Braves News: Braves Pick Up Charlie Morton’s Team Option, Award Finalists, More

As expected, Monday was a busy day on multiple fronts for many teams across baseball. For the Braves in particular, it was more about procedural moves to get the off-season started than anything. Atlanta officially picked up the $20M team option for Charlie Morton on Monday, while deciding to decline the options for Eddie Rosario, Kirby Yates, and Colin McHugh. This means the Braves will have much of the same starting rotation going into 2024, but now will have left field as an area of focus to fill for the remainder of the offseason.

In the end, of the five team options the Braves had to decided upon, they picked up only Morton’s. And while there may have been logical reasons to decline his option as well, more valid logic supported the Braves bringing back starting pitching depth at a reasonable price. However, this should not indicate that the Braves have made their most significant decision on the 2024 starting rotation for this offseason. The Braves could use another reliable talent for next year, and perhaps beyond, when it comes to their starters. It will be one of the more followed storylines of the offseason to see which direction they go to add that sort of talent.

Braves News

• The 2023 MLB awards finalists were announced, with Ronald Acuna Jr. being a finalist for MVP and Brian Snitker once again being a finalist for Manager of they Year.
• The Braves announced other roster moves on Monday to fill-out their 40-man roster, including claiming for Pirates pitcher Angel Perdomo.
• The Braves season on review series kicked off with the season recaps for Ehire Adrianza and Charlie Cublerson, which can be found here and here.
• Brad Rowland and Scott Coleman dive into all the day’s news on the latest edition of the Battery Power Podcast.

MLB News

• Across Baseball, seven players received qualifying offers from their respective teams.
• New Faces in New Places when it comes to MLB Managers: Craig Counsell to the Cubs, Carlos Mendoza to the Mets, and Stephen Vogt to the Guardians to the Indians.
• It looks like there is a realistic chance Juan Soto or Pete Alonso, perhaps even both players, could be traded this offseason.
• MLBTradeRumors released their top 50 MLB free agents, a fun annual event for all to enjoy.
• The Super Two Status rule for arbitration has been set at 2.118 years.
• After being replaced by Craig Counsell in Chicago, David Ross could be an option for the Padres as manager.
• Arizona manager Tony Lovullo was extended after his team’s World Series run.