The 24-hour trading frenzy that ended the Winter Meetings didn’t involve the Braves. They left town Thursday without trading their right-handed sluggers, Justin Upton and Evan Gattis, and without signing a big-name free agent or acquiring anyone via trade.
And they were good with that.
“With us, where we are, what we’re trying to build, it isn’t about trying to make a big splash,” Braves assistant general manager John Coppolella said. “It’s about trying to do what’s best long-term for the Braves and really trying to find good value in every move that we make.”
They signed a pair of free agents, infielder Alberto Callaspo and Cuban outfielder Dian Toscano — the deals will be official after paperwork and physicals are completed — and took a pitching prospect and minor league catcher in the Rule 5 draft.
“We feel really good about the things we got done here,” Coppolella said. “We had great conversations and did a lot of work with clubs and agents. We will keep talking to other clubs and keep talking with agents.”
The Braves prefer to keep Gattis, given his potential 30-homer power and four years of contractual control. They’re ready to trade Upton, who has 56 homers in the past two seasons but will be a free agent after the 2015 season. However, the Braves won’t trade him unless and until they get a large package of players or prospects in return.
Baltimore, Seattle, Texas, San Francisco, Cincinnati and San Diego are among teams still seeking more right-handed power.
The Braves’ top remaining priority is a starting pitcher and backup catcher to replace Gerald Laird, a free agent. They can fill the latter spot later, once they know whether Upton is coming or going. If going, Gattis can shift to left field and the Braves would turn over catching to Christian Bethancourt.
Braves president of baseball operations John Hart said earlier this week he’d be willing to go to spring training still needing a piece or two. Coppolella echoed that sentiment Thursday.
“It’s the sort of things where we don’t need to trade Justin — we don’t need to trade anybody off our roster,” Coppolella said. “At this point we’re under our budget. We feel good about the team we have, and if the right deal, comes along we’ll talk it through with John (Hart) and John (Schuerholz, team president)) and our whole scouting staff and see if it makes sense. I don’t think that we’re forced to make any trades. Sometimes the very best trades are the ones that you don’t make, and we feel like we have some real good assets on our club, and we’ll just kind of see where it goes.
“We have talked with a number of clubs on a number of players. It’s something where things can change fast. When we made the (Jason) Heyward trade, that whole process probably happened in less than 48 hours. So things can move fast. There’s some where you’re in trade talks for weeks or months. We’ve had good talks with clubs on a myriad of players and we’ll see where it goes. I don’t think we’re in any hurry to make any headlines or big a big trade just to say we got something done. We want to do what makes sense and what helps us short term as well as long term.”
They know some fans see the Dodgers, Marlins, Cubs and White Sox and others making big moves and get frustrated that the Braves aren’t doing the same. But the Braves are focused more on building for the future than going for it all in 2015.
“It’s fun if you have the big trade or big signing, but sometimes that doesn’t work out,” Coppolella said. “Look, the largest free-agent signing we’ve ever had was B.J. Upton. And it was fun, we had all the fanfare. (But) up to this point, it hasn’t worked out the way that we’d hoped. … Where we are, what we’re trying to build, isn’t about trying to make a big splash. It’s about trying to what’s best long-term for the Braves and really trying to find good value in every move we make.”
