Braves & Astros Make A Trade That Is FILLED With SUBPLOTS!

Braves & Astros Make A Trade That Is FILLED With SUBPLOTS!

The Braves and the Astros have come together for a very interesting trade. Maybe more appropriately, a very telling trade when it comes to a thought process for a position and the marketplace and a financial situation. We’re going to dig into that. We’re going to dig into this trade. Leave your comments down below. Who do you think won the trade considering the circumstances that both teams currently face? Make sure to smash that like if you enjoy your time here and let’s get going. Now, what am I talking about when I talk about the telling portion of this trade? Because on the surface, Dubon for Allen doesn’t really move the needle from an interest perspective, but when you dig deeper and you think about Bo Bashett being a fit for the Atlanta Braves as a Blue Jays fan, they are one of the teams that makes me nervous because word is payroll is going up and technically it is going up by about 5 million bucks with the Dubont. on trade and another 15 million bucks with Eiglacius returning. So 20 of the 50 is already underway I guess. Uh but does does a Bo Bashette Atlanta Braves thing is it becoming less and less likely? Does this deal uh signify that? I’ll dig into that. And the Astros money situation. There is something brewing there in Houston that I can’t imagine Astros fans are too pleased with right now. We’re we’re doing salary dumps of Mauricio Dubon. So, let’s dig into this thing again. Leave your comments down below everybody. Jeff Pass with the news. Dubon for Nick Allen. It is a straight up one for one. Chandler Rome identifying Nick Allen projected to make 1.5 million in arbitration this winter. Dub Bond projected to make 5.8 million. This is a money-saving swap for the Astros. That’s a very nice way for Chandler to put it. This is a salary dump for the Houston Astros. He was uh brought up Astros fans not understanding what’s the point, what’s going on. The point is to trim payroll. And we take a look at the Astros payroll situation right now. The projected final for 2025 according to fan graphs is 224 million and current obligations after the Dubon trade is at 218 million. The luxury tax is 244. That’s the level one threshold. So if you are an Astros fan, one of two things is happening. One thing that you really don’t want to think about is that this team is just trimming payroll and we are going backwards. Another idea is maybe they’re trying to make room. I mean, saving 5 million bucks for this upcoming year and getting a little bit further away from that luxury tax. Does it open you up to making a more impactful addition when you think about your pitching? I have identified the two biggest needs for the Astros this off seasonason is a starter to replace Valdez and to add some kind of certainty to that rotation because I think there are a lot of question marks. Everything could be fine for the Houston Nationals. There are a lot of talented pitchers there, but there were some guys that that didn’t progress last year. There were some guys that got hurt. How are they going to be when they come back? So, I think a starting pitcher is an area of need, especially if you’re using losing Forever Valdez. That’s a that’s a big hit to your rotation. And the bullpen, I do think this team needs to add another bullpen piece. Now, they don’t need to go out and make a splash in the bullpen, but they do need to target a good quality, trustworthy circle of trust caliber reliever or two. Now, when we think about who the Astros could be targeting for the starting pitching, it was brought up in ESPN’s article from last week coming out of the GM meetings that the Astros will be targeting middle tier starters. That’s not what you want to hear either. This is not going well for Astros fans. Middle tier starters. Now, you can find some good value at the middle tier if you if you’re able to land the right piece. Uh, I think somebody that sort of headlines the middle tier starting pitching market is somebody like Tyler Molly. He was very good for the Texas Rangers and feels like a guy that is not going to cost a lot of money, not going to require you to shell out a four or fiveyear deal. It’s probably a two-year deal, three-year deal situation. So, so the the upside though is what you saw last year where he can pitch to the top half of a rotation. That that kind of feels like it’s the best case scenario if we are talking about middle tier starters. Now, the Astros could always trade for a starting pitcher. And that’s is interesting. If you call up the Miami Marlins and trade for Sandy Alcantra, maybe now it’s a little bit easier to make that deal happen because there’s 5 million less dollars on the books. If if the goal is to try to stay below the luxury tax, if the goal is to come down even more, then we’re in trouble. Then we are looking for a bargain starter and bargain bullpen additions. It’s going to be very interesting how Houston moves forward through this off seasonason and what they are able to bring on board because this team obviously is going to be in a mode. They have too much invested. We’re over $200 million of salary. You can’t take your foot off the gas. You have to add. They’re going to have to be creative this off season obviously with their additions. And if this opens up some money, then that’s a good thing. So, the player that they’re actually getting here, Nick Allen, the real quality that he brings to the field is his defense. He’s very good defensively. Doesn’t have a strong arm, but if you’re looking for glove work, if you’re looking for getting to the ball, he does a very fine job. Now, he’s obviously not going to start. Uh, you have a starting shortstop, and if your starting shorts stop gets hurt, you have a third baseman that can slide over to shortstop. So, you’re kind of good. Nick Allen is is is probably going to just be an extra bench piece. Um I’ll be honest, guys, I wouldn’t even be surprised if he gets DFA. And and and the reason is because this the Astros have have so much uh in that infield. And one of Dub’s qualities was that he could play everywhere. And Nick Allen, I don’t know if he can really play anywhere. Uh shorts stop, yeah. Second base, yeah. Doesn’t have the arm to play third. doesn’t have the arm to move to the outfield. So, he’s really just a middle infielder. So, I he doesn’t have the same versatility that that Dubon had. Let’s go to Don. Let’s go to the brave side of the equation with this trade. And when you think about the versatility, that is going to be a major plus here. When you think about the bats, it’s not so much a plus. That versatility is really what you’re getting with Mauricio Don. You see his numbers last year. A WRC plus of 80. That’s not a good number. That is 20 points, 20% below league average. So that’s not good. You’re really not getting him for the bat. You are getting him for a lack in strikeouts. So while he doesn’t bring the production, he does bring you good at bats. He will put the ball in play. He will move the line. And we saw a Blue Jays team that was really good at that and excelled at that. So, if Dubon is, as Alex Anthopoulos has alluded to, potentially the everyday shortstop, he’s at least going to give you some good at bats. He’s going to put the ball in place. He’s not going to swing and miss. He’s not going to strike out. That’s a good quality. If if there are outs that are coming, they will be productive outs. That’s a good thing. But really, the best element of Mauricio Don is his defense. You see 99th percentile outs above average. on top of it, a strong arm so he can slide into the outfield. And in fact, last year he was in the outfield a lot, 63 games in the outfield. He played everywhere except catcher last year and he didn’t pitch. Left field, right field, center field, first base, third base, shortstop, second base. He played everywhere. 33 games at shortstop. And if you give him the everyday shortstop gig, which Alexanthopoulos is saying that they are comfortable doing, that they’re going to continue to explore the shortstop market, but they are comfortable quote unquote if him of him being their shortstop. I mean, Braves fans, let tell me what you think because I I I don’t think you’re happy about that. I don’t think you’re happy about that one bit. And one of the domino effects, as we talked about, the telling nature of this trade is the Bob Bashette element here. Does this mean the Braves are signaling that that that Bob Bashette, it’s just not it’s just not going to happen. Uh they are a team that has been brought up and mentioned as a Bob Bashette suitor, as a Blue Jays fan. The Braves have worried me because of the need at shortstop because of the money that they have to spend this year. It all sort of falls in line that Bo would be a target for the Atlanta Braves. Again, when we think about the Alex Antablo situation, he says you’re going to continue to explore the shortstop market, which is really Bob Bashett at this point because honestly, Dubon, I don’t know if you’re going to get anybody better than him, certainly on the free agent market. I mean, that’s I mean, Hassan Kim, I guess maybe would be. Uh, but with with the other shorts stops that are out there, IKF, Orlando Arcia, Ahmed Rosario, Paul D. Young look, I mean, of of the group of that group, Dubon is the the best option to play shortstop out of the free agent market. So then you pivot to the trade market, and we’ll dig into that more in a minute. There obviously are better options on the trade market. It’s just a matter of if you feel like you can get a deal done. Now, I’ll say this. All everything I’ve just said about Boba and and potentially not being a tie with the Braves, I’m I I can’t close the door completely. I can’t close the door completely because obviously Bo would still be an upgrade over Mauricio Don and the Braves still have money to spend even after locking up the closer at Glaciius for another year and adding Dubon who can play everywhere. That depth would be huge for this Atlanta team that has dealt with so much injury and has needed guys to step up over the last couple of seasons. Guys going down left and right, dropping like flies. A guy like Dubon, his versatility would almost carry more value than him being the starting shorts stop because he can plug in everywhere. We think about the Braves defense right now. Riley, Olsen, Alb’s, and Dubant. Does it look like it is right? I don’t I I I I don’t know. Uh more on the whole Bob Bashette situation. Again, there’s obviously an opening there because the Dubon thing at shortstop everyday shorts stop. You’d still think that you would do something bigger and better than that. But Ken Rosenthal poured some cold water earlier this week on Bob Bashett and the Braves talking about how teams don’t consider him a shortstop. Jeff Passen sort of pushed back on that. Not directly identifying anything Ken had said, but talked about how teams did still see him as a shortstop. Ken says teams don’t. and and maybe more importantly that the Braves specifically the Braves because because the question was without the Bra was about the Braves and shortstop that the Braves won’t pay him what he can get in the open market. The Braves aren’t going to give him a $200 million contract which tracks I mean this is not something that the Braves have been doing. They have not been making those big uh name and lights uh splashy kind of moves, headline grabbing, front page grabbing moves when it comes to position players uh in in the free agent market. They develop their own, they sign their own, they trade for what they need, but the big splashy free agent moves, they just haven’t done. So, I mean that any any shift in that would put Bobette back on the table. But if they’re going to continue to operate the way they have, you got to think that we are in a position where uh the Braves might not be a fit here. But again, I get back to that payroll. And this is why I can’t close the door 100% on Bo and I can’t close the door 100% on them going out and finding a way to add a significant shortstop. The payroll 2025 final projected number from Fan Graphs is 214 million. And the word is that payroll is going up 50 million. And we’re at 212 right now. That includes a glacius. That includes Dubon. So we are we are headed to 264 which takes us over that first luxury tax threshold. That takes us to the second luxury tax threshold. That where we’re at. If there’s still another 52 million to play with, then Bo could still be in play. Who is going to be the Atlanta Braves shortstop again? Even after the Dubon thing, Alexanthopoulos is going to continue to explore the shortstop market, but they feel comfortable with Dubon. So maybe it is Dubon. Maybe this is an opportunity to give Nacho Alvarez run and see if he can handle the position. Maybe this is a trade situation, a trade scenario. Now, when we think about middle infielders that we know are out on the trade market, there’s not a ton of them right now. One of them is a really a second baseman and and that is Brendan Donovan that though Donovan is versatile in his own right and did play some shorts stop has played some shorts stop. So maybe Donovan, if you feel good about Dubon being at shortstop, maybe they would feel good about Donovan being at shortstop. If not Brendan Donovan, CJ Abrams, I know it is inside the division, but the Nats feel like they are rebooting the reboot. And if that’s the case, they’re still going to be several years away from competing. So you can send prospects to the Washington Nationals that are several years away and may not hit at all, may not may not land and make a mark at all at the major league level, but they’ve got a high ceiling. They’re a hot prospect and you could deal them for C.J. Abrams, get your second baseman for the next couple of years. This shortstop situation in Atlanta is going to be interesting to track until they definitively have a guy that you know is a shortstop and will be their shortstop. Right now still a lot of question marks. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out. I do think it’s sort of clouds a Boba Bett in an Atlanta Braves uniform picture. Can’t rule it out 100%. But I do think it at least at at the very least clouds clouds that that potential picture. What do you guys think? Leave your comments down below on the Brave situation, on this shortstop situation. What are your thoughts on this trade? Leave your comment down below for me and the rest of the community to check out. That is going to do it for this one everybody. Ballcap Nation, I salute you. Thank you for coming in and spending time with the channel. to my 100 club. Thank you guys for making it to the end of another video, helping to promote the video and promote the channel. Really do appreciate it, guys. That’s it for me. Make sure to smash that like on the way out. And remember, if it’s low, let it go. And if it’s high, let it fly. I’ll catch you next

The Braves have traded Nick Allen to the Astros for Mauricio Dubon…what does this mean for the Braves and a potential Bo Bichette fit? What does it mean for the Astros payroll situation and their need to add a starting pitcher?

#braves #astros #trade