The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1. Flowers stays, Dickey goes
The Braves picked up the $4 million option on catcher Tyler Flowers and declined an $8 million option on pitcher R.A. Dickey (above). The former Cy Young Award winner, who turns 43 next week, is expected to retire but hasn’t made an announcement yet.
Tyler Flowers will be back with the Braves in 2018 after the team picked up the $4 million option on the veteran catcher’s contract Monday, a move that was long expected as the Roswell native produced career-best statistics in his second season with the Braves.
It means the Braves keep intact what’s proven to be one of baseball’s most potent catching tandems in Flowers and former All-Star Kurt Suzuki, who at age 33 hit a career-high 19 home runs in 81 games. Suzuki signed a one-year, $3.5 million extension Sept. 23.
The Braves also announced Flowers had arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist Oct. 9. He’s expected to be fully recovered before the start of spring training in February.
Flowers, 31, set career highs in batting average (.281), on-base percentage (.378), slugging percentage (.445) and OPS (.823) in 99 games, and his second-best totals in homers (12), RBIs (49) and plate appearances (370).
As a unit, Braves catchers ranked third in batting average (.283), second in on-base percentage (.364), slugging percentage (.487) and OPS (.850), fourth in RBIs (98) and tied for third in homers (30).
Flowers and Suzuki hit a combined 31 home runs, one by Flowers coming while pinch-hitting.
“Our tandem has really, really worked,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s kind of been a perfect storm for both of them . ... Handling the staff, that’s the biggest they do, is how they invested in these young pitchers, and their catching ability, how they framed strikes.”
Flowers ranked second among qualifying major league catchers in on-base percentage, third in batting average and fifth in OPS. Even more important for the Braves and their young pitchers, Flowers ranks first among all catchers in the increasingly valued skill of framing pitches — getting strike calls on pitches outside the strike
zone — and has drawn praise for his improved game-calling and guidance of a pitching staff with an ever-increasing number of rookies including some of the team’s top prospects.
“It’s a big deal,” Snitker said of framing pitches. “I mean, he’s really good. I was talking to (Marlins catcher) A.J. Ellis, he calls (Flowers) the magician. Just because he can get strikes. He’s really good at it.”
A graduate of Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell, Flowers was selected by the Braves in the 33rd round of the 2005 draft out of Chipola College. He came up through the Braves’ system but was traded to the White Sox in December 2008 as part of a four-player/prospect package that brought pitchers Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan to the Braves.
In December 2015, the Braves signed Flowers to a two-year, $5.3 million contract that included additional incentives plus a third-year option with a $300,000 buyout. He had a $3 million base salary in 2017.
Team declines Dickey’s $8M option
The Braves declined an $8 million option on knuckleballer R.A. Dickey’s contract for 2018, which means he’ll get a $500,000 buyout whether he retires or not.
The former Cy Young Award winner, who turns 43 next week, is expected to retire but hasn’t made an announcement yet. He was 10-10 with a 4.26 ERA in a team-high 190 innings
in his only season for the Braves, and has a 120-118 career record and 4.04 ERA in 400 games including 300 starts.
Dickey’s last start for the Braves was a solid road outing Sept. 26 against the Mets, the team for which he won the 2012 Cy Young Award when he went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA and led the National League with 230 strikeouts in 233⅔ innings, far and away the best season of his career.
The Nashville native and father of four young children had talked after the last start against the Mets of it being a good way to end his career, if that was indeed his final outing. And when he declined to take his last scheduled turn on the final day of the season in Miami, it was viewed by many as another sign that he intended to retire.
The team had until the week after the World Series to decide whether to pick up the option on Dickey’s contract, but their feeling was that he was going to retire. Dickey signed a one-year, $8 million contract at the beginning of free agency last November, which included a $7.5 million salary for 2017.
The Braves seem likely to add at least one veteran starter via trade or free agency.
They have former two-time All-Star Julio Teheran under contract in 2018 along with hard-throwing Mike Foltynewicz, coming off an inconsistent season, and they have a handful of promising rookies and prospects who could compete for the final spots in the rotation.