Friday News Roundup: Braves avoid arbitration, AA speaks on offseason
The Atlanta Braves had yet another quiet week as they're slowly chugging along towards pitchers and catchers reporting.
The Atlanta Braves had a quiet week coming out of New Year’s. There’s not a lot of activity that’s been done this week, although we do have a bit more financial clarity to next year’s roster and some more minor league depth joining the organization.
Here’s what went down this week.
Jarred Kelenic and Dylan Lee avoid arbitration
Ahead of Thursday’s 1PM ET deadline to either agree to a deal with your arbitration eligibles or file figures for a hearing, Atlanta’s avoiding an arbitration hearing for the second straight year.1
Both outfielder Jarred Kelenic and reliever Dylan Lee agreed to terms before the deadline, with Kelenic getting his exact MLBTR prediction of $2.3M and Lee getting $1.025M against a prediction of $1.2M.
My thoughts on Kelenic are complex and better served for an entire article, but I get the sense that this might be his final season to earn a full-time starting spot. His first year was full of a lot more change than initially anticipated - he was put into a last-minute platoon with Adam Duvall and then moved to centerfield and leadoff due to injuries, despite the plan being for him to bat at the bottom of the lineup all season.
It’s very much a continuation of a theme of financial certainty for Atlanta - Alex Anthopoulos wants to know exactly how much money the team will have to spend in future seasons, so they do their best to buy out arbitration years via early extensions. As of right now via FanGraphs’s Roster Resource, the only notable player on the Opening Day roster who has an unknown salary for 2025 is Spencer Schwellenbach. He’s still in his pre-arb years, where the minimum salary will be $760,000 for 2025.2
Alex Anthopoulos goes on 680 The Fan
As he does a few times a year, Alex Anthopoulos went on 680 The Fan to speak with Cellini and Dimino about Atlanta’s offseason. They covered a lot of topics and we’re going to publish a transcript later today in its entirety, once we clean it up (and maybe record a bonus podcast, too).
Info of note:
Why Atlanta didn’t bring Ian Anderson to the majors down the stretch last year (he wasn’t pitching well at the time), updates on Strider and Acuña (Strider will have a normal offseason, Acuña’s deliberately being given more time as a precaution), and why they’re hesitant to play Marcell Ozuna in left field (arm strength, not tracking and getting to fly balls).
Of note was AA’s assertion that the team does have money left to spend, potentially a big bullet, but the amount of spend would depend on the player they were targeting. He also indicated that while he expects free agency to pick up over the next few weeks, he wouldn’t be surprised to see Atlanta’s FA pursuits “drag into spring training”, simply because the pace of things have been slower than usual and they don’t want to force a deal.
Minor league signings continue trickling in
Atlanta added one minor league free agent this week, bringing in soon-to-be 35-year-old Eddy Alvarez and assigning him to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Playing last season primarily for Boston’s AAA affiliate (Worcester Red Sox), he hit .247 with a .811 OPS while getting time at six different defensive positions (RF, LF, SS, 2B, 3B, CF) and pitching a single (scoreless) inning of relief, as well.
While I don’t expect much from Alvarez, having him in Gwinnett and able to play virtually any position you need covered gives you flexibility and injury insurance.
Former Braves find new homes
Two former Braves infielders are embarking on new journeys, one with a new team and one in his second, post-playing life.
Braden Shewmake, traded to the Chicago White Sox as part of last winter’s Aaron Bummer mega-deal, was waived by Chicago and claimed by Kansas City. Never really able to break into the rotation for Atlanta after being drafted in 2019’s 1st round out of Texas A&M, he struggled with Chicago: .125/.134/.203 in 67 PAs, hitting one homer and walking once while striking out ten times.
The other former infielder, Ehire Adrianza, has officially retired and is joining the Minnesota Twins organization as a Player Development Assistant. In his 12-year career, he spent 2021-2023 with Atlanta across two separate stints, batting .229 across 120 games while spending time at every defensive position but first base and catcher. He also earned his only World Series ring with Atlanta, hitting .247 for the Braves across 109 games that season and adding a double and run scored in the NLCS against Los Angeles.
In 2024, Husacar Ynoa, A.J. Minter, and Max Fried all agreed to deals prior to the deadline. The team went to arbitration with Fried in both 2021 and 2022, winning one hearing and losing one hearing.
It’s technically unknown because the Braves can give him more money, but it’s most assuredly not a negotiation and entirely up to the team if they want to do that or not.