Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos met with reporters Wednesday following the team’s acquisition Mauricio Dupont from the astros Nick Allen. Anthopoulos confirmed that the Braves view him as a potential starting shortstop while also potentially pushing him back into a utility role if they upgrade.
“Our underlying numbers on him as a shortstop are good and strong,” Anthopoulos said (link via Mark Bowman of MLB.com). “But I think he’s good at second, he’s good at third, he’s good at corner. He can play center field. We also like contact and speed.” Anthopoulos said Dupont’s job “will depend on what else we do this winter and maybe even spring training.”
There’s no indication the Warriors will be a factor in that Beau Bichette. The only clear free agent upgrade is Kim Ha Sunghe declined a $16MM player option. Anthopoulos made it clear at the start of the offseason that the Warriors wanted King back, but whether they would meet his asking price, which could be a multi-year deal, remains to be seen.
It’s no secret that no team is shopping for an everyday shortstop. Washington may take action CJ Abramsbut the asking price will be huge and they may not be willing to trade him within the division. The rebuilding White Sox and Rockies have young shortstops they hope can become the foundation of their teams (Colson Montgomery and Ezequiel Tovarrespectively).
Faced with salary constraints, there was speculation the Rangers would entertain an offer for a high-paid superstar. This would still be a huge surprise if Texas makes a trade Corey Seagerwho is still arguably the team’s best hitter, signed him to a six-year extension at $31MM per season. It’s unclear whether the Warriors are interested in taking on a significant portion of the $186MM remaining on the deal. Ken Rosenthal and Will Salmon of The Athletic reported that Atlanta is one of the clubs on Seager’s eight-team no-trade list. Even if the team can create a stunning blockbuster, they need to get players to sign off on it.
Dupont, 31, has played 81 MLB games at shortstop. He pitched a career-high 206 1/3 innings there last season. Dupont has 721 career snaps at the position. His defensive rating is near average, and Statcast rates him 9 points over par. Dupont is a two-time Gold Glove Award winner who has established himself as an elite defender at second base and throughout the outfield. He’s an above-average runner with great hands and a strong arm. Dupont is unlikely to be as good a defensive shortstop as Allen, but he’s not a complete zero at the bottom of the lineup, so he’s a better player overall.
The Warriors need to weigh the value of upgrading from Dupont to King against the cost of bringing the latter back — which could reduce their need for a mid-round starter. Relying on rotation has too many injury problems Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwerenbach, Reynaldo Lopez and Heston Waldrep.
The Warriors don’t have much upper-level depth behind this five. This makes Grant Holmes Health is a big unknown, even assuming they add at least one starter. Holmes has struck out four batters in 22 games this year and has a 3.99 ERA. His season ended in July when he was diagnosed with a partial UCL tear in his elbow.
Ligament damage always increases the risk of surgery. Holmes is trying to recover without surgery. Anthopoulos said the Warriors are “very encouraged” by the progress over the past four months (paraphrased by The Athletic’s David O’Brien). They still don’t know if Holmes can avoid surgery until he builds up strength during spring training, but it’s a positive development at this stage.
