The Braves have designated right-hander Alexi Ogando for assignment and recalled right-hander Mauricio Cabrera from Double-A Mississippi, the team announced this afternoon.
Ogando, 32, currently has a respectable 3.94 ERA through 32 innings of work out of the Atlanta bullpen, but he’s registered that mark in spite of averaging a whopping 6.5 walks per nine innings. He’s been particularly ineffective over his past 10 outings, yielding nine runs (seven earned) on seven hits and nine walks across just seven innings. The 8.2 K/9 rate he’s posted this season is his best since 2012, and he’s still averaging 94 mph on his fastball, but ERA estimators such as FIP (4.38), xFIP (5.45) and SIERA (5.13) all feel that there’s some significant regression in store for the former Rangers and Red Sox hurler.
Ogando has been the subject of some trade chatter over the past month, so perhaps Atlanta will be able to find a taker for him. However, if the team ultimately outrights him, Ogando has enough service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency without forfeiting the remainder of his $2MM salary. He’s still owed about $1.06MM of that sum through season’s end, and the Braves will be on the hook for the majority of that unless they can find a trade partner. If he does become a free agent and latch on with another Major League club, he’ll earn the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for any time spent on a new team’s Major League roster, and that money will be subtracted from the sum still owed to him by Atlanta. In parts of seven big league seasons, Ogando has a career 3.47 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 38.8 percent ground-ball rate across 503 1/3 innings.
As for Cabrera, the 22-year-old will be making his Major League debut when he first takes the hill. He’s worked to a 3.21 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings at Double-A this season, though he’s endured similar control problems to the ones displayed by Ogando in the Majors; Cabrera has walked 22 batters (two intentional) and hit three men during that brief stint at Double-A. Both Baseball America and MLB.com rated Cabrera 27th in a very deep Braves farm system. The Dominican-born flamethrower averages 100 mph on his heater and has topped out at 103 mph, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, though he struggles to command the pitch. Cabrera also features a ridiculous-sounding 92 mph changeup, though BA notes that it needs work. The two scouting reports are split on whether his change or his slider is Cabrera’s best secondary offering, indicating that he’s not especially consistent with either pitch.
Would be interesting to see him back with the Rangers to help bolster the bullpen.
“bolster”
It doesn’t seem like he has a lot left to offer. And Kela should be back soon
I think he could’ve used some more time in the minors, but let’s see what he can do I guess
Okay sorry “depth” not trying to imply he’s dominate or something.. Adding arms never hurts and he has experience during the Rangers in playoff trips to WS.
Dominant. Sorry but pet peeve, the amount of people that put dominate when they mean dominant on the internet is insane.
The number of grammarnazis on the internet is insane.
Are you opposed to proper grammar?
This is a fairly aggressive call-up by the Braves, but there is simply NO DENYING Mauricio’s “stuff!!”
The kid has a flamethrower he uses as an arm, and he does have solid movement on his FB and his Slider…If he can get either his change-up or his slider down to the point where he can control either pitch, then we are easily talking about a young pitcher that could close out games for the foreseeable future in Atlanta!!
There was another four, fairly similar pitchers the Braves have recently worked with, and three of the four have climbed through the Braves’ ranks with excellent arms but severe control issues!! The other, Walden, was acquired with some previous success, but recently he had struggled until Atlanta righted his ship and turned him into a dominant force out of the pen as either a closer or set-up man!!
Those other 3 pitchers, who struggled with command coming up through Atlanta’s minor leagues were Jomny Venters, Craig Kimbrel, and Arodys Vizcaino…!! Not to mention other success stories like Eric O’Flaherty, Brandon Beachy, Tommy Hansen, Kris Medlen, Chasen Shreve, David Carpenter, Christian Martinez, Ryan Buchter, possibly now Mike Foltynewicz, Ian Thomas, Alex Wood, Cory Gearrin, Luis Avilan, and Anthony Varvaro…
Also, do not forget, all the other countless pitchers that have had their careers revitalized by Roger McDowell and Eddie Perez!!
The Braves pitching staff was and has been just as good, if not better, at rejuvenating pitcher’s careers as Pittsburgh’s staff has been, they just have not gotten aa much publicity as Pittsburgh’s staff…Which sounds pretty crazy, I mean since it is Pittsburgh we are talking about here. They are not exactly known for getting a ton of prime time publicity!! lol
Anyways, the Braves truly helped countless pitchers harness their velocity, continue building their secondary offerings, and ultimately they make their talented pen arms reach their respective ceilings!!
Honestly, the argument could be made, that overy the past couple of years.. Kimbrel, Walden, Venters, and Vizcaino have all, at one point or another, been in the discussion of being one of the most dominant relievers in baseball!! This would definitely be true, and an easier case would be made if Venters wouldn’t have gotten injured…But man when Venters was healthy, holy crap!! Lol …
Just Venters alone, according to one pitching source that tracks a pitch’s movement, velocity, swing rate, swing and miss rate, K rate, etc….Jonny Venters had the two nastiest and most dominant pitches in ALL OF BASEBALL!!! Digest that for just a moment!! lol ..At his peak, he was basically the pen version of Clayton Kershaw, dare I get crazy and say…maybe Venters was even better!! /: lol
I’m sure there are several more examples of how the Braves have handled more specifically just flame-throwers and helped them harness their control! I know more recently JR Graham, before he got plucked away by the Twins, and Shea Simmons will be a name to watch for baseball fans once he gets fully healthy…Right now Simmons is on a rehab assignment in the minors, but he should be back very soon!! Once Simmons is back, WATCH OUT!! Because he can put up VIDEO GAME K NUMBERS!!! But he will also be another Braves success story of a pitcher who struggled with command issues early on, only to have their issues resolved enough to be one of the games more dominant weapons out of the bullpen!!!
Oh wow you are very enthusiastic but don’t expect him to be that good
Yes…Roger McDowell along with Bobby cox helped destroy the careers of dozens of pitchers with overuse and misuse.
Re:
Venters
Beachy
Vizcaino
Simmons
Minor
Medlen
Folty (ongoing)
Etc
Bravos = home of future Tommy John surgeries
^ ouch. Too true.
Yeah, biggest loss to the Braves was Leo Mazzone.
No doubt
Mazzone was not that effective a pitching coach for other teams. It is very possible that having Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine was the big reason for his apparent success with the braves.
Cox was not particularly terrible managing the bullpen. Gonzalez however (especially in his first couple of seasons was horrible.
I actually was curious as to the number of TJ surgeries/or victims from around the league, and it turns out Jon Roegee (@MLBPlayerAnalys) of The Hardball Times (@Hardball_Times) actually maintains an updated spreadsheet, including by organization. According to Roegele’s spreadsheet, the Braves do in fact have the most MLB pitchers who have gotten TJ since 1974.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gQujXQQGOVNaiuwSN6…
Imagine that..I actually do know what I’m talking about sometimes…good work
Probably better to replace Cox with Gonzalez, since he was the one heavily criticized for misuse of bullpen arms. Plus, Cox didn’t even manage multiple players on that list. Even the misuse of players like Venters, that played under both, had their worst moments with Freddie.
Not sure how much blame I’d put on McDowell either. Hard to say unless a person knows the inner workings.
Very true.. Which is why the Braves organization even admitted too. Not sure if this is a manager or asst coach thing. But under Cox/Mazzone, pitchers didnt get hurt much at all.
Could be a change in the times or combination of stuff.
Don’t forget players that finished off ok, but moved on to other teams and just fell apart. That’s one thing I’ve always said about the braves. We abuse the heck out of our pitchers. Especially our relief.
Truest thing I’ve ever read
Some of these players had an injury history before being at the professional level, and some are simply injury prone. Then you have the few that were abused like you said.
Wow dude I wouldn’t quite say that Vizzy or Simmons careers have been destroyed. Vizzy had his tj in the minors so how did McDowell or Cox have anything to do with that? Folty is ongoing? How so? He just came from Astros organization. Had the normal workload as he did while with the Astros and only pitched 86 innings in the bigs plus what he did in the minors. I don’t see how McDowell has been over used him. Plus he had 2 freak injuries that had nothing to do with his arm at the end of last year. Putting that on Mcdowell or Cox is ridiculous. Also the pitching coach doesn’t make the decision to take a pitcher out of the game nor does Bobby Cox. The manager makes those decisions. He makes the decision who to use out of the pen and how long he stays in the game and how much he gets used. Not the pitching coach. Why don’t you put some blane on Fredi for how horrible his mismanagement of the bullpen? Fredi is the one who used Venters, EOF, Kimbrel and Simmons so much out of the pen
Cox, McDowell, Gonzalez…pick whomever you will…yes DESTROYED…mark my words Simmons will never be the same, and if he is the bravos will find a way to destroy him into another TJ surgery within 2 years ..did Folty have a single health issue before joining the braves? Not one..now he’s had a rib removed, blood clots, now bone spurs in his elbow, he’ll have to have TJ within a year or two..the braves trifecta of idiots have ravaged pitchers league wide…the royals like to sign most of the reclamation projects of the braves due to their old ties to Sheurholtz…Cox in case you didn’t notice is the most overrated manager in the history of the MLB….truth hurts..14 straight division titles and only one WS? Pathetic beyond words…and yea the guy up above is right..did the research..braves have THE MOST tj surgeries tied to them in the ML
I’ll be glad to put a ton of blame on Freddi, sorry for my omission..he continued Cox’s overuse for years..Viz is already coming apart at the seams..he’s hurt my guess and being forced to play through it..you seen his performance lately..he has no clue where the ball is going..braves better dump him while they can..he will need a second TJ by the end of the year my guess..you think the braves care? They do things the”braves” way..which is talkingheads bullshiz for-we’ll suck your soul dry then throw you away for more players we’ll then use, abuse, and throw away ..now before you come back with the usual every sports team does that bs..the braves are the worst, the worst by far, and probably have a great chance of staying the worst…look what they just did to Cobb county and ask the problems it’s caused..do you think they care? Think again..maybe things will change if liberty media sells them and the two Johns are fired..until then..as always the braves ballplayers have my full support..as far as the rest of the braves organization..they can kiss my as$
I’ll take my pitching coach any day to yours.
I’d think that the braves want to ease Cabrera into games before putting him in too many high stress situations. It is entirely possible that the braves will deal Vizcaino and create change in the back end of the bullpen. Cabrera is one of the guys who could see a significant role if he can perform on the mound.
The Bos
I’ll be surprised if Alexi Ogando isn’t claimed and traded. At the end of the season, he’ll be talked about as a great find to whomever picks him up.
Bobby Cox was a rare Manager who could see talent when he had it. So many players are mis-uesd on their original team then go to another and become good players. Can you name any players from Bobby Cox’s teams? Everywhere he went, he won. He converted Dale Murphy from C/1B to CF, put the final touches on the 1980s Blue Jays and had a long run with the 1990s Atlanta Braves. If anything, he didn’t manage bullpens as well as others and he was the worst luck post season Manager ever. The umpires absolutely screwed his teams in 1985 and again in the 1997 playoffs. ( I still am convinced the 1997 post season was fixed.)
Wouldn’t be surprised if the Padres claimed him. I think A.J. Preller was the scout that found him in the first place with Texas. The trade deadline is approaching and the Padres will move Rodney, Thornton & maybe Villanueva so replacements will be needed.
Ogando hasn’t been all that great since his early years in Texas, but he can strike some guys out. The Twins have the second-worst bullpen in baseball (nicely complementing the worst rotation in baseball) so anyone with a remote chance of not sucking sounds appealing… I wouldn’t mind giving him a shot.
Ogando got off to a good start on the season but has struggled for awhile now. It is very possible though that he could be an effective reliever again this season.
Then…. Who’s got the worst bullpen of the AL?
I predict Ogando will be picked up by the Red Sox
Cabrera up?
A Vizcaino deal is imminent.
If the Braves just wanted a middle innings reliever, the obvious move would have been to either Wooten or Ramirez, both w extensive ML exp and both pitching great at AAA with 2/1 K/BB ratios and low Whips. Then Cabrera to AAA.