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Should The Braves Consider Offers On Chris Sale?

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The Braves have continued to underperform as the season nears its three-month mark. They clawed back from their 0-7 start to get above .500 in mid-May -- right as they were about to activate Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider from the injured list. Optimism was high. Then came a stretch of 14 losses in 17 contests that dropped them to a season-high 10 games below .500 over the weekend. They're coming off a solid series win in Milwaukee, but they face long odds to climb back into a tough NL playoff race. The division is all but gone, and they're nine games back with six teams to jump in the Wild Card picture.

Atlanta's front office isn't going to sell six weeks in advance of the trade deadline. They've invested a lot and this core's prior successes have earned them as much runway as possible to get hot. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote last night that the Braves still view themselves as buyers, highlighting shortstop and the outfield as potential targets.

Still, they're running low on time and coming off their worst stretch of the season. The back half of the lineup, late-inning relief mix, and starting pitching depth are all issues. They'll need a significant turnaround in the next 4-6 weeks to avoid selling some short-term pieces. Marcell Ozuna would be an obvious candidate as a rental bat who is raking for a third consecutive season. They could try to offload impending free agent reliever Raisel Iglesias, who has put himself on shaky ground by struggling with the longball. The tougher question is whether the front office should move any key players who are controllable beyond this year -- with Chris Sale leading the way as the team's top option.

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Braves Evaluating Shortstop, Outfield Markets

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The Braves have been among the most disappointing teams in MLB. They’re nine games under .500 entering this weekend’s series against the Rockies. They’d lost seven straight before taking two of three in Milwaukee.

On paper, that all points toward Atlanta as likely deadline sellers. Yet the Braves entered this season with a top 10 payroll in MLB and have made the playoffs in seven straight years. They’re not going to wave the white flag unless they feel it’s unavoidable. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote last night that the Braves are still positioned as buyers, reporting that the front office is looking for help in the outfield and at shortstop.

If the Braves were to buy, those would each be natural targets. Left field has been an issue since Jurickson Profar was suspended following a positive performance-enhancing drug test. Alex Verdugo is hitting .247/.301/.312 across 166 plate appearances — arguably even worse than last year’s .233/.291/.356 showing as a member of the Yankees. Eli White hasn’t been much better, running a .235/.275/.383 season line. White had carved out semi-regular playing time with a productive April, but he’s hitting .202/.231/.288 in 109 plate appearances dating back to the beginning of May.

While left field is the clearest weakness in the outfield, the Braves have gotten similarly poor production in center. Michael Harris II has had a dismal first half. He carries a .233/.261/.346 line through 275 trips to the plate. Harris is a productive baserunner and an elite defender, so he’s still providing some value, but the Braves need much more from him offensively. He entered this season with a .285/.325/.469 slash over his first three years. The track record and the defense should keep Harris on solid ground as an everyday player, but his down year has essentially placed the entire burden on Ronald Acuña Jr. to get any kind of offensive contributions from the outfield.

Profar has fewer than 20 games remaining on his suspension. He’ll return early next month, though that’ll be clouded with uncertainty about what they can expect from him. Even if he plays well, he wouldn’t be an option if the Braves make an improbable playoff push. Players cannot participate in the postseason during the year in which they were suspended for PED use.

Shortstop has been almost as much of a struggle. Opening Day starter Orlando Arcia is gone, having been released last month (and subsequently signing with Colorado). Nick Allen has taken the everyday role there. He’s an elite defensive infielder who provides very little at the plate. The 5’8″ infielder has yet to hit a home run and owns a .234/.309/.269 mark through 191 trips.

Allen’s all-glove profile would be easier to tolerate if they were getting more from their non-Acuña outfielders. Having multiple positions that don’t contribute offensively is a tougher sell. Atlanta’s .243/.317/.386 team batting line is middling, and they’ve been terrible this month (.216/.296/.360). They’d love to deepen the offense, but they’ve also seen their bullpen melt down far too often and have spotty rotation depth after losing AJ Smith-Shawver to Tommy John surgery. There are a lot of areas to address.

Of course, how aggressively they’ll do so depends in large part on the next six weeks. The front office’s impulse may be to add, but that’d be difficult to pursue if the team is still well below .500 and nine games out of a playoff spot in late July. At that point, they’d have little choice but to entertain offers on impending free agent DH Marcell Ozuna (with a case for listening on ace Chris Sale).

MLBTR Podcast: White Sox Ownership, Roman Anthony, And The Diamondbacks’ Rotation

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Do the Mariners need a left-hander in the rotation? (40:45)
  • What will the Braves do with the rest of the season and would they trade Chris Sale? (45:30)
  • With the Mets seemingly having too many young infielders, who stays and who goes? (53:35)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

James McCann’s Braves Deal Contains Rolling Opt-Out Clause

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Catcher James McCann signed a minor league deal with Atlanta and has spent most of the year playing for Triple-A Gwinnett. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the deal contains a rolling opt-out clause. Similar to Craig Kimbrel’s earlier deal with Atlanta, this means that any club can offer McCann a big league job at any time. If one does, Atlanta would have decide to call him up or let the other club have him.

“The big thing is that rolling opt-out,” McCann said to Rosenthal. “That was part of our agreement with the Braves, knowing their situation and knowing the potential of being blocked to the big leagues there. They respected the 10 years that I’ve accrued in service time and gave me the opportunity to opt out, similar to (Craig) Kimbrel.”

As McCann alluded to, he doesn’t have a great path to playing time in Atlanta. They have Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin sharing the catching duties at the big league level this year. Murphy is having a nice bounceback season, all things considered. He was injured a lot in 2024 and struggled when in the lineup. This year, his 30.6% strikeout rate is a concern but he has nine home runs and a 10.2% walk rate. His .222/.325/.459 line translates to a 118 wRC+, with solid defense to boot. He’s also under contract for three more years after this one, guaranteed $15MM annually.

Baldwin is just a rookie but is having a great season. His 7.3% walk rate is a bit low but he has seven home runs and is only striking out at a 15.3% clip. His .291/.343/.488 line translates to a 132 wRC+. His defensive grades are also solid. The club also has Jason Delay on the 40-man roster as a depth guy with options remaining.

That makes the opt-out clause a sensible one for McCann, who has been doing his best to earn another major league opportunity. He has stepped to the plate 138 times for Gwinnett this year with a .281/.319/.484 line and 110 wRC+. He’s getting a bit of help from a .333 batting average on balls in play but has launched six homers already this year.

McCann has been an effective big leaguer at times but has struggled in more recent seasons. He hit .276/.334/.474 for a 114 wRC+ over 2019 and 2020. He also got some competent grades for his glovework in that time, allowing him to tally 3.4 wins above replacement in 149 games, per the calculations of FanGraphs.

That got him a four-year, $40.6MM deal with the Mets but he couldn’t maintain that level of production over the course of that contract. Traded to the Orioles halfway through, he hit .224/.279/.352 over the four seasons of that pact, leading to a 77 wRC+.

After that performance, he had to settle for a minor league deal. He has been performing well so far this year but it seems no club has been compelled to give him a major league job yet. He’ll have to keep plugging away and hope that some club finds a use for him at some point. It’s theoretically possible that could come in Atlanta. With the club falling back in the standing and Baldwin performing well, they might try to trade Murphy this summer. Or an injury could arise for one of those two, though that’s also possible of all the other catchers in the majors.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images

Craig Kimbrel Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Kimbrel cleared waivers, and the Braves announced that Kimbrel elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.

JUNE 7: Craig Kimbrel’s return to the Braves lasted just one day, as the club announced today that the veteran reliever has been designated for assignment.  Left-hander Austin Cox was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to take Kimbrel’s place on the active roster.

Kimbrel signed a minors contract in March, providing a full-circle moment in rejoining his original organization.  The story reached a pinnacle when Atlanta selected Kimbrel’s contract to the active roster yesterday, and he posted a scoreless inning in the Braves’ 5-4 loss to the Giants.  It was an eventful inning, as Kimbrel allowed a hit to Heliot Ramos and a walk to Jung Hoo Lee, but Ramos was caught stealing and Kimbrel picked Lee off first base to emerge unscathed.

While it may surprise fans to see a prominent name like Kimbrel so quickly shuffled off the roster (and after a scoreless frame, no less), today’s move may reflect the reality of where the 37-year-old is at during this stage of his career.  Kimbrel is, after all, coming off a rough 2024 campaign that saw him released by the Orioles in September after posting a 5.33 ERA in 52 1/3 innings.  Kimbrel had a 3.10 ERA and two All-Star nods over 188 2/3 innings during the 2021-23 seasons, but he seemed to lose his effectiveness in the later stages of those three seasons or into the postseason.

That said, it isn’t as though Kimbrel doesn’t have anything left in the tank for his 16th Major League season.  He posted a 2.00 ERA over 18 combined innings with Double-A Columbus and Triple-A Gwinnett, with a 32.86% strikeout rate in that small sample size but also a 12.86% walk rate.  Control has been a question mark for Kimbrel even in some of his best big league seasons, but a spike in his home run rate in recent years has contributed to his struggles.

Kimbrel’s minors deal with the Braves had a distinctive “rolling opt-out” clause that would’ve allowed Kimbrel to exit the deal at any point if another team offered him a spot on their Major League roster.  News of this clause surfaced only a few days before Atlanta selected Kimbrel to its active roster, but obviously none of other 29 clubs felt compelled to try and lure the right-hander away beforehand.  Kimbrel’s minor league contract called for a prorated $2MM salary if he was called up the active roster, so (as per The Athletic’s Dave O’Brien) the Braves will now be on the hook for roughly $25K, counting Kimbrel’s day on the active roster and however long his DFA period may last.

While Kimbrel has more than enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment and re-enter free agency, it is possible he might accept an outright to stay with Atlanta.  Staying in a familiar organization might hold more appeal for Kimbrel than re-entering the market after his long stay in free agency last winter, plus the Braves’ ever-revolving bullpen could mean that Kimbrel may get another look in the majors in relatively short order.  It all depends on what Kimbrel wants to do at this point of his career, though it doesn’t appear as if retirement is in the cards.

AJ Smith-Shawver Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Braves announced Monday that right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver underwent Tommy John surgery this morning. He’ll miss the remainder of the 2025 season and a good portion of the 2026 season as well, though an exact timetable will hinge on how his recovery proceeds. Generally, it’s best to assume an absence of at least 14 months, but every rehab varies.

Smith-Shawver’s injury puts an early end to what was originally looking like a terrific rookie campaign. Though he’d pitched in the majors in both 2023 and 2024, the 22-year-old righty narrowly retained that rookie status heading into this season. He stormed out of the gate with a 2.33 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate in his first 38 2/3 innings, holding opponents to two or fewer runs in six of his first seven starts.

The Nationals shelled Smith-Shawver for seven runs in three innings on May 22, however, and he departed his next start on May 29 with an injury after just 2 2/3 innings. It’s never encouraging when a pitcher departs due to elbow discomfort, and all signs in the immediate aftermath proved increasingly ominous. Smith-Shawver told reporters after the game that he’d felt a “pop” in his elbow. He was placed on the 15-day IL with a strain the same day but transferred to the 60-day IL just 18 hours later. Barely 24 hours after he’d exited with a trainer, the Braves announced that Smith-Shawver had been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

With Smith-Shawver joining Reynaldo Lopez on the shelf — Lopez had arthroscopic shoulder surgery in April but could potentially return late in the year — Atlanta’s pitching depth is increasingly stretched. They currently have Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder in the rotation. That’s a solid group on paper, but Strider hasn’t looked at all like himself in his first few games back from his own UCL repair.

The depth beyond that current quintet is a bit suspect. Davis Daniel and Nathan Wiles both have solid numbers with Triple-A Gwinnett and are on the 40-man roster, but they’re both relatively soft-tossing righties who were acquired in minor offseason swaps — Wiles for cash this past spring and Daniel for recent 14th-round pick Mitch Farris (after Daniel had been designated for assignment by the Angels). Hurston Waldrep, the Braves’ 2023 first-rounder and a former top prospect, has had a disastrous season in Gwinnett. Non-roster depth arms like Ian Anderson, Zach Thompson and Jose Suarez have all already cleared waivers this season and struggled to varying levels in Gwinnett. Suarez recently landed on the minor league injured list as well.

Looking longer term, Smith-Shawver will accrue major league service time and pay while he rehabs from this morning’s surgery. He’ll finish out the season with more than a year of service time but won’t be on track for Super Two status in arbitration. It’s also notable that because he was only in the minors for 16 days earlier this year when Atlanta sent him down, he won’t exhaust what would have been his final option year if he’d been sent down later in the season. He’ll retain one more minor league option year. Smith-Shawver will be on pace for arbitration eligibility in the 2027-28 offseason and for free agency in the 2030-31 offseason (though that remaining minor league option could impact either trajectory).

Brian Snitker Discusses Raisel Iglesias, Closer Role

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The Braves are making some changes in the ninth inning, as manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman) yesterday. While incumbent closer Raisel Iglesias “may close games” going forward, he won’t “necessarily” be the team’s primary closing option moving forward. Snitker did not name a new primary closer, leaving the door open to a committee approach to the ninth inning.

It would have been unthinkable just a few months ago that Iglesias could be anything other than the surefire closer in Atlanta. The right-hander put together a season for the ages in 2024, when he pitched to a 1.95 ERA in 69 1/3 innings of work while striking out 26.3% of his opponents and walking just 5.0%. It was an elite season even by the standards of the veteran righty, who had fashioned himself into one of the league’s most reliable relief arms since the start of the decade with a 2.44 ERA and 2.71 FIP in 278 appearances from 2020-24.

That’s all come crashing down this year, however, as Iglesias simply hasn’t looked like himself in his age-35 campaign. In 24 innings of work this year, Iglesias has surrendered a 6.75 ERA with a 5.65 FIP. While his 23.1% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate are more or less in line with last year’s numbers, he’s watched an eye-popping seven home runs leave the yard already this year. That’s already tied his high-water mark in a Braves uniform. At least some of his struggles can be attributed to poor luck; 21.9% of Iglesias’s fly balls have left the yard, and that’s simply not a sustainable rate even with an inflated 14.5% barrel rate. Even as his fastball velocity has lost a tick this year, the veteran’s 3.26 SIERA remains strong. It’s not at all difficult to imagine the talented righty turning things around moving forward.

Even so, the fact that the Braves felt a change was needed shows what dire straits the club finds itself in. Atlanta started off with a brutal 0-7 start to the season but actually managed to fight its way back over .500 and into the NL Wild Card conversation last month. Unfortunately, since that return to relevance the club has lost its first six games of June. That losing streak is part of a larger stretch where the Braves have won just 3 of their last 16 contests. It’s left them with a brutal 27-36 record that puts the team nine games back in the Wild Card race and 12.5 games out of the NL East. That’s the sort of deficit that can be difficult to bounce back from, even for an organization that is as talented (at least on paper) as Atlanta.

As the club tries to work its way back into relevance for the second time this year, they’ve decided to pull the plug on Iglesias in their effort to find a spark. If moving out of the ninth inning for a while can help Iglesias recapture his dominant form from previous years, that could help the Braves even if they don’t end up returning to contention as Iglesias (alongside DH Marcell Ozuna) is one of the team’s few pending free agents. If the club ends up selling at the deadline, they’ll surely want Iglesias looking as good as possible in the weeks leading up to a deal to maximize his trade value.

If there’s a silver lining for Iglesias’s odds of recapturing the closer role at some point this year, it’s that no one else seems primed to step up and take it for themselves so far. In the two games Atlanta has played since Snitker’s announcement, Pierce Johnson was the final pitcher to take the mound for the club. He was tagged with the loss in both outings, including a blown save opportunity earlier this evening. Johnson still has a decent 3.86 ERA in 26 appearances this year with 16 career saves (including one this season) under his belt, but he hardly seems especially close to locking down the ninth inning. Johnson and perhaps Iglesias can continue to get opportunities, while southpaws Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer could also get turns in the ninth inning given their solid results this year and late-inning experience.

Braves Claim Jose Ruiz From Phillies

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The Braves announced that right-hander Jose Ruiz has been claimed off the Phillies’ waiver wire.  Atlanta has yet to announce a corresponding move for the 26-man roster, and a 40-man move doesn’t need to be made since the Braves only had 39 players on their 40-man roster.

Philadelphia designated Ruiz for assignment last week, after the righty posted an 8.16 ERA in 14 1/3 relief innings this season.  A 4.11 SIERA paints a better picture of Ruiz’s quality, as a .383 BABIP and a 57% strand rate contributed to that inflated ERA.  Still, Ruiz didn’t help his cause by allowing a lot of hard contact, and striking out only 17.6% of batters.  He also spent just under three weeks on the injured list in May due to neck spasms, and he was charged with seven earned runs (over three innings) over his three appearances after returning from the IL.

Ruiz has pitched in parts of the last nine Major League seasons, amassing a 4.55 ERA in 284 2/3 innings with four different teams (primarily the White Sox from 2018-23).  Inconsistency has marked Ruiz’s career, though he has been a solid bullpen piece during his better seasons — a 3.05 ERA over 65 innings for the AL Central champion White Sox in 2021, and a 3.71 ERA over 51 frames for the Phillies just last year.  Ruiz has always been a hard thrower, but his 95.7mph fastball this season is down a mile from the 96.7mph average he posted prior to 2025.

While the results haven’t been there this season, the Braves saw enough in Ruiz to put in a claim, and absorb the 30-year-old’s remaining 2025 salary (roughly $765.6K of a $1.225MM salary).  It isn’t a huge figure, and it’s enough for the Braves to take a flier on Ruiz and add him to the long list of pitchers cycled through the back of Atlanta’s struggling bullpen.

Orioles Acquire Scott Blewett

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The Orioles announced that they have acquired right-hander Scott Blewett from the Braves in exchange for cash considerations. Outfielder Jordyn Adams has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Fellow outfielder Ramón Laureano has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and takes the active roster spot vacated by Adams. Blewett has not yet reported to the team and is therefore not on the active roster yet, so a spot will have to be opened for him when he does link up with the O’s.

It was reported yesterday that Atlanta was going to designate Blewett for assignment but it seems they lined up a trade before even getting around to that DFA. Blewett played a key role in yesterday’s heartbreaking loss in Atlanta. He entered the game in the top of the eighth, with Atlanta leading 9-3. He got through that inning while allowing one run, but Atlanta got that back in the bottom of the eighth. That left them with a 10-4 leading starting the ninth. Blewett stayed in and retired the first batter of that inning but the next four reached. Closer Raisel Iglesias was drawn into the 10-7 game and it quickly became 11-10 for the Diamondbacks.

Blewett was charged with five earned runs in an inning and a third. The sting of the loss seems to have prompted a bit of a shakeup, with Atlanta calling up Craig Kimbrel from the minors. That bumped Blewett off the roster but he’s actually been having a pretty decent season on the whole.

Even including yesterday’s unpleasantness, Blewett has a passable 3.91 earned run average in 2025. His 21.8% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate are close to average while his 56.3% ground ball rate is quite strong.

Blewett is out of options but is clearly valued around the league, as he keeps passing from club to club. He started this year with the Twins on a minor league deal. He was called up in April but designated for assignment a few days later. He was claimed by the Orioles but received another DFA a few days after that. He was sent to Atlanta in a cash deal, which led to him holding a roster spot for more than a month, though he’s now on the move again.

Adams, 25, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in the offseason. He was called up to the big leagues a week ago as the O’s were dealing with a number of position player injuries. He’s essentially been used as a defensive replacement since then, getting into five games but only making one plate appearance.

A former first-round pick of the Angels, Adams is considered an excellent athlete but he hasn’t been able to handle pitching since reaching the higher minor league levels. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has stepped to the plate almost 2,000 times on the farm with a .247/.326/.377 line and 84 wRC+. He has enough speed to steal 20 to 40 bases annually and run balls down in the outfield.

He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the O’s could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. He does have one option year remaining.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Braves Select Craig Kimbrel

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June 6th: Atlanta made it official today, announcing they have selected Kimbrel’s contract. They also recalled lefty Dylan Dodd, placed right-hander Daysbel Hernandez on the 15-day injured list with forearm inflammation and traded righty Scott Blewett to the Orioles.

June 5th: The Braves are planning to select the contract of right-hander Craig Kimbrel from Triple-A Gwinnett, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The full-circle promotion of the now-37-year-old former Atlanta closer, who’s been pitching well on a minor league deal in Gwinnett, comes less than an hour after the Braves’ bullpen melted down and squandered a six-run ninth-inning lead in an 11-10 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Kimbrel, of course, broke into the majors with Atlanta late in the 2010 season and immediately catapulted himself into stardom. He was the unanimous NL Rookie of the Year in 2011 — winning over teammate Freddie Freeman — after posting a 2.10 ERA with an NL-best 46 saves and a colossal 41.5% strikeout rate. He made the first of four straight All-Star teams that year — a remarkable run of four straight seasons that saw him lead the Senior Circuit in saves while garnering repeated Cy Young and MVP votes. From 2010-14, Kimbrel posted a comedic 1.43 ERA and 42.2% strikeout rate while racking up 186 saves. It’s arguably the best five-year from any reliever in the sport’s history.

Kimbrel has never quite recaptured that dominance, though he was still excellent from 2015-18 before running into some rough patches. He logged ERAs north of 5.00 in 2019-20 before bouncing back with a solid if tumultuous 2021-23 stint where he was often shakier than his surface-level numbers might initially suggest. His 2024 run with the Orioles started well — Kimbrel carried a 2.10 ERA into the All-Star break — but went off the rails in the season’s second half. From July 14 onward, Kimbrel was shredded for an 11.50 ERA in 18 innings before being released.

Now back in the Braves organization after signing a minor league deal, he’s looked terrific in Triple-A. Kimbrel carries flat 2.00 ERA in 18 innings. He’s set 33% of his opponents down on strikes, albeit against a 13% walk rate. He’s also working with a fastball that’s now sitting just 93.2 mph — nowhere near the sizzling 97-98 mph he averaged at his peak. Even as recently as 2023 with the Phillies, Kimbrel’s heater sat at 95.8 mph, but he’s now dropped nearly three ticks off that velocity.

Time will tell whether Kimbrel can get big league hitters out with such diminished power on his pitches and with command that’s clearly not up to par, but the bar to clear in Atlanta is low right now. Closer Raisel Iglesias saw his ERA balloon from 5.79 to 6.75 today. Scott Blewett, who’s been designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Kimbrel, yielded five runs on his way out the door. Daysbel Hernandez has a 2.22 ERA but has walked more than 19% of his opponents, so there’s no way he can continue at that pace. Trade acquisition Rafael Montero has a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings.

Atlanta has gotten good to great results from Pierce Johnson, Aaron Bummer, Enyel De Los Santos and Dylan Lee, but Iglesias has floundered all season and the final couple spots in the ’pen have been a revolving door. The hope will be that Kimbrel can help to solidify things, but recent seasons have shown that he’s susceptible to lengthy slumps not all that dissimilar from the one in which Iglesias is currently mired.

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