5:35 pm: Puig accepted an one-year handle Atlanta, per Charles Odum and Ben Walker of the Associated Press.
2:50 pm: The Braves have actually accepted a deal, pending a physical, with free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (through Twitter). The agreement brings to a close a prolonged free-agent saga for the mercurial Puig, who is an understood commodity for Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos (formerly the Dodgers VP of baseball operations). Puig is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.
Offered the difference in age, though, theres more factor to anticipate a rebound out of Puig than there wouldve been from the 36-year-old Markakis. Including Puig and Ozuna to a currently strong core wont offset the loss of Josh Donaldson, however itll offer the Braves an undoubtedly deep reservoir of bats from which to draw as they want to nail down a third straight NL East division title.
Puig, 29, was the most popular name among anonymous free agents, having actually gone the whole offseason without accepting an offer and after that withstanding a league-wide deal freeze throughout the pandemic that further slowed his path to a team. He apparently got offers from the Marlins and Orioles along the way– in addition to some interest from the Korea Baseball Organization– but Puig never ever found an offer to his liking it seems. Its doubtful that hell command the large multi-year offer he looked for over the winter season in this new plan with Atlanta, however hell sign up with a club with apparent postseason goals.
The Braves, obviously, simply lost one noteworthy outfield alternative recently when veteran Nick Markakis announced that he will not play in 2020. Puig will provide the Braves another accomplished bat who offered similar production to Markakis in 2019. While the Atlanta outfield was currently mainly set with Marcell Ozuna, Ender Inciarte and Ronald Acuna Jr., the addition of Puig will enable the Braves to rotate all their corner-outfield options (also consisting of Adam Duvall) through left field, best field and DH while keeping everybody fresh. Acuna can likewise play center field in place of Inciarte, so well definitely see days where Ozuna, Acuna and Puig are lined up left-to-right in the outfield– maybe with Duvall at designated hitter.
From a defensive standpoint, Puig played an average right field in 2015 according to each of Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating and Outs Above Average. His glovework in the past has actually varied from passable to exceptional in any given year, depending upon ones chosen metric. At the extremely least, though, its affordable to anticipate Puig to be a minimum of a typical corner and a typical bat protector, making him a nice pickup for Atlanta.
The Braves at first announced 56 gamers in their 60-man gamer swimming pool for the 2020 season, although both Markakis and experienced right-hander Felix Hernandez can be subtracted from that number after opting out of the season. Atlanta has likewise had 4 gamers, consisting of cornerstone Freddie Freeman, test positive for COVID-19. They will not count versus the player swimming pool if any are positioned on the IL as a result. Even with no IL placements and after adding Bryce Ball to the player pool recently, the Braves will have area in their 60-man pool for Puig. The Braves also had a vacancy on their 40-man lineup, so no corresponding move will require to be made to accommodate Puigs existence on the lineup.
In a season that saw massive spikes in offensive output thanks to the modified composition of the ball, Puigs line examined in ideal about at the league average (101 wRC+, 100 OPS+). That lines up quite likewise with Markakis (102 wRC+, 98 OPS+) however falls well shy of 2017-18, when Puig was roughly 20 percent better than a league-average hitter.
2:50 pm: The Braves have actually concurred to a deal, pending a physical, with free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (by means of Twitter). Puig will provide the Braves another accomplished bat who offered similar production to Markakis in 2019. While the Atlanta outfield was already mainly set with Marcell Ozuna, Ender Inciarte and Ronald Acuna Jr., the addition of Puig will enable the Braves to turn all their corner-outfield alternatives (also consisting of Adam Duvall) through left field, right field and DH while keeping everyone fresh. Even with no IL placements and after adding Bryce Ball to the player pool just recently, the Braves will have area in their 60-man swimming pool for Puig.
