Brian Snitker gave a very (understandable) coach speak answer when asked about Ender Inciarte’s tenure with the Braves
#Braves MGR Brian Snitker said Ender Inciarte "will come to spring training, compete for a job and we'll see where it goes."
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) December 18, 2020
Vanilla Ice Cream in word form. I’ve been very adamant about trading Ender Inciarte with his suddenly very ugly contract, but with things uncertain around Marcell Ozuna — the situation gets even more complicated. We’ve seen actual good players like new Brave Charlie Morton, Darren O’Day, Hunter Renfroe, and Kolten Wong have their options declined because of “tight” finances. I won’t start ranting on how I don’t want to hear MLB owners cry poor, but it’s the state of the league right now. It seems incredibly difficult to find a trade partner for Ender’s contract right now. I was willing to give up some prospect capital, but I’m not sure that’s even on the table now.
Marcell Ozuna becomes a bit of a paradox. Does Liberty Media have the money for him? Of course, don’t let them tell you otherwise. Does Ender’s $8.7 million cap hit complicate the process? You bet. There’s no hard salary cap in baseball, but teams have been reluctant to spend so far as we’ve predicted. Without Ozuna, does the team need Ender? (No, but some may argue that). With Ender, can Atlanta afford to keep Ozuna? (Yes, but some may argue that). The point remains that it seems Ender is here to stay, and while it’s unclear if Anthopoulos has even tried to deal him — it’s still early in the winter and anything can happen between now and Spring Training 2021.
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