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Arbitration number exchange is due at 1:00 today. Max Fried, Mike Soroka, AJ Minter, and Dansby Swanson are all eligible.

I don't currently have Newcomb in my projected Atlanta bullpen.

The Braves have signed their first highly-touted international amateur free agent since 2016: shortstop Ambioris Tavarez out of the Dominican Republic.

The Braves have signed former Oakland A's outfielder Jaycob Brugman to a minor league contract. in 48 games for Oakland in 2017, Brugman hit .266/.346/.343 with 3 home runs. In parts of 4 AAA seasons, Brugman has a .278/.347/.457 batting line with 37 homers. He can play all three OF positions and will turn 29 years old next week.

Also, I am hearing *very* good things about Drew Waters time at the Alternate Training Site. I would be surprised if he made the team out of camp, but I don't think he's as far away from the majors as some think.

Pache, Acuna, and someone not currently on the roster. Inciarte goes into spring trying to keep a roster spot. Almonte possible depth. I suspect we're still in the market for two more outfielders, a starter and someone we can bring in on a minor-league deal with a good shot at making the team as competition for Inciarte and Almonte.

Thing is, nobody cares that pitchers use pine tar to help their grip. They should just make it legal. This Angels clubhouse guy definitely shouldn't be singled out like this.

Speculation.

They usually make them in conjunction with a team making a huge order for a promotional give-away. So if the Braves decide to do another promo with, I dunno Ozzie or Fried or whomever, then they'll have the mold to make figures for retail too.

He is, but I'm always in for someone dragging Heyman.

This is the predicament the Cubs are in. Bryant is set to make over $18 million in arbitration. That is right at market value for a typical Kris Bryant season, which means there isn't excess value for which to get a good return. A fair trade would be something like a mid-grade prospect -- someone like Greyson Jenista or Nolan Kingham for the Braves. Of course if the Cubs traded Bryant for that kind of deal, fans would revolt. So to improve the return, the Cubs could pay part of the salary. However, ownership is crying poverty, so it's unlikely that they would do that. At this point

Love the prospects the Rays got for Snell. They may take a step back for this year, but with their system they'll be a player for the rest of this decade. That Darvish trade though... hard to believe that's all it took to get Darvish. Pure salary dump. Awful.

Yeah, defense and as ATLBrave said, he was really only great for about six weeks. He's OK, and the Nats didn't give up that much, but I don't think this moves the needle too much for them.

Not as much as Josh Bell.

Good hire. ******.