Braves make final decision on club option for C Travis d’Arnaud: Report

On November 13, 2024By Littum

The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported Monday that the Atlanta Braves planned to exercise their club option on designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. But they won’t do the same with catcher Travis d’Arnaud.

The AJC’s Justin Toscano confirmed Heyman’s report Monday that the Braves exercised Ozuna’s club option. But Toscano also reported that the Braves declined d’Arnaud’s option.

He added that the Braves also declined their club option on relief pitcher Luke Jackson.

The Braves declined Luke Jackson’s $7 million option.

Coached: Ozuna
Rejected: d’Arnaud, Jackson
New Deal: Bummer

5pm ET is the deadline for qualifying offers, and Max Fried will almost certainly get one.

— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) November 4, 2024

Atlanta’s decision not to bring back d’Arnaud is a bit surprising. He slashed .238/.302/.436 with 15 home runs, 48 RBI and 40 runs in 99 games.

d’Arnaud was a more critical part of the Atlanta lineup in 2024 than expected because fellow catcher Sean Murphy dealt with an oblique injury during the first two months of the season. When Murphy returned, he also struggled, leaving the door open for d’Arnaud to receive more than 300 punches.

But d’Arnaud turns 36 in February. His club option for 2025 was worth $8 million, which is typically more than what MLB teams pay platoon catchers his age.

Travis d’Arnaud turns 36 on February 10, 2025.

Brian McCann was 35 years old in his final year in the big leagues. He was paid $2 million.

It would have been difficult for #Brave to have $23 million in their catch position.

— BillShanks (@BillShanks) November 4, 2024

Murphy will make $15 million through the 2025 season. Unless the Braves trade Murphy this offseason, it was hard to justify investing another $8 million in catcher with d’Arnaud. And the Braves didn’t want to employ Murphy with the plan to make d’Arnaud their everyday catcher.

After a disappointing 2024 season, Murphy may not be worth much on the trade market. He enters only the second campaign of a six-year contract in 2025.

But Murphy was an All-Star just one summer ago. The Braves’ best plan of action with the 29-year-old is to hope he bounces back with a strong and healthy 2025 season.

That doesn’t mean the Braves won’t add another catcher to push Murphy into the starting role. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman argued that this catcher could still be d’Arnaud. But it had to be too much less than $8 million.

The Braves are open to bringing back Travis d’Arnaud, but they are currently unable to lock into paying him $8M for next season. There may be some financial room for him when the team meets other needs.

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) November 4, 2024

In five seasons with the Braves, d’Arnaud wrote a .251 batting average with a .755 OPS, 60 home runs and 207 RBI in 384 games. During 2022, he made the National League All-Star team with a .268 average, 18 home runs, 60 RBI and 61 runs in 426 at-bats.

He also won the NL catcher Silver Slugger award with the Braves during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

In addition to d’Arnaud’s option, the Braves declined Jackson’s club option Monday. Jackson registered a 4.50 ERA with a 1.556 WHIP in 16 relief appearances for Atlanta after the trade deadline.

His club option was worth $7 million.