Richard Rodriguez and a promising prospect are among the Braves that were non-tendered

The non-tender deadline for all teams was at 8:00 PM ET today, and the Braves had 13 major-leaguers that were arbitration eligible.

The Braves must decide whether to tender contracts to these players by 8 pm ET tonight (w/arb estimate)

Duvall-$9.1M
Swanson-$10.1M
Jackson-$3.8M
Arcia-$2.1M
Heredia-$1.6M
Rodriguez-$3.1M
Camargo-$1.4M
Minter-$2.1M
Fried-$7.1M
Soroka-$2.8M
Newcomb-$900K
Matzek-$1.5M
Riley-$4.3M

— Matt Chrietzberg (@BravesMattC) November 30, 2021

Among the 13 candidates, only two players were not tendered contracts — Johan Camargo and Richard Rodriguez. The Braves also decided not to tender a contract to AAA pitcher Jasseel De La Cruz.

The #Braves today declined to tender a 2022 contract to INF Johan Camargo, RHP Jasseel De La Cruz, and RHP Richard Rodríguez. The club also today tendered contracts to the remaining unsigned players on the organization’s 40-man roster, which stands at 38.

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) December 1, 2021

I’m not surprised the Braves decided to let go of Camargo or Rodriguez. Camargo just hasn’t been the same guy since his 3-WAR season back in 2018, and after Atlanta brought back Arcia, there wasn’t any room for him on the roster. Rodriguez was likely a tougher decision, given the Braves gave up prospects for him at the trade deadline, but I believe the team made the right move by letting him go. The ban on spider tack clearly had an effect on his stuff, so there was no reason to take a $3 million risk to see if he could bounce back in 2022.

Im also not surprised with any of the players the Braves decided to keep. I was on the fence about Sean Newcomb, but his upside is worth it at the price of just $900k. At the very least, the Braves can find a trade suitor for him at some point during the season. Adam Duvall was the other name to watch out for, but I always thought the Braves would tender him a contract. They made the mistake of letting him go last season; there was no way they were going to make the same mistake twice. Bringing back the NL RBI leader at the price of $9.1 million is still a bargain, and we all know how much Anthopoulos loves a good bargain.

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Photo: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire