Report: Braves’ focus shifting to Castellanos, Ozuna

According to Jim Bowden, Atlanta’s already moving on from Donaldson.

#Braves more likely to pivot to either Ozuna or Castellanos in FA after losing out on Donaldson. They are comfortable with Camargo and Riley at 3B and don’t want to trade away their strong farm system for Arenado or Bryant according to sources.

— Jim Bowden (@JimBowdenGM) January 15, 2020

Personally, I’m not a fan of signing any of these guys. Castellanos is alright with the stick but his defense stinks out loud. .289/.337/.863 with 28 Bombs is solid, but I don’t think he’s worth the money being the liability on defense he is. He also doesn’t solve our third base issue. Ozuna is… an anomaly. He’s had one elite season and may demand a high price tag. I wouldn’t be too mad if we signed him, but I want spots for Pache and Waters to play. At the end of the day, the Braves will have to find a cleanup hitter.

On the trade market, there is Nolan Arenado, who has an opt-out after 2 years, and Kris Bryant, who has a grievance with the MLB to get an extra year closer to free agency. With that being said, it seems any team that acquires him will likely have him for two seasons. Regardless of what the reports say, reports have not usually been consistent with Alex Anthoplous’ options, so we will see how things end up shaking out.

I’m comfortable rolling with Austin Riley and Johan Camargo. You have to see what you have in Riley, and I have full faith he will bounce back. If he isn’t effective before the trade deadline, you can make a move then. Josh Donaldson is the last elite player on the market. Now we wait to see what Alex Anthopoulos does next.