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Atlanta Braves fans are concerned that left field might be vacant as free agency starts.
Reports came out on Sunday that the Braves were “expected to decline” outfielder Eddie Rosario’s $9M club option for 2024, making him a free agent and leaving the Braves without an obvious replacement in the outfield corner.
Rosario’s return is still conceivable, though, as every season there are instances where a team rejects a player’s option only to sign the player in free agency to a different contract that often has more years and less money than the option.
Now, that’s not a guarantee. There’s bound to be interest in Rosario, who despite grading out only average at the plate (100 wRC+) as the strong-side of a platoon, has shown that he can get hot and take over a series – the 2021 NLCS is an obvious example, but there’s evidence of that happening even this season.
When Atlanta went to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks for a three-game set to open June, Rosario singlehandedly carried Atlanta to a series victory. He hit two home runs on Friday, scoring all of Atlanta’s run in a close 3-2 loss, before adding a triple, a run scored, and an RBI on Saturday and a grand slam on Sunday as Atlanta won the final two games of the series.
