The Atlanta Braves made the easy decision to bring Tyler Flowers back exercising the team option and officially bringing back both catchers from last season. The Braves decided as well to move on from R.A. Dickey regardless of his retirement decision.
The Atlanta Braves catching tandem of Kurt Suzuki and Tyler Flowers was one of the few pleasant surprises that Braves’ fans had this season. Both Flowers and Suzuki call good games behind the plate and have above average bats for catchers.
Flowers in particular enjoyed a career year for the Braves hitting over .280 and showed improved power and a great line drive hitting swing. Whatever clicked for Flowers the Braves have to hope they see more of the same next season.
Even if Flowers were to regress a bit he is well worth the team option and the Braves made the right decision to bring him back.
R.A. Dickey was another pending decision that the Braves had to make. They announced that they will be declining his option and exercising his buyout. That is a bit surprising considering that Dickey was arguably the Braves best pitcher for long stretches last season.
It is likely that Dickey is headed to retirement with the Braves not bringing him back. The only other logical answer would be the Braves are saving every bit they can to go after one of the feature arms on this year’s free agent market.
No doubt letting Dickey go leaves a lot of questions for the Braves as to who will be in the rotation. Mike Folynewicz and Julio Teheran are likely the only locks if they remain with the team and neither looked good this past season.
Moving on from Dickey is an odd decision that likely points to the veteran knuckle baller’s retirement. Bringing Tyler Flowers back was the right decision and the first good news that Braves fans have had to talk about this off-season.