The Braves have traded a player to be named later to the White Sox in exchange for Max Stassi and cash considerations.
Both groups have made the agreement public. According to Chicago Sun Times reporter Daryl Van Schouwen, the Braves will likely foot most of Stassi’s $7 million salary in 2019.
In a multi-player deal with infielder David Fletcher, Stassi, 33 in March, was acquired from the Angels on Friday and was only with the Braves for one day.
The seasoned catcher is now leaving for his third organization in two days, with the expectation that he will be able to establish himself as a regular on the south side of Chicago. Yasmani Grandal was lost to free agency earlier in the offseason, and the White Sox needed a seasoned backstop to back up rookie Korey Lee in 2024.
Stassi is more than capable of meeting that need. The veteran’s left hip strain, which kept him off the Opening Day roster in Anaheim the previous season, was the only reason he missed the first half of the 2023 season. After recovering from that midseason setback, Stassi and his spouse announced last month that Stassi would have to miss the remainder of the 2023 season to care for his family due to their son’s three-month premature birth.
Nevertheless, Stassi is anticipated to make a comeback to the field in 2024 and has proven in recent seasons to be a capable big league catcher.
Although Stassi was first selected by the A’s in the fourth round of the 2009 draft, he did not play a regular role in the major leagues until the 2018 season, when he split time behind the plate in Houston with Brian McCann and Martin Maldonado. Stassi made his big league debut with the Astros in 2013.
In a backup role that season, Stassi performed admirably, slashing a respectable.226/.316/.394 in 250 plate appearances. Despite playing poorly in 51 games in 2019, which led the Astros to trade him to the Angels during the trade deadline, Stassi was given more of an opportunity in Anaheim.
Between the shortened 2020 season and his first full season as an Angel in 2021, Stassi played 118 games. With strong defense and above-average at-bat offense (113 wRC+), he finished as the ninth most valuable catcher in the league by fWAR.
The Angels signed Stassi to an extension as a result of her excellent performance, but that choice would turn out to be misguided. Even though Stassi was productive in those two seasons, he regressed in 2022, hitting just.180/.267/.363 (63 wRC+) at the plate and putting up framing numbers that were more average than the elite totals he had previously achieved.
Though it makes sense for the Angels and Braves to take a different approach behind the plate in 2024 given Stassi’s struggles in 2022 and his time away from the game in 2023, it’s simple to see why the White Sox would find Stassi’s addition intriguing. Considering that Lee has fewer than 100 big league plate appearances under his belt, he will undoubtedly require time and assistance as he attempts to adjust to a new role as a full-time big leaguer, even if the team views the former top-100 prospect as their catcher of the future.
In addition to offering Chicago a significant amount of upside, the addition of a seasoned catcher like Stassi should aid in that transition. Stassi’s deal includes a $7 million 2025 club option with a $500k buyout; if the seasoned player can return to the form he showed in 2020 and 2021, it would be a no-brainer to take up the $6.5 million and serve as a valuable trade chip as the White Sox restructure their roster in preparation for the future.
Through the deal, the Braves are able to remove an unnecessary player from their roster and deduct a portion of Stassi’s salary from their books. With Travis d’Arnaud and Sean Murphy behind the plate, Atlanta already possessed one of the best catching tandems in the game, making Stassi essentially unnecessary.
The Braves have added a bench player in Fletcher, who fits the team’s roster more than any of Gonzales, White, or Stassi, and have saved about $5 million on payroll since acquiring Gonzales and White as part of the Jarred Kelenic trade during the winter meetings. This is in addition to the trades that sent Marco Gonzales to the Pirates and brought Stassi and Fletcher to Atlanta in exchange for Evan White.
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