The Winter Meetings opened yesterday and the Braves and Mariners officially got us started! Late last night Jeff Passan reported that these two teams agreed to a subtle, but noticeable, swap as the Braves add a high-upside former top prospect and some depth as the Mariners dump some salary (@Soto @Ohtani 👀 ) and receive a pair of top picks in the process.
Atlanta Braves
The Braves are giving the Mariners some salary relief, as Marco Gonzales is set to make 12m this year and has a 15m club option next year, while Evan White is still owed at least 15m over the next years (and has three club options at 10m, 11m, and 12.5m each) thanks to his pre-arbitration extension, per Spotrac.
However, in this trade, the Braves get the former #4 prospect (Jarred Kelenic) and center of the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz trade with the Mets a few years ago. Kelenic struggled in his first two seasons hitting under .200 and getting sent back down to the minors a couple of times, but the young lefty showed signs of growth last year, slashing .253/.327/.419 for an OPS of .746 and OPS+ of 109 over 105 games in 2023 (2.0 rWAR). Kelenic also still has 5 more years of team control and it wouldn't be surprising if he performs well for the Braves and gets signed to an extension next year (like they've done with all their young talent).
Marco Gonzales, can provide some starting pitching depth to the Braves who had plenty of depth issues down the stretch. The Braves shouldn't rely on the soon-to-be 32-year-old to be a frontline starter for them, but he does have a respectable career 4.14 ERA and was a workhorse for the Mariners in 2022, throwing for 183 innings.
Seattle Mariners
There have been a lot of rumors about the Mariners looking to create salary space and they did just that last night. The purpose of having extra cap space is to throw their hat into the Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Soto (trade) sweepstakes happening this offseason. All of these players are going to command contracts north of 30m a year, and the Mariners have cleared out almost that much cap space with this trade alone.
The Mariners also received two pitching prospects in 2018 first-round pick Jackson Kowar and 2022 second-round pick Cole Phillips. Kowar is a 27-year-old who was in the Royals system and bounced between AAA and the show for the past 3 seasons but has struggled, pitching to an ERA of 9.12 in the MLB across 39 games (8 starts).
The 20-year-old Cole Phillips missed all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery suffered before he was drafted. Pre-surgery Phillips was hitting 100mph and sitting in the mid-90s, giving the Mariners a tantalizing, but raw, pitching prospect.
ICYM:
Check out our FA predictions and be on the lookout for our full list dropping later today!
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