The Braves have signed reliever Jason Motte to a minor league contract, tweets David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Motte is likely to report to Triple-A Gwinnett on Monday.
The 34-year-old Motte came available when the Rockies released him Wednesday, which was not the outcome they had envisioned when signing him to a two-year, $10MM contract in December 2015. Motte battled a rotator cuff injury and a dip in velocity in in his lone season in Colorado. Thanks in part to those issues, Motte posted a 4.94 ERA and a 20.7 percent home run-to-fly ball ratio across 23 2/3 innings. However, he did log solid strikeout and walk rates per nine (9.13 and 3.04, respectively). The right-hander was at his best with the Cardinals from 2010-12, when he pitched to a 2.43 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.39 BB/9 across 192 1/3 frames, but he hasn’t approached those numbers since.
The Braves’ bullpen entered Sunday with a 4.86 ERA and a 5.02 FIP in 16 2/3 innings, and relievers Arodys Vizcaino, Jim Johnson and Jose Ramirez then combined to allow four late-game runs in a 6-5 loss to the Pirates. Barring a turnaround from the unit, Motte could conceivably get back to the majors with Atlanta this year, though the organization does have another well-known option in Triple-A in fellow minor league signing David Hernandez.
Whatever it takes to fix our god awful bullpen
Motte likely won’t help fix anything, but he’s a good option to throw at the problem and see if he can somehow stick.
too bad. was hoping jays would sign him.
might as well add some fuel to the fire
Pretty embarrassing to consider yourself a major league baseball team with a bench and bullpen like the Braves. Worst team in baseball!
Yawn
perfect response from realgone to such a juvenile post
No … I think that honor still goes to the Padres. Don’t be fooled by one week of the season. The Padres will finish the season with the most losses in the league.
haha. Yet the Braves have the pieces to solve those issues. However, you don’t build up to the #1 farm team in MLB in 2 years to just sell off on overpriced position players for your bench and bullpen arms that are a dime a dozen.
It’s been a week. Settle it down.
Oh wow. You should be a professional baseball analyst. I remember how before the season everyone had them pegged for a postseason spot, but you probably knew this all along didn’t you!?
I pray for a <30 signing soon. The has-been signings are tired!
There’s really not much of a need at this point. Next year, I think you’ll see more money thrown at younger players, when the time is right. 2017 isn’t it.
Mack is right. No need to throw money when our young guys aren’t ready yet. Keep chipping and grinding this season, towards the midway-end of the season I’d like to see most of the roster replaced with prospects so they can gain experience. I personally think signing Jason Motte is a waste of a little extra money, but I understand the move.
At this time of year there aren’t going to be pretty much any guys <30 that are going to be worth anything. This guy had a rough year last year, but he has had proven success at the big league level, like Hernandez. I think they could be useful, especially if somebody gets injured so we don't have to throw a young arm into the fire before we feel comfortable
AJ Minter is a solution to the problem. Whenever he gets fully healthy, and the Braves can work him on a couple of back to back appearances, then they will bring up the young future stud..
I wouldn’t mind seeing Minter, Hursh, and Morris get a look MUCH sooner rather than later…
I think Hursh has had his chance man. Every time he comes up or plays spring ball, his fastball is straight and down the middle and he can’t throw his breaking stuff for a strike. I do like morris and we keep hearing good things about Minters.