198: What’s Next?

by Kenny Sirmans

Cristian Pache , do they run with him in CF

I believe that is exactly what you’ll see. He does have offensive potential, but his greatest asset is his Gold Glove caliber defense. We all know how valuable great defense up the middle is. And you touched on it perfectly… the presence of the DH lets you go with him in the 9 hole.

I, too, would like to see Jorge Soler brought back. I’d also like to see Eddie Rosario come back. I fear Eddie will be priced out of our market. But he has great AB’s every time up. A big question, of course, is when will Ronnie return? I don’t expect to see him until at least May, and more likely June. But I won’t put anything past him. Still you have to have someone out there in RF until he gets back.

I know Guillermo Heredia is still under team control (Arb 2) for 2022, so he may get alot of starts awaiting Ronnie’s return.

Two big things have to happen before the Braves can determine who (and more specifically how) they will fill the OF vacancies. #1, they must re-sign Freddie Freeman. That will eat up a chunk of change in the bank account. #2, they must determine what to do with Marcell Ozuna. Like it or not, he’s probably going to be on this team at some point in 2022. He’ll most likely serve a 30-60 day suspension to open the season, But the Braves are pretty powerless to send him away. Even of the dump him somewhere else, they’ll almost certainly have to pay a large portion of his remaining deal. No… the most prudent move is to just keep hi and his still potent bat as the DH.

I think the most likely OF to return is Adam Duvall. Both Rosario and Soler will have multiple bidders driving up the price. Adam will undoubtedly have interest as well, but he fits best on the Atlanta Braves. And he knows that as much as the team knows that. So the go-to OF next season once everyone returns is likely Duvall-Pache-Acuña, with Ozuna as DH and Heredia as 4th OF. That’s still a pretty good OF.

Wild Card: Drew Waters.

Yes, he hit only .240 at AAA. But let me remind you that Duvall only hit .228, and still led the league in RBI.

I don’t think the team would go with 2 rookies in the same OF, but finances will certainly come into play and a rookie salary might let you re-sign Freddie and still have some $$ left over to flesh out the bench. Who knows? I suppose we’ll see what he does in Spring. I think they’ll at least have an open mind depending on his performance in Spring.

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