Braves Strike First At Meetings With Second Big Swap Of Winter

After leading the major leagues with 104 wins but falling quickly in the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves pulled off their second major trade of the off-season – and first by anyone at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville.

They filled two needs, landing left-fielder Jarred Kelenic and left-handed starter Marco Gonzalez from Seattle in a five-player trade that cost only minor-league pitchers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips – plus a willingness to add to a growing payroll.

Just weeks earlier, Atlanta added left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for five players, including former star starter Michael Soroka.

Kelenic, a former first-round draft pick by the New York Mets, is projected to succeed Eddie Rosario, now a free agent, as the right man in left field for the Braves. He might combine with Vaughn Grissom, who hit .330 as a middle infielder for Triple-A Gwinnett, in a left-right platoon.

It is also possible that the Braves could bring back free agent Adam Duvall, a right-handed slugger who had two previous stints with the team, but that would push the payroll even higher.

According to Roster Resource, the deal pushes Atlanta’s 2024 payroll over $224MM but under $261MM for luxury tax purposes and would push the Braves over the second luxury tax threshold of $257MM for 2024.

The Braves got an unspecified amount of cash from Seattle in the trade, along with reserve first baseman Evan White, who will likely land in Triple-A as insurance against an injury to durable incumbent Matt Olson, who led both leagues with 54 home runs.

Landing Kelenic was a surprise, since he is coming off a solid season in Seattle after a rough start to his tenure in the majors. Still just 24, he will be under Atlanta control for five years.

Once a Top Five prospect in the game, he hit .253 last season but managed a meager .327 on-base average and .419 slugging percentage – numbers the Braves expect he’ll improve in cozy Truist Park.

To do that, however, he needs to walk more, strike out less, and avoid injury.

The young outfielder missed two months in 2023 after suffering a broken foot during a temper-tantrum encounter with a water cooler.

Gonzales could also be an important addition for Atlanta. The left-hander, who turns 32 in February, made only 10 starts for Seattle before submitting to forearm surgery for a nerve issue. But he was a solid starter for the M’s during the previous four seasons.

Ticketed to join a rotation that already includes Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Bryce Elder, and fellow lefty Max Fried, Gonzales could face competition from newly-signed Reynaldo Lopez, a hard-throwing reliever the Braves plan to stretch out as a starter during spring training.

Gonzales will earn $12.5 million in 2024 but his contract also contains a club option for 2025. That made him attractive to Atlanta, which faces the possible losses of Morton to retirement and Fried to free agency following the 2024 season.

White, the third man coming to the NL East champions, will earn $7MM in 2024, $8MM in 2025, and a $2MM buyout on a $10MM club option for 2026. If he’s healed from hip surgery, it’s possible he will stay in the majors as a designated hitter if the Braves unload the hefty contract of incumbent DH Marcell Ozuna, entering the last season of a four-year, $65 million pact.

Seattle, the only team in the majors that has never reached the World Series, seems to be re-tooling. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, always one of the game’s most active traders, had lost Teoscar Hernandez (free agency), Mike Ford (non-tender), and Eugenio Suarez (trade) before dealing Kelenic and Gonzales Sunday.

All four hitters fanned in more than 30 per cent of their at-bats last year and prompted Dipoto to seek replacements who make better contact.

The Atlanta trade gives Seattle pitching, which the club needs, but of an untested variety. Phillips has been out with Tommy John surgery after joining the Braves as its No. 2 pick in the 2022 amateur draft while Kowar pitched only briefly with Kansas City, which traded him to the Braves last month for injured right-hander Kyle Wright, whose 21 wins led the majors in 2022.

According to Adam Judge of The Seattle Times, Dipoto has hinted that Seattle’s $140 million payroll of last season is likely to increase – most likely through the signing of free agents. One rumored target is Lourdes Gurriel, Jr.

The Kelenic deal was revealed by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times and David O’Brien of The Athletic.