NEWSLETTER
Woohoo! It begins! Even without Shohei Ohtani news, the Winter Meetings are getting started tonight with a fairly big trade.
The Atlanta Braves have reportedly acquired 24-year-old outfielder Jarred Kelenic, 27-year-old 1B Evan White, and 31-year-old lefty Marco Gonzales from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for 20-year-old righty Cole Phillips (a top-10 prospect in a weak Braves system) and 27-year-old righty Jackson Kowar.
Of course, nominally, that’s what the Mariners are receiving. But in reality, they’re receiving salary relief and an open space in their outfield plans. At least, that seems to be the consensus.
After all, Phillips and Kowar cost next to nothing, while Jarred Kelenic ($~750K), Evan White ($7M), Marco Gonzales ($12M) combine for ~$20M. Atlanta is reportedly receiving some cash in the deal, but still, they shed some salary tonight.
The Braves, then, get the former tip-top-prospect, who’s gotten off to a slow start, but may finally be figuring things out at the big league level, Jarred Kelenic:
There’s definitely still upside there. But I don’t really want to talk about the specific pieces in this trade too deeply tonight. Instead, I want to consider what’s really happening here.
If the Mariners were (1) already looking for outfield help before they (2) cleared a bunch of payroll space and (3) opened up a job in left field … what could they be expecting to happen next? A Juan Soto trade? that would be the most interesting and potentially impactful follow-up. Initially, Jon Heyman thought something similar, which is why he tweeted this …
HOWEVER, shortly after that tweet, it almost seems like he got a text with a friendly point in a more accurate direction (just my interpretation):
We know the Rays are open for business, including on Isaac Paredes, a theoretical Cubs target, so that all tracks with prior rumors. And it just seems like the Mariners have been nowhere near Juan Soto rumors all offseason. But who knows! That’s the fun of the Winter Meetings. And we’re just getting started.
