The Daily Chop: Andruw Jones gaining Hall of Fame support

One of my favorite parts of the offseason is watching how the Hall of Fame voting shakes out. Not every voter reveals their ballot but the ones that do are tracked in Ryan Thibodaux’s Ballot Tracker which has become an essential resource.

Braves fans have paid special attention to the ballot for the last several years. Andruw Jones is in his fourth season on the ballot and has picked up some support each season, although he is still a long ways from gaining induction.

Jones picked up a pair of votes Tuesday. The first came from FanGraphs’ writer and Hall of Fame expert Jay Jaffe who was casting his first official ballot. The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami also casted a ballot for Jones putting him at +10 on 71 public ballots over last year.

Braves News

Atlanta came in at No. 5 in MLB.com’s ranking of the best starting rotations for 2021. That is a pretty good jump considering where the Braves were at in 2020.

Braves Podcasts

Brad catches up with AJC beat writer Gabe Burns to discuss the Braves’ offseason.

MLB News

The Chicago Cubs have already dumped Yu Darvish and are now reportedly shopping catcher Willson Contreras.

The Phillies, Rays and Dodgers pulled off a three-team deal on Tuesday. Reliever Jose Alvarado is going from Tampa to Philly. Minor league first baseman Dillon Paulson is headed back to the Rays while the Dodgers are acquiring former Phillies lefty Garrett Cleavinger.

Yasiel Puig is currently playing in the Dominican Winter League and is focused on “improving the things that bothered some people” when he played.

The Twins signed reliever Hansel Robles to a one-year, $2 million deal.

First baseman Justin Smoak is finalizing a deal with the Yomiuri Giants according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.