With Ron Washington and several other former members of the Braves coaching staff now in Los Angeles, it shouldn’t come as much of a shock that there has quickly become a pipeline of former Braves players following in his footsteps. The first example was Jorge Soler, who Alex Anthopoulos traded to the Angels to kick off the offseason. Now, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Travis d’Arnaud is heading out west as well on a two-year, $12 million contract.
Catcher Travis d’Arnaud and the Los Angeles Angels are in agreement on a two-year, $12 million contract, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 12, 2024
Earlier in the offseason, the Braves surprisingly turned down Travis d’Arnaud’s $8 million option for 2025. The club still wanted to remain in contact with the veteran, but it was always likely he was going to find something better on the open market, considering how porous this year’s free agent class is for catchers.
Travis d’Arnaud had been with the Braves organization since 2020. He caught every game of Atlanta’s World Series run in 2021 and made his only All-Star appearance the following year. Over the last couple of seasons, he was relegated to more of a backup role due to the Braves acquisition of Sean Murphy. However, he’s better than your average backup catcher, recording a .739 OPS over 99 games this year. d’Arnaud’s presence in the clubhouse will also be a massive addition to a young Angels team attempting to build a sustainable winning culture under Ron Washington.
For the Braves, it will be intriguing to see if they make adding another catcher a priority at any point this offseason. They’ve made it clear they don’t desire to spend money on the position, but some insurance alongside Chadwick Tromp and Drake Baldwin would not hurt. The Braves could find themselves in a pickle next year if Sean Murphy were to go down, and they had to rely solely on Tromp and Baldwin, who have played less than 60 games combined at the major-league level.
—
Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
You must log in to post a comment.