Kelly Crull of Bally Sports South. “It affects the people who have been great to us all year. It is what it is.”

Bryce Harper hits 2 of Phils’ 6 HRs, stares down Orlando Arcia

Phillies star Bryce Harper wouldn’t exactly admit he was fueled by comments Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia made about him after Game 2 of the teams’ National League Division Series, but he certainly heard about them.

Harper responded with two home runs in a Game 3 blowout by Philadelphia on Wednesday, staring down Arcia both times he rounded the bases.

“It’s a super competitive game that we play, from both sides of the ball,” Harper said after the Phillies’ 10-2 victory put them up 2-1 in the best-of-five series. “And I enjoy commentary and things. ... Anytime anybody says something, right? I mean that’s what it’s all about.”

Arcia’s comments came while celebrating in the Braves’ clubhouse after Harper was doubled off first base to end Monday night’s game, in which Atlanta rallied from a four-run deficit after being no-hit into the sixth inning. Arcia could be heard yelling, “ha-ha, attaboy, Harper!” several times.

The barb got back to the Phillies veteran.

“Yeah, just [from] my teammates,” Harper said. “That’s about it. They just kind of told me, and they looked at me, and they were like, ‘What are you going to do?’”

Braves catcher discusses controversial call vs. Phillies, manager says fan response was ‘uncalled for’

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies opened the National League Division Series at Truist Park on Saturday, and Philadelphia’s Game 1 win (PHI 3, ATL 0) featured some late-inning controversy. In the eighth inning, Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto was awarded first base on catcher interference—his swing made contact with Sean Murphy’s glove—which forced in a run with the bases loaded.

Here’s the play. It sounded like Realmuto’s swing hit Murphy’s glove and Murphy reacted like the swing hit his glove, though there there was no clear replay on the television broadcast showing the bat hit the glove:

The Braves challenged the play and, a few moments later, the replay crew in New York ruled the catcher interference call stands. “Stands” is official terminology, it should be noted. “Stands” means the replay crew did not see enough conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field. “Confirmed” means there was clear evidence to support the call on the field.

“All I had was the big board,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said about the catcher interference. “I looked and Murph didn’t say anything, and I don’t know that a hitter reacts like that. Things happen too quick for a guy to react like that if it didn’t happen, but I couldn’t tell off the video there.”

After the game, Murphy said, “I didn’t feel it, but I heard it.”

Braves fans throw stuff on the field after home plate umpire Brian O’Nora calls Sean Murphy for catchers interference on J.T. Realmuto pic.twitter.com/AtingMIaIA

— MLB Clutch Moments And Walk Offs (@MLBWalk_Offs) October 8, 2023

The Atlanta Braves are hitting like the 1927 Yankees - really

Consider slugging percentage. No NL or AL team has ever slugged .500 for a season. The Braves are slugging .501 as a team entering play Wednesday. Only 21 players who qualify for the batting title are slugging .500 or better this season. Five of them are Braves, and three of them are in the top nine. The next closest team by slugging percentage is the Texas Rangers (.457). There are 11 clubs slugging below .400.

It’s a level of team dominance similar to the 1927 Yankees, who featured the only two players - Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig - to hit more than 30 home runs that season. Fourteen players slugged over .500 in 1927 and four were Yankees, topped by the astronomical marks by Ruth (.772) and Gehrig (.765).

The Braves might not have Ruth or Gehrig, but Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson form a rare duo in their own right. The Braves are a true outlier in terms of mashing the baseball, and it doesn’t stop at slugging percentage.

The Braves have also hit the third most home runs in a season in major-league history, becoming the third team to exceed 300 in Tuesday’s win over the Cubs. The other two to cross that threshold, the 2019 Twins (307) and Yankees (306), were hitting an allegedly juiced baseball.

Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud agrees to $8 million deal for 2024

Catcher Travis d’Arnaud and the Atlanta Braves agreed Tuesday to an $8 million contract for next year, a deal that includes an $8 million team option for 2025 with no buyout.

The 34-year-old d’Arnaud, who has been earning $8 million annually with the Braves since 2020, has joined Sean Murphy in a productive catcher tandem. D’Arnaud is hitting .265 in 38 games with eight homers and 23 RBIs. He set a career high with 18 homers while driving in 60 runs and hitting .268 last year, when he was a first-time All-Star.

D’Arnaud earned a Silver Slugger Award in 2020, his first year in Atlanta, when he hit .321 with nine homers.

Atlanta reportedly in the running for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game

This afternoon news broke that Atlanta is an option to host the 2025 MLB All-Star Game. Atlanta, which last hosted the game in 2000, was slated to be home to the 2021 festivities, but MLB revoked the game from Atlanta, moving the game to Denver.

Both Gabe Burns of the AJC and Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the news on Twitter, with Nightengale adding that Baltimore, Toronto and Chicago’s Wrigley Field were on the list of options with Atlanta.’

MLB’s decision to change the site of the 2021 All-Star Game was steeped in controversy as the move was purported to be based a change to the state of Georgia’s voting laws and announced just three months before the exhibition was set to be played.

Braves Set To Complete Split From Liberty Media

MLB’s best team on and perhaps off the field is set to split off and become its own public company.

The Atlanta Braves — owners of the league’s top record, five straight division titles, the 2021 World Series title, and a league leader on numerous business fronts such as attendance and its influential Battery mixed-use development — is now tentatively scheduled to finalize its split from parent Liberty Media on July 18 and become Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc…

Liberty in May said the Braves grew first-quarter revenue 35% to $31 million, boosted by strong early-season Truist Park crowds and increases in Battery rental income, extending a 4% rise in full-year 2022 revenue to $588 million. The Braves’ 2023 attendance is still up by 3% to an average of 39,076 per game, sixth best in the league.

The move, however, continues to raise speculation the Braves could ultimately be sold post-split. The New York Mets, the last MLB club to be sold, fetched a then-record $2.4 billion in 2020.

Moore: Age is just a number for Niekro and Moyer

Phil Niekro: The sparks is still there!

“Oh, yeah. I threw my last [Major League] pitch when I was 48, but I could have gone another year or two,” Niekro said, recalling his final season in 1987. It began with the Cleveland Indians, but he was traded near the end of the season to the pennant-hopeful Toronto Blue Jays.

After two rough starts, then-Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick released Niekro and told Toronto reporters that he thought Niekro’s career was over.

“Since I have total respect for [Gillick], and also out of fairness to myself, I just took his word and decided that maybe he knew more about myself than I did, and that maybe he sees something that I don’t see, so I went by his words,” said Niekro, who made one final start with Atlanta that season. “After I retired, the next Spring Training, I got the fever. Then the next Spring Training after that, I got the fever.”

In fact, Niekro still has the fever.

Said Niekro, chuckling, but only a little, “I still feel like I can get guys out in the big leagues right now. My arm feels as good now as it did when I retired.”

...“I’ll throw some BP down there, so my arm is no problem,” Niekro said. “To stick around a long time, it’s a discipline thing for a player, where you have to stay healthy. You also have to be fortunate, just to spend any time in the big leagues. I’ve got no squabbles about anything. I just kick myself in the butt for not hanging around for another year or two.”

MLB Trade Rumors: Bartolo Colon Agrees to Sign With Unknown Team

Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.

Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.

Braves re-sign infielder Jack Wilson

As an old pequod sod in the bar used to say to anybody named Jack…“#### you, Jack, I’m all right!!”

The Atlanta Braves have re-signed veteran infielder Jack Wilson to a one-year deal, the team’s website reports.

Wilson, 34, hit .243 with no homers, 11 RBIs in part-time duty with the Braves and Seattle Mariners in 2011. He was dealt to Atlanta on Aug. 31.

His biggest impact this season might be as a mentor/insurance policy.

Barring another acquisition, the Braves will start rookie Tyler Pastornicky at shortstop on opening day. The 22-year-old hit .314 with seven homers, 45 RBIs and 27 stolen bases between the Class AA and Class AAA levels in 2011, but he never has played in the majors.

BBPro:  Heartburn Hardball - Jack Morris in Motion

Morris, who was the face of the Detroit Tigers’ pitching staff for the entirety of the eighties before spending the early nineties hopping between the Twins, Blue Jays, and Indians, has every right to be thrilled at the news. And the rest of us, especially those who were too young to see him pitch, have every right to ask…why Jack Morris? Why now?

To answer that question, I decide to watch the most famous performance of his career, the game that proved once and for all that he was a true ace and a true winner.

....

The Twins will win 1-0 in the bottom of the 10th, winning the second World Series title in franchise history and solidifying Jack Morris’s place in baseball history.

And when it’s over, I will be more convinced than ever that Jack Morris is not a Hall of Fame pitcher.

Blasts from the Past

With the Hall of Fame results being announced today, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and dig up some old scouting reports from the Baseball America archives on some of the ballot’s notable candidates. . .

8. Barry Larkin, ss, 21, 5-11, 175, R-R
Larkin looked right at home in AA, hitting .267 for Vermont. He didn’t show power (one home run in 255 at-bats), but that will come. The key for him was just getting his feet on the ground, and he was not overpowered by the high level of competition (21 strikeouts in 255 at-bats). He will have good power for a shortstop.

6. Edgar Martinez, 3b, 25, 5-11, 175, R-R
Martinez’s discipline will produce runs. He’s averaged 70 RBIs the last four years. In the field, he’s solid, with good reactions and the soft hands of a middle infielder.

Cameron: Adam Jones, Unfinished Product

I can’t imagine why the Braves would balk about trading their starting LF, a #3 starter AND “prime” pitching prospects for a new Jeff Francoeur…

ajc: “Murph” surprised by low Hall of Fame votes, still hopeful

Kicking TBS: Live in Atlanta…with Dale Murphy.

Q: Probably not a lot of 50-something former MVPs can say they’ve been getting into Wilco and other bands, huh?

A: Well it’s been fun, and I think that’s the fun of Twitter – this intersection or cross-section of diverse people and interests, and you connect in ways … it’s been fun. In fact, I did a [online interview] with Peter Moylan, and he was asking me about music I listen to. And he and Chipper [Jones] were wondering who half the bands were that I named…. [Laughter.] I’m going to have a contest on Twitter and say the first hitter that walks up to [to the plate] with Wilco or something like that playing, I’m going to get him [a prize].

Q: OK, let’s change gears a bit. Murph, has this time of year become frustrating for you because of the annual Hall of Fame voting announcement? Or do you still allow yourself to be optimistic about your chances?

A: I’m always kind of optimistic. Not really frustrated, I think because my percentage [of votes] hasn’t really been knocking on the door, you know? I think if it’d been at 60 percent or something for five years, it might be different. I mean, I always try to be optimistic. I know my percentage is pretty low and you need 75. And I’m not really close. So in that way I’m not really frustrated.

To be honest, I thought my percentage would be higher over the years. It hasn’t been high. I tend to feel like I’ll get a bump this year. We’ll see. There’s been some talk about guys that played in the ‘70s and ‘80s, that there might be some revisiting of their careers [by voters], and I have some people that have been supportive. So we’ll see. I appreciate the support and I try to stay optimistic.

The Greatest Animated Sports .GIFs of 2011

32. Cliff Lee declines to run out his own grounder

I’m a firm opponent of the designated hitter rule, because just as I love to watch a punter try to scoop up a bad snap and try to throw it, or see a 7’1” center with no range try to chuck up a last-second three, I love watching pitchers hit.

Never will I come closer to seeing what it would be like if someone with my skill set tried to perform on a professional level. I mean, how nuts is this: in the National League, five to 10 percent of all at-bats are taken by men who, by everyone’s admission, are profoundly bad at it! It’s Dada performance art, and the ubiquity of such comical nonsense—over the course of a game, a season, and the history of baseball—is unrivaled by anything in any other sport.

This GIF features a delightful bonus: the catcher starts jogging to the dugout well before the play ends. It’s beautiful.

The Kick Is Good!

Jack Wilson seems to be having fun on vacation.