{"id":12134,"date":"2018-03-26T13:23:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T17:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/\/?p=12134"},"modified":"2018-03-26T16:09:03","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T20:09:03","slug":"atlanta-signs-peter-bourjos-ryan-flaherty-to-one-year-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2018\/03\/26\/atlanta-signs-peter-bourjos-ryan-flaherty-to-one-year-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Braves Sign Peter Bourjos, Ryan Flaherty to One-Year Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the Atlanta Braves are winding down Spring Training, the team announced the addition of two veteran players on Monday. The team announced the signings of OF\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bourjpe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peter Bourjos<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and INF\/OF\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/flahery01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Flaherty<\/a><\/strong> to one-year deals. Each player signed a major league deal with the Braves, likely as a result of their strong showings in Spring Training.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the tweet and press release from the official Twitter account of the Braves:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Braves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Braves<\/a> Agree to Terms with Peter Bourjos and Ryan Flaherty: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dFe7tkLcQV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/dFe7tkLcQV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Braves\/status\/978301198339051521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 26, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Atlanta Signs Peter Bourjos, Ryan Flaherty to One-Year Deals<\/h2>\n<h3>Background<\/h3>\n<p>Bourjos was at one time a valuable piece of the Los Angeles Angels outfield, but he has never been able to replicate the numbers he posted in 2011. That year he slashed .271\/.327\/.438 with 12 HRs, 26 doubles, 11 triples, 72 runs scored, and 22 stolen bases. At just 24-years old, he looked to be a promising talent to keep around.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, that season would be the high-water mark for Bourjos&#8217; career. He has not eclipsed five HRs, nine steals, or 40 runs scored in a year since that season. At this point, he is simply a reserve outfield without much of a bat after hitting .223 with just five HRs across 100 games with the Tampa Bay Rays last season.<\/p>\n<p>For Flaherty, he has been virtually a replacement level player over the course of his six-year career. He has only appeared in 90 or more games in a season twice, and he has appeared in a total of 97 games over the past two seasons.<\/p>\n<p>The selling point for Flaherty is &#8220;versatility&#8221; as he can man a number of different positions. However, he is virtually no threat offensively after hitting .215 with three HRs and 21 runs scored over the past two seasons.<\/p>\n<h3>Outlook<\/h3>\n<p>Atlanta&#8217;s reasoning behind the signings, especially considering the fact that both players received a big league deal, is hard to pin down. Atlanta already has one outfielder on the decline in\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/markani01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Markakis<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and will be forced to clear one spot early in the season to make room for\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=acuna-002ron&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald Acuna<\/a><\/strong>. Many fans would have preferred the Braves play youngsters\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adamsla01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lane Adams<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tuckepr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Preston Tucker<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>in the meantime, but who knows if that will happen with the addition of Bourjos.<\/p>\n<p>The signing of Flaherty is equally confusing. Yes, Atlanta will be without INF\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/camarjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Johan Camargo<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on Opening Day, the most likely candidate to be the starting 3B, but Flaherty does not make sense as a starter. The addition of these two players is nothing more than adding a bit of depth to Atlanta&#8217;s MLB roster, but it does not make the moves any less confusing with the prospects and players already in the Braves organization.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"HmZVF5z4Qn9n2g9XEA17ag\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/846691094\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'HmZVF5z4Qn9n2g9XEA17ag',sig:'wF-HczLEoPMkBpw9Fsyl3j927TLFfnb0ae-hoxk3Dqw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'846691094',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Signs Peter Bourjos and Ryan Flaherty to One-Year Deals: As Opening Day quickly approaches, the Braves have signed two veteran players to MLB deals in an effort to improve their depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1230,"featured_media":12141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071,35],"tags":[48,68,1265,69,1935,1936],"class_list":["post-12134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","category-news","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baseball","tag-johan-camargo","tag-mlb","tag-peter-bourjos","tag-ryan-flaherty"],"modified_by":"Sean Couch (Senior Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}