Weekly news roundup: Minor injuries, position changes, and "dry powder" available for payroll
The Atlanta Braves have aggressively moved players to the minors, and that plus early standout performances have answered a lot of pending roster questions
The Braves are a Grapefruit League-best 5-2 as of Saturday morning, tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for best mark in Florida. It’s been done mainly on the strength of their pitching, with most Braves starters excelling so far in spring. Atlanta has an MLB-best 2.61 ERA in spring, having allowed only three homers in 62 innings pitched.
Let’s break down what’s happened this week in another news roundup!
Nacho on the shelf
(I wanted to make some sort of heat lamp joke here, but it just wasn’t working)
Nacho Alvarez was removed from his Thursday night start versus Washington with “discomfort” in his wrist, stemming from a swing he took. It initially looked like a hamate bone injury, which would be devastating for a young hitter who needs a good defensive showing in 2025.
He didn’t play on Friday, but we got a positive update on Saturday from MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, who said that Nacho said the wrist is feeling better and he (Nacho) thinks “he could play within the next few days.”
He still hasn’t played shortstop in spring training, with most of those reps going to Nick Allen. The first non-Allen or Orlando Arcia players to start at shortstop were utilityman Eli White and Rule 5 pick Christian Cairo, who manned the position on Friday against the Marlins.
We don’t know if Nacho’s being permanently moved off of shortstop or if this was getting playing time to guys that actually have a chance to make the MLB bench, but it’s interesting either way.
McCabe IS officially moved, however
David McCabe started on Friday at first base, making official the infielder’s position change. Originally a first baseman at UNC-Charlotte, the Braves took him in 2022’s 4th round with the intention of converting him to third base.
After 132 starts and a .903 fielding percentage at the hot corner (and a lost defensive season in 2024 as he solely DHed while returning from Tommy John surgery), he’s officially back to first base, as confirmed by Baseball Prospectus’s Guarav Vedak.
It’s a good move - he’s a switch hitter with a lot of on-base and power promise, but he’s been very stretched at third, dealing with both subpar range and poor defensive actions. Moving him back to first base officially should allow him to focus on the offense - I’d expect him to start off with AA Columbus, but he could be a competitor for DH reps next season with both a good 2025 and if Marcell Ozuna walks in free agency.
(We discussed the pros and cons of re-signing Marcell Ozuna on a recent podcast)
The Braves have the financial capacity to add
The Atlanta Braves are the only publicly traded MLB team1, and as a result we get some pretty detailed financial reporting as to what they’ve done from an expense and revenue perspective.
In the 2024 year-end reporting, which came on an earnings call this past Wednesday, the Braves reported $662M in total revenue, leading to $39M in OIBDA2. The company breaks this up into Baseball Revenue - game-related spending from fans is classified as “baseball event” revenue but they also have broadcasting, retail & licensing revenues from games, and “other”3 - and “Mixed-use development revenue”, which is monies generated by The Battery Atlanta.
Both were up last year. Baseball revenues increased from $581M to $595M (+2%), while Mixed-Use development revenue went from $58.9M to $67.3M (+14%), resulting in the 5% growth in adjusted OIBDA.
This growth led Braves chairman Terry McGuirk to express that the team has the capacity to continue spending if the right deal comes along. Here’s the most direct quote from McGuirk:
“We have always been, over the last three or four years, a top-10 salary organization. We expect that to be the same again this year. We have crossed the competitive balance tax each of the last two years. It’s possible we could do it again this year. … (President of baseball operations) Alex Anthopoulos has always had the resources to do what he needs to do to put a championship group on the field. I see no different situation this year. We have some dry powder.
“There are a tremendous number of free agents that still are out there in the marketplace. Just as an example, last year, we signed Adam Duvall on March 17. And so who knows exactly how this spring training shakes out from a salary standpoint.”
While I don’t see any significant adds coming at this point in the free-agent market - the best option out there is who, David Robertson? - it’s entirely possible a trade comes in that adds to the payroll enough to push the team into the CBT for a third consecutive season.
Per FanGraphs’ Roster Resource, the current payroll sits at $212M and the CBT figure is at $230.3M. Last season, the team finished at $231.9M in payroll and $276.9M in CBT after taking on salary at the deadline for Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson.
This season’s CBT threshold is $241M. Here’s a breakdown of the spending possibilities next offseason if Atlanta stays below the threshold this season.
Things we’re watching for this weekend
Now that there’s actual games being played, let’s debut a new segment.
The Braves take on two AL East opponents this weekend, the Blue Jays today and the Yankees tomorrow. Here’s a rapid-fire list of what I’ll be watching for:
The backup catcher battle. Curt Casali starts today, while Sandy León has flashed the power early and Chadwick Tromp has been fine. Despite what Drake Baldwin has impressively done so far in spring, he’s ticketed for Gwinnett to get more experience behind the plate.
Can Bryan De La Cruz continue to look re-invigorated and lock down a platoon role with Jarred Kelenic in right field?
The relievers - today’s pitching plan is Dylan Lee and Pierce Johnson, so I doubt we'll see anyone pitch multiple innings. Could we see four different NRIs each take an inning? It’s a good opportunity to get a bulk look at the competitors for those final three bullpen spots.
Enjoy the games, everyone.
The Toronto Blue Jays are owned by publicly traded Rogers Communications, but as they’re not a separately held company under the Rogers umbrella like Atlanta is under Liberty Media, their financials are rolled up into Rogers’ reporting and we get a lot less detail.
Adjusted OIBDA is operating income or loss plus depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, separately reported litigation settlements, restructuring, acquisition, and impairment charges, if applicable.
“Other” includes things like concerts in Truist Park, etc.
I appreciate that in their own little way the Braves are resisting the impulse to go along with the crazy salary escalations being perpetrated by the MLBPA and the new breed of hedge-funded mega-owners.
(1) I'm delighted that the Braves -- in deed more than word -- seem eager to stay under a third consecutive penalty cap. High draft choices (along with prudent international signings) are the best way to combat future participation in free agent auctions.
(2) It annoys me when journalists seem eager to promote some remaining high priced free agent as of interest to the Braves. Minimum salary investments like Grant Holmes, home grown prospects like A.J. Smith-Shawver, and still cost-effective former high picks like Ian Anderson can save us many mulitples off the price of free agents.
(3) As for a pricey reliever like soon to be 40-year old David Robertson who wants a raise off his 8-figure paycheck off an impressive age 39 season, would his innings necesarily be ten times better than the job Holmes would do filling in for Jimenez for a year? Or just moving all our relievers up a notch and giving the best of our dozen or so minimum salary fringe or non-roster guys a shot as the 6th-7th inning guy? Maybe not, or maybe Robertson's price comes down when he turns age 40.25 in July.
So I favor keeping the ($10 million or so?) remaining cash under the cap unspent until the deadline. You never know which spot may necessitate an injury replacement now through July 31. We can't be sure who will be out of the running and looking to dump the final payments on one-year deals signed in more optimistic days. Like our Anderson and Holmes yesterday, Michael Soroka of the Nats pitched three no-hit innings today for the Nationals. He's on a $9 million one year deal. If the Nats are out of wild card contention by the deadline ... I'd love to see him back in a Braves uniform.
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