Frank Wren plays down General Manager meeting ahead of important offseason announcements-MLB Update
Atlanta Braves’ General Manager, Frank Wren has trivialised the meeting which is being considered as the groundwork for important offseason announcements immediately after its conclusion.
Wren has tried to restrict the speculations stating that the meeting will not contain anything special except for the information sharing purpose.
He has clarified that only the necessary knowledge will be exchanged. Further, the players that can serve them for the upcoming seasons will be reviewed.
Repelling the impression that the end of the General Manager meeting will trigger the beginning of declarations about the agreements of players, he has elaborated that they are still at the initial stages of the negotiations with the potential signees.
The Braves have many areas to address in the offseason. For example, their leadoff hitter Michael Bourn is a free agent at the moment, which means that a spot is vacant on the roster.
Either they will offer Bourn such a contract that pleases him or they will search other options in the free agent market.
Atlanta faces the competition from other organisations when it comes to retaining Bourn from free agency. If the Braves do not grant him an expensive contract extension, there are various clubs that will show interest in acquiring Bourn.
As far as the objective of GM meeting is concerned, Wren is of the view that they will discuss general topics as opposed to talking about money and exact modalities of the contract of their prospective players.
“It’s always unlikely something major is going to happen at the GM meetings, because it’s usually just too early for the clubs to have gotten all the information they need,” he said. “You get accustomed to the dance that happens at the GM meetings, where
you don’t really get to the specifics that you’d like, but you get an additional round of information.”
Apart from the need to have a leadoff man, Atlanta requires an ideal replacement of their third baseman Chipper Jones. They will be looking to find a player that can counter-balance the impact of the absence of Jones in their offence.
It will be interesting to see as to how the Braves do their shopping in the free agent market.
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