The Braves have been featured heavily in the rumor mill this offseason, but other signing some veteran starters to one-year deals and trading for Jaime Garcia and Alex Jackson, they have been relatively quiet. Despite being connected at one point or another to a number of players including Brian McCann, Chris Sale, Chris Archer, and Sonny Gray, the Braves have been at the very least been waiting to see how the market develops.
As we all (im)patiently wait for every tidbit of news out of the Winter Meetings, our friend and all-around awesome human being Grant McAuley had a chance to sit down with Braves GM John Coppolella to talk about the Winter Meetings.
My interview with #Braves GM John Coppolella includes discussion of Altanta's young starters, Sale trade and more. https://t.co/Z6Zt1OixkM
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) December 6, 2016
Coppy covered a number of topics, so if you want to listen to the interview in its entirety it starts at about the 23:00 minute mark.
The big things were that he reiterated that the Braves did a large amount of their heavy lifting leading up to the meetings, the Braves are going to be better in 2017 (how much better remains to be seen), and they will continue to look at moves that makes sense.
More specifically, Coppy noted that Alex Jackson could be switched back to catcher although Jackson wants to think about that transition back. He also reiterated that they all of the payroll the Braves have shed in recent years has allowed them a level of flexibility that the Braves want to use to the fullest, not just because.
Listening to Coppy, it is clear that while the Braves are always going to be willing to have conversations about deals with teams, he seems perfectly content with standing pat this week. For many fans, that is good news.