This Atlanta Braves free agent prediction from MLB insider Jim Bowden sounds like it’s not going to happen.
Insider MLB manager and former major league general manager Jim Bowden has some crazy Atlanta Braves predictions for the season. The first involves an extravagant welcome procession. And another Braves fan will be asking to say goodbye. The third is a curious candidate for a reunion with a less-than-great price.
Bowden expects the Braves to sign free agent Jacob deGrom to a two-year, $90 million deal while Dansby Swanson finds a new home with the Seattle Mariners as their second baseman. He also sees reliever Kenley Jansen staying put. He will sign again with the Braves on a two-year, $34 million deal.
How realistic are these brave predictions from Jim Bowden?
DeGrom going to the Braves was the prediction many were making even before his time with the New York Mets ended. A longtime competitor to the Braves, he’s a big free agent this offseason. It makes sense why the Brave would go after him. It goes beyond just trying to pin it on one of their biggest competitors.
Atlanta has a roster made up largely of young players signed to friendly deals with the team. Rotation, while using some nice bits, doesn’t quite have an ace like deGrom’s. Since their payroll isn’t crazy, signing deGrom away from the Mets on a short-term deal makes them better and perhaps even worse than their division rival.
The bigger question here will be whether or not DeGrom will settle for a two-year deal. With a chance to snag him, wouldn’t the Texas Rangers go into a third year? The same can be said of the Mets who care a lot about keeping him.
Swanson landing with the Mariners is a reasonable but imperfect expectation with some questions. The Mariners finally ended their playoff drought in 2022. They are often an active team in free agency and in the trade, and signing Swanson would be a somewhat curious decision when they have some bigger needs.
Making Swanson the starting second baseman would be a move from the 2022 Boston Red Sox playbook. They signed free agent Trevor Storey this past winter and put him at second base alongside Xander Bogaerts. The Bogarts, who have now dropped out, can always return to Boston. The Red Sox have two options now.
The Mariners should be an option for Swanson but probably not the best choice. Nothing personal against the city of Seattle. But at the cost of having to change positions around the time other suitors should be present, this may not be entirely attractive. Crawford has already been extended through 2026 which doesn’t give him as much chance of a return to shortstop as Story would have with the Red Sox.
Will Bowden’s predictions blow us all away and be 100% accurate? of course not. Even the best crystal balls can get a little blurry. We can already see dirt on these projections.
It’s with Jansen’s prediction when we know it’s going to be somewhere. $17 million a year to Jansen seems like a huge overpayment. A two-year commitment is also unattractive. Jansen’s standing has been questioned as teams head into 2022. Having him back is a good thing. Doing it for two more seasons and at that price feels like a mistake waiting to happen.
Instead, the Braves should simply bring Raisel Iglesias closer. Get busy signing all the best free agent relievers you can get. For $17 million, they can get two reliable arms instead of one perhaps-faded star.
[ad_2]
