Atlanta Braves suspend Uggla for one game
By Cory Buck
The Atlanta Braves appear ready to part ways with Dan Uggla, but first they’re looking to buy a little more time. Instead of designating Uggla for assignment to the minor leagues as expected, the team suspended the second baseman for the last regular season game before the All-Star break in a move manager Fredi Gonzalez really hasn’t explained.
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“I’m not going to say anything other than that it’s an internal matter,” Gonzalez told reporters, per ESPN.com. “That’s the way I like to handle stuff, and the Atlanta Braves like to handle stuff. And that’s it. You can ask me 400 different ways and my way is that we’re going to handle it internally.”
The ‘it’ they’re trying to handle is the steep deterioration in Uggla’s game this year. As our own Dan Zinski notes in the first link, Uggla is ‘hitting just .162/.241/.231 with 2 HR and 10 RBI in 130 ABs.’
Those numbers are hardly worthy of the $13 million Uggla is making this year and is due to make next year. Instead it appears the Braves would prefer to move on from that salary sooner rather than later.
The only other option for the Braves, and it’s one with slim odds, would be for the team to explore trade options for Uggla. The salary due Uggla not just this year but next really makes this a long shot.
Plenty of playoff-contending teams would love to take a chance on a veteran hitter, but to owe him nearly $20 million from now until the end of next season is a deal-breaker for many owners.
For now at least, it appears that the Braves will have to take the extra time afforded them by Uggla’s suspension to decide what they want to do with this expensive roster spot.