Saturday seeds: Ronald's rare All-Star selection, continuing to lean towards selling, and Marcell Ozuna
Here's some of the news and notes you might have missed from this week
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Ronald’s All-Star selection isn’t unprecedented…
But it’s pretty close.
Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was elected to his fifth All-Star Game as a starter, tying him with Hank Aaron and Dale Murphy for the most starting nods in franchise history.
But what’s wild about the selection is that Ronald didn’t debut until the 50th game of the season. It’s a fact that isn’t lost on Acuña, who understands who made this happen for him.
“I really have to just give credit to all the fans, because I missed a lot of playing time and without them, I’m not here,” Acuña told the media through team interpreter Franco Garcia. “They’re really the ones who made this dream come true.”
And here’s the almost-unprecedented part of this. Per OptaSTATS, the only other player in MLB history to start in the All-Star Game despite not debuting until game 50 or later is New York Yankees star Joe DiMaggio. Recovering from a bone spur in his heel, DiMaggio didn’t debut until the team’s 66th game in 1949 and was elevated to starter in place of injured teammate Tommy Henrich.
DiMaggio went 2-4 with a game-high three RBI in that All-Star Game, but Ronald will have higher expectations for him this year. In each of the previous two Midsummer Classics played in Atlanta, a team legend homered: Hank Aaron did it in Atlanta Stadium in 1972, and Chipper Jones did it in Turner Field in 2000.
Tide is turning on selling at the deadline
For what feels like the first time this season, it feels like the consensus is shifting over into the “sell” category for the upcoming Trade Deadline, scheduled for July 31st at 6:00 PM Eastern.
MLB.com’s Mark Bowman wrote an article on Thursday outright suggesting who could be available via trade, while David O’Brien of The Athletic took a more speculative approach, relaying quotes from Matt Olson and Brian Snitker about how the team is still focused on turning the ship around rather than selling at the deadline.
But talking to several people in and around baseball, the consensus seems to be that there isn’t a lot that the team can actually sell unless they’re willing to dip into their long-term contracts, something Alex Anthopoulos was adamant he would not do.
“No. Zero. So I've seen the speculation and […] it's completely ridiculous to me. So we are not selling, especially someone that has club control beyond the current year. Will not happen.”
Among the options for either an expiring deal or a player that is reaching the end of the guaranteed portion of the deal, there is just four significant options to make a move at the deadline: Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna (free agent), second baseman Ozzie Albies (two club option years), and relievers Raisel Iglesias (free agent) and Pierce Johnson (club option year).
It’s important to note that the pitching options are more likely to move than the position players - Ozuna has full 10-5 rights1 and can veto any trade, while Ozzie has not been very good this season and would likely be more of a speculative add for next year. On the flip side, everyone needs relievers and even a diminished version of Iglesias could fetch an asset on the trade market.
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But don’t put Acuña in that group
MLB Network aired a segment on “MLB Now” where Carlos Peña advocated for the Braves to move Acuña at the deadline, following up a segment where Joel Sherman made the same assertion.
Even as someone who has written a “what would it take for the Braves to trade Acuña” newsletter, I think this has officially gone too far.
It’s just an incredibly tough lift for the Braves to move Acuña right now, acknowledging that it is something that a large segment of the fanbase would never forgive the club for. While I personally don’t think that he re-signs in Atlanta after his final 2028 club option without intentionally choosing to leave significant money on the table, it’s still a hard leap to go from him potentially walking in free agency to choosing to completely tear it down and move him with three additional years of affordable team control.
In O’Brien’s words:
Trading Acuña would be arguably the dumbest thing the #Braves could do. Too wildly popular and entertaining. Too good. A large segment of the fan base would *never* forgive them if they did that. You don’t trade Chipper, you don’t trade Acuña.
Why not play both catchers?
In case you missed yesterday’s Today Three Things about the Orioles loss, we discussed the struggles of Marcell Ozuna, but it’s worth repeating.
In the last 30 days, Ozuna is hitting just .177/.269/.265 with two homers and just nine runs scored - not great for someone whose only job is to hit. Obviously, it is either the hip injury or the aging curve finally catching up with Ozuna (or both, possibly), but manager Brian Snitker does not feel like he needs to make any sort of change there.
Earlier this week, Snitker was directly asked about playing one of the catchers at designated hitter and said that he doesn’t foresee a lineup with both Baldwin and Murphy in it anytime soon.
He doubled down on Friday night. “A few years ago, I kept playing [Ozuna] when he wasn't doing great, and all of a sudden it hit, and he became himself again,” Snitker told the media after the game. “I keep hoping for that. It’s hard to put it on one guy. It’s not just one guy here right now. It’s a combination of an entire offense.”
Perhaps a roster move is in order, then, to save Snit from himself? Placing Ozuna on the injured list would allow the Braves to call up either veteran catcher Sandy León or the optionable Jason Delay, who is already on the 40-man roster, out of Gwinnett. It’s entirely possible that Snitker’s other hesitation to this plan, outside of a desire to get Ozina going, is MLB’s rules about how the position is handled - were the DH need to move behind the plate in case of injury, the team would lose the designated hitter for the remainder of the game and be forced to use pinch-hitters. Adding a third catcher would allow the Braves to replace an injured catcher without forcing the entire bench to bat over the course of the remainder of the game.
Ten years in the league and the last five with the same organization
Paradoxically: Nothing TO sell; Nothing we want to sell.
Those comments by Snit, doubling down on keeping Ozuna in the lineup, showed us why he shouldn't continue managing after this year.
He insists on making present decisions hoping for the past to make a comeback. Yes it worked in 2023, but it's not the same scenario. In 2023, the rest of the offense wasn't struggling like it is now. In 2023 the Braves were not in the deep hole they are are now. In 2023, Ozuna was one or two games away from being DFAd. The Braves can't afford to give him the same rope. Specially not when you have a guy in the bench who's giving you the offense you desperately need.
We'll have to hope that AA can save Snit from himself...or at least save the Braves from Snit regarding this decision.