The Braves have designated righty Mauricio Cabrera for assignment, per a club announcement (h/t David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Twitter). His roster spot will go to fellow right-hander Peter Moylan, whose signing is now official.
Dropping Cabrera would have been inconceivable this time last year. When camp opened in 2017, after all, the young flamethrower was seen as a major part of the late-inning mix in Atlanta.
In 2016, Cabrera posted a 2.82 ERA in his first 38 1/3 innings at the game’s highest level while averaging an eye-popping 101.2 mph with his four-seamer. Though he only managed 7.5 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9, he sported a solid 11.7% swinging-strike rate and got a strong 49.1% groundball rate.
Things went south last year, however. Cabrera experienced some arm issues in camp and struggled badly while working back through the minors, never returning to the MLB roster. Walks have always been a concern, but Cabrera was irredeemably wild in 2017. Over 43 total minor-league frames, he walked more than a batter per inning while stumbling to a 6.49 ERA.
Good move.
In b4, [my team] should give him a chance.
Literally two separate people said their team should get him within three minutes of you posting this hahaha well done
Not surprising. Hopes he figures things out, has potential.
Mets should get him.
Why?
Y do we need him
Cards should get him he throws 100+mph
go get em coppy!
Throws heat right?
Yeah, 103 for Ball 1, 101 for Ball 2, 102 for Ball 3, and 100 for Ball 4.
lol
“Juuussstttt a bit outside”.
AGHHHH !!! I don’t want him to go. Lol he’s electric! I would rather continue to develop him than to sign peter moylan. PM is good, but we don’t really need him that bad, and it never hurts to have a young flame thrower. MC is still young …
You’d rather have a pitcher whose development has fallen off a cliff in the minors instead of someone who’s just come off of several solid seasons overall? Seriously, dude, look at how Cabrera did over the past year, he’s completely fallen apart. If another team wants to take a look at him, go ahead, but good luck to them, as he was shaky due to control problems even BEFORE last year’s collapse.
I imagine the Braves management was not pleased with Cabrera’s early camp, I hope for his sake a fresh start somewhere helps him make it back to the show, somewhere. It happens.
Casualatlfan … yes when we aren’t expected to compete, I would rather attempt the wreck of a project with someone that throws 100+ and is young than to sign a million dollar contract with a guy who is not part of our future at all. To me, that’s an easy decision. The risk isn’t great at all, the reward can be huge. If not, no big deal.
How does one “develop” a pitcher who can’t throw strikes?
His 2016 is the aberration in his career. Big fastball doesn’t always mean big success
Tim815… teams will literally draft players with big arms that can’t throw strikes all the time. In fact, your more likely to be drafted as a guy touching 97 around the zone than a guy who pin points every pitch but throws 85. The entire concept behind most pitching draft picks is big arm need to work on the develop their mechanics. It’s basic baseball
I know a certain city that shudders every time they hear “Braves” and “Cabrera” in the same sentence.
But, if he throws 100 it’s worth a shot to let Searage work with him.
No doubt. This isn’t a bright move for a team that isn’t exactly expected to compete this year from its own fan base. Keep the kid who has upside and throws gas. If he doesn’t pan out, so what. No real harm done. Now we r just paying a lot of money to a 40 year old side winder who won’t be here I’m a year
Moylan’s salary is chicken feed for a major leaguer. At worst if he makes the club Moylan should provide ground ball outs and be a veteran presence for a bunch of youngsters. Don’t forget that not too long ago Moylan was a player/coach in the minors. It wouldn’t be a shock if the Braves expect him at least to be a sounding board for their many young people as.
Braves may also want Moylan to transition into coaching and this contract paves the way for a mentor/coach player role in AAA until he is needed in Atlanta.
Devil’s advocate time.
Moylan trades well in July. Likely fetching a prospect for the future.
Coin-flip he gets claimed. Might get to keep him, and add a prospect in July.
What upside? He throws hard…and that’s really it. He doesn’t strike out a lot of batters, and he walks a ton.
He doesn’t strike out a lot cause he walks to much. The upside is the development of his command. It’s a low risk keep, with potential for high reward. Since he’s young and projectable. I’d take that long project every time
Dickerson for Cabrera? Makes a good deal of sense at this point.
Make it happen!
Braves fans are fine with it
Ha…Tampa would hangup and block AA’s number
Maybe 2 days ago, a high upside reliever maybe the best bet now
It’s either they take something, or they lose Dickerson for nothing. Rays don’t have much of a choice right now.
I wish. There is no doubt the braves should go get Dickerson though. No doubt
Not being able to harness jaime and now cabrera are two big let downs.
Not at all. Very common to see guys with triple digit heat fail due to control issues. They get more tries to fail as well
Sounds like a patient for Dr. Cooper.
And 1 hr after dfa, he is traded to …..
Things I see
“(The team I cheer for) should go get him.”
Things I don’t see.
“(The team I cheer for) ought to offer one of these prospects to add this guy.”
or
“Pay this much (over the standard waiver fee) to poach him.”
Just remember, whatever team claims him will have to carry him on their major league roster all season. Most teams aren’t likely to take that kind of chance with a bullpen spot. If any did, it would be an AL team.
No they wouldn’t. He’s not a rule 5 guy
But he’s out of options, so he’s either on the 40-man, or his new team would need to DFA him as well
Skdjdiwiw
So much for him. I thought he was gonna be good and he fell way off the cliff.
I could see him being a good fit for the Dodgers and their spotty bullpen.
Man he was so impressive in ’16. Last year I kept up with him and it was hard to fathom that it would come to this…they couldn’t find a pitching coach in the system to fix his mechanical and/or mental problems? Really? Wow…such a surprise! He throws heat with the best on the planet..I wish they would’ve given him more time…
Another coaching fail for the Braves organization…what a shame…
Staff is barely keeping Folty, Teheran, And Newcomb and their head cases together. McCarthy gets flipped at the deadline if he performs at all, Sims is vastly underwhelming…Gohara is a stud, Fried will be a stud if he stays healthy and they let him start…I think Folty eventually ends up in the pen…Julio will finally perform and get dealt
And by ’19 wet got
Gohara
Fried
Soroka
Allard
Kyle Wright maybe…
We’ll see how Ian Anderson, Muller, Wentz, etc. flesh out..and if Patrick Weigel can recover completely from TJ
Criticizes braves coaching for not developing pitchers, then proceeds to list of a bunch of studs coached by the braves.
Man he was a stud…he had one bad season and gets released? I’m sure they know more than we do but doesn’t make sense to give up on an arm like that
His knock was always control. But I’m with u, I keep him and keep working with him. At least until our team is a legit contender