After shooting down rumors that the team was aggressively shopping Evan Gattis, Braves president John Hart said the team is making efforts to move him to left field. It looks like the only move they will be making with the 28-year-old is a position change.
“We want to get Evan’s bat in the lineup, and if he catches, he would play just 100 games and we would not have a bat perhaps good enough to hit cleanup for those other games,” Hart told Joel Sherman of the New York Post. “So we are going to put Evan in left field and see what we have.”
Many might ask where he will fit in with Justin Upton, B.J. Upton and Jason Heyward manning the outfield, but Hart said that both Justin and Heyward could be traded even though they are under contract for next season.
Back in the 2013 season, Evan Gattis appeared in left field 48 times because he was backing up Brian McCann behind the plate. However, last season he spent all his time behind the plate. As a matter of fact, last season the right-handed batter hit .263 with 22 home runs and 52 RBI’s in only 108 games played.
Hart said “that both Justin and Heyward could be traded even though they are under contract for next season.” Is he on the pipe or something? Get rid of BJ even if you have to pay someone to take him!