The Braves have agreed pending a physical, with free agent outfielder Yasiel Puig Mark Feinsand from MLB.com reports (via Twitter). The deal closes a long free-agent saga for the mercurial Puig, who is a familiar commodity to Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos (former Dodgers vice president of baseball operations). Puig is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.
Puig, 29, was the most prominent name among unsigned free agents, having gone the entire offseason without agreeing to a deal and then endured a league-wide transaction freeze during the pandemic that further slowed his way to a team. He reportedly received offers from the Marlins and Orioles along the way, as well as some interest from the Korea Baseball Organization, but it appears that Puig never found an offer to his liking. It’s doubtful that he commands the sizeable multi-year deal he sought over the winter in this new deal with Atlanta, but he will join a club with obvious postseason aspirations.
The Braves, of course, just lost a notable outfield option last week when veteran Nick Markakis announced that he will not play in 2020. Puig will give the Braves another successful bat that offered a similar production to Markakis in 2019. While that Atlanta’s outfield was already largely with Marcell Ozuna, Ender Inciarte and Ronald Acuna Jr., the addition of Puig will allow the Braves to rotate all of their corner and outfield options (also including Adam Duvall) through the outfield. left, right field and DH, keeping everyone cool. Acuña can also play center field in place of Inciarte, so we will surely see days when Ozuna, Acuña and Puig are lined up left to right in the field, perhaps with Duvall as the designated hitter.
Puig split the 2019 season between the two Ohio clubs, opening the year with the Reds before being transferred to the Indians, while in the middle of a fight on the field, no less, in the three-team blockbuster he sent. Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati. While overall a solid bat, his offensive performance didn’t reflect his past standards.
Puig appeared in 149 games and, in 611 plate appearances, hit .267 / .327 / .458 with 24 long balls, though only two after his trade with Cleveland. In a season that saw huge spikes in offensive production thanks to the altered composition of the ball, Puig’s line posted the league average (101 wRC +, 100 OPS +). That lines up pretty similarly to Markakis (102 wRC +, 98 OPS +) but is well below 2017-18, when Puig was roughly 20 percent better than a league average hitter.
However, given the age difference, there are more reasons to expect a rebound from Puig than there would have been 36-year-old Markakis. Adding Puig and Ozuna to an already strong core won’t make up for the loss of Josh Donaldson, but it will give the Braves an unquestionably deep pool of bats to draw from as they look to nail a third NL East division. qualification.
From a defensive standpoint, Puig played an average from right field last year based on each of his defensive runs saved, maximum zone rating, and above-average starts. Your glove work in the past has ranged from fair to excellent in any given year, depending on one’s preferred metric. However, at the very least, it’s reasonable to expect Puig to be at least an average bat and average corner defender, making him a good player for Atlanta.
The Braves initially announced 56 players in their 60-player pool for the 2020 season, though both Markakis and veteran right-hander Felix Hernandez can be subtracted from that number after opting out of the season. Atlanta has also had four players, including mainstay Freddie Freeman, test positive for COVID-19.
If any are placed in the IL as a result, they will not count against the group of players. Even without IL locations and after adding Bryce Ball to the player pool recently, the Braves will have room in their 60-man pool for Puig. The Braves also had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary to accommodate Puig’s presence on the roster. (GG) (TAKEN RUMORS MLB.COM)