6:03pm: Moylan is slated to earn a $575K salary with a $625K roster bonus if and when he is placed on the 25-man roster, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). It is not known how much, if any, money is guaranteed, but clearly Moylan will have to earn a bullpen job in camp.
7:28am: The Braves are in agreement on a contract with veteran right-handed reliever Peter Moylan, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Moylan, a client of Paragon Sports, is in Orlando to take a physical for the deal today, Crasnick adds. It was reported yesterday that the Braves and Royals were both in the mix to sign the 39-year-old veteran.
Moylan will head back to the Braves for what will be his third stint with the team. He made his Major League debut for Atlanta as a 27-year-old back in 2006 and went on to serve as a key member of their bullpen up through the 2012 season, appearing in 295 games with a 2.59 ERA out of the bullpen. He’d land back in Atlanta for the 2015 season after undergoing the second Tommy John surgery of his career, pitching 10 1/3 solid innings late in the year.
The Royals picked Moylan up in 2016, and he’s spent the past two seasons with Kansas City, where he’s pitched quite well out of the ’pen. Moylan paced the Majors with 79 total appearances last season, appearing in nearly half of his team’s games on the year. He logged a 3.46 ERA in 104 innings with the Royals in total over those two seasons, averaging 6.9 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9 and logging a hefty 61.3 percent ground-ball rate.
Moylan has had his struggles with left-handed opponents in that time, serving up a .318/.444/.535 slash to 108 batters when they hold the platoon advantage. Right-handed hitters, though, probably wonder if it’s even worth stepping into the box against the side-arming Moylan, who has held same-handed opponents to a comical .181/.252/.253 slash through 326 PAs in that same span. Suffice it so say, he can be relied on by the Braves something of a right-handed specialist, though he probably won’t be called upon to face elite lefties on too many occasions.
The Braves figure to add Moylan to a late-inning mix that currently features Arodys Vizcaino as the closer and hard-throwing Jose Ramirez as the top setup option. Sam Freeman and A.J. Minter are on hand as left-handed options, and other candidates to fill right-handed spots in the relief corps include Josh Ravin, Dan Winkler, Chase Whitley, Mauricio Cabrera, Akeel Morris, Jason Hursh, Aaron Blair, Matt Wisler and Rule 5 pick Anyelo Gomez. It’s a rather deep mix from which to choose, though the group does have an overall lack of experience, so it’s not hard to see why the Braves sought a complementary veteran such as Moylan.
If it proves to be a guaranteed Major League pact for Moylan, he’ll be the first free agent to sign such a deal with the Braves this offseason under new general manager Alex Anthopoulos. He’d represent a viable upgrade to a bullpen that finished 26th in the Majors with a 4.58 ERA and allowed a .264/.339/.450 slash against righties in 2017 (as pointed out yesterday by MLBTR’s Connor Byrne).
Is this the Braves first guaranteed Major League signing of the year?
Yes, AA couldn’t find the stationary.
ROFL!!!
Awesome, welcome back Peter!
Two thumbs up!
I can’t think of another offseason that had this many players returning back to teams they’ve played with in the past. I doubt anything’s causing that, but it is a whacky coincidence.
Now Ichiro needs to sign with Seattle
Really, who has all done that? Motte, Cain, bruce, and Neshek? Any others?
One of my favorite players, welcome back Pete!!
Assuming the bullpen will be
Minter
Winkler
Moylan
Ramirez
Freeman
Vizcaino
Ravin
Whitley
Akeel Morris will be in there..I’d bet on it..if only Cabrera could get back to throwing strikes and return to his ’16 form
Sorry to see him go!
He has become a definitive MLB version of righty specialist, or ROOGY if you will, and that’s no knock against him because he’s really darn good at it.
Minter needs to be the closer, and I think he will at some point this year. I don’t really care for Viz. He always makes me nervous with his temperament on the mound. Half the time he looks scared.
Lol I kinda agree with u. But might be best to ease minter into a closer role by letting vizzy shut it out most of the year. Maybe towards the end give minters that experience.
I hope Viz steps up and becomes a solid closer that we can trade for a good bat.
You mean like when we traded him for Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm and cash?
You may not care for Vizzy but he’s really good at getting the job done.
Solid pen piece. Excellent clubhouse guy. Can take some of the load off the young guys coming up.
Great, now just use him the right way. He was solid in KC with an excellent strand rate, but it helped him a lot throwing to Perez.
PM has been under rated his whole career.
Now the dressing room gets to enjoy his coffee. Go the Braves.
Welcome back Peter.
The thunder from down under.
Welcome back Big Pete now get to the good stuff when we getting Renfroe
great signing, big fan of his!
is this real news? ger
Weren’t the Braves talking about improving the bullpen at the end of last year…it took this long..and I love PM but he’s a rh specialist..I thought they would’ve jettisoned a couple of them, and signed a couple decent free agent relievers…looks like they’re not even trying…maybe Kazmir to the pen along with Akeel Morris…Winker had injury history..and Viz and Ramirez faded badly after the break..Minter is going to end up closing..I think Viz is on a short leash…
Ah..how I miss O’Flare, Venters, and Kimbrel ..what a great pen we had starting when we got Billy Wagner and then Craig closing..I would’ve gladly eaten BJ’s contract to keep him…
We aren’t going after Moose, so they are either extremely high on Riley oofwaiting for the big FA’s next year…Acuna will be a beast with a full season of Ozzie and a rebound year from Dansby…great promise in the SP’s…looking forward to the next couple years, but Snitker needed to stay in AAA…rant over
Did you not see the contracts that were being handed out to bullpen guys this offseason? How would you expect the Braves to sign 1 or 2 of those guys? You do realize the Braves payroll right now is around $125M right? Where would they have gotten the money?
Something tells me we will get Josh Donaldson next year
I was thinking the same thing bro…
I would love Donaldson as a brave. I doubt we will spend that much but he can make a difference in our clubhouse and training the young guys. If we weren’t so high on Riley then I could see this happening.
And everyone thought the Braves wouldn’t be contenders this year. Now with this surprise blockbuster signing, they’re in the fight!
Not a bad signing. Good ROOGY if used correctly.