In a move that could take away a bit of intrigue from the trade deadline, the Braves have announced the placement of closer Arodys Vizcaino on the 15-day disabled list. The right-hander left the Braves’ game against the Rockies on Friday after just three pitches because of an oblique injury. Atlanta has activated left-handed reliever Eric O’Flaherty from the DL to take Vizcaino’s roster spot.
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Vizcaino drew interest from the Red Sox as recently as three weeks ago, but his newfound performance issues and injury will likely keep him in a Braves uniform for the rest of the season.
“Anybody who gets [an oblique strain], they’re just so time consuming,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told Mark Bowman of MLB.com. “You’ve got to calm everything down until they’re not feeling anything before you can let them begin throwing again.”
In his most recent five pre-injury appearances, Vizcaino allowed five earned runs on eight hits and seven walks while recording only a pair of strikeouts. In total, the 25-year-old has amassed a career-high 36 innings this season and logged a 3.00 ERA, 11.75 K/9, 5.5 BB/9, 54.8 percent ground-ball rate and converted 10 of 13 save opportunities. Since establishing himself as a quality major league reliever last season, the former well-regarded prospect has put up a stingy 2.33 ERA to go with 10.85 K/9 and 4.52 BB/9 across 69 2/3 frames. Vizcaino’s production, youth and team control (three arbitration-eligible years remaining) could have combined to make him an interesting name around the deadline.
With Vizcaino on the shelf, the Braves will likely turn to veteran Jim Johnson as their closer, according to Bowman. Johnson has 136 career saves on his resume, including back-to-back 50-save campaigns in 2012 and ’13.
He’s probably got the Michael Jordan face going now that he’s stuck in Atlanta
Missed opportunity for the Braves.
I agree.
Can still be Traded in August.
Man there Go the Vizcaino for “insert your team’s best prospect” scenarios by braves fans. I enjoyed those.
Vizcaino for Albies?
This is amazing
^
Those injuries are time consuming. At least it’s not his arm. Could be a blessing in disguise
Guess he isn’t going anywhere this tradedeadline no big deal. I am more interested in seeing who Coppy is gonna get to be our catcher. A lot of interesting names out there Norris, Susac, McGuire, Rupp, Lucroy, Sanchez and McCann.
What everyone is missing is that he is only on the 15 day DL. 15 days from now is July 31st. The trade deadline is August 1st. He could still be activated and traded before the deadline if the injury is minor.
That’s cutting it really close though. He’d have to prove he’s healthy, and that would probably require him throwing in 2 or 3 ML games in a row before a team would take him on.
What you are missing Ray Ray is that just because he is on 15 day DL does not mean he will automatically be healthy in 15 days.
Great news for the Yankees. Makes Miller and Chapman more valuable.
15 day DL is the minimum someone could be on. Obliques almost always last longer than 15 days