According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Atlanta Braves have already made their decision on slugger Marcell Ozuna.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Atlanta Braves have already made an offseason decision on important slugger Marcell Ozuna.
– Atlanta has no plans to cut ties with MVP candidate Marcell Ozuna after the season and will pick up his $16 million club option.
It leaves Atlanta with two DHs with the recent acquisition of Jorge Soler, who hadn’t played a single inning in the field this season but will now play right field.
“I think the one thing we’ve seen the last few years is, you’re going to need more than three (outfielders), and injuries are part of it,” Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos told reporters. “Every year, we’ve had to acquire bats.
It appears that Atlanta will pick up Ozuna’s option, as he is hitting.300 this season with 32 home runs and 86 RBI. In the absence of Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson’s subpar year, he’s stepped up to become one of baseball’s most effective hitters.
Soler was acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline and is now in Atlanta, where he helped the Braves win the 2021 World Series. He’s only hitting.234 this season, with 12 home runs and 41 RBI. He signed a three-year contract with San Francisco in the offseason, so the Braves will have to deal with his defensive limitations for the next two seasons.
Lifetime, he’s a .242 hitter with 182 homers. He’s helped both the Braves and Chicago Cubs (2016) get to the World Series.