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Marcell Ozuna is an Atlanta Brave:
Outfielder Marcell Ozuna and the Atlanta Braves are in agreement on one-year, $18 million contract, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 21, 2020
You can go ahead and bank on Ozuna being slotted into the cleanup role. And he and Ronald Acuña Jr. will be the only everyday outfielders on this squad for the time being:
#Braves intend to use Ozuna and Acuña in everyday lineup, the rest to be determined.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) January 22, 2020
Whew! Ronnie’s gonna be an everyday player. In other news, water is wet.
What this means for Nick Markakis, Ender Inciarte, and Adam Duvall is that you can’t really trust anyone right now, unless they separate themselves. If I had to guess, I’d say the ageless Markakis still logs the most at-bats of this bunch.
As for Ozuna’s ADP, expect it to leap a solid 20 picks or so. Currently he’s at 106 per the NFBC, but he’ll probably somersault into the 70-80 range now. You’ll be considering alongside names like Ramon Laureano, Tommy Pham, Jorge Soler, and Joey Gallo. And I think he belongs in that grouping. It’s a roster construction query, honestly. If you were good on speed but needed pop, I could see Ozuna over Laureano.
Finally, this entire post is really just for our own Joe Gentile (resident Tommy Edman truther), and for Tommy Edman. Here ya go in St. Louis:
So
— Matt Thompson (@mdthompFWFB) January 22, 2020
Fowler
Edman
Goldy
DeJong
Carpenter
Molina
Wong
Bader
Seriously? That’s the lineup?
Don’t get hung up on the order, as Wong may see some time near the top of the lineup. What you don’t see is Ozuna’s bat to get in the way of Tommy Edman’s opportunities. This way, we are all winners! Everyone gets a trophy. My Braves get a cleanup hitter, and Tommy Edman doesn’t get blocked in St. Louis.
Remember today, today is a good day.