1:02pm: Atlanta will also keep Chris Stewart as a third catcher, per Robert Murray of Fan Rag (via Twitter). The veteran receiver had signed a non-guaranteed MLB deal over the winter.
9:52am: The Braves have announced a series of roster moves that set up the team’s Opening Day, 25-man unit. Third baseman Rio Ruiz has been optioned while non-roster players including righty Anibal Sanchez, outfielders Ezequiel Carrera and Danny Santana, and infielder Sean Kazmar were reassigned out of MLB camp.
These decisions reflect some shifts in thinking over recent days. It had seemed that Ruiz would open up with a shot at third base due to an injury to Johan Camargo. But the organization ended up snagging Ryan Flaherty, who now is set up to get some run at the hot corner in concert with utilityman Charlie Culberson.
Likewise, Santana long seemed a likely candidate to take a utility role from the bench, but the recent signing of Peter Bourjos seems to have bumped Santana from the immediate plans. As MLB.com’s Mark Bowman suggested earlier today on Twitter, Santana (along with Carrera) can be stashed at Triple-A to begin the season. That’s preferable to boosting either player to the 40-man and perhaps then facing an early call when it comes time to add a fifth starter. Instead, Lane Adams will now likely take an Opening Day job, barring an intervening acquisition, though the out-of-options outfielder could now be vulnerable when the roster pressure arises.
Speaking of that fifth starter’s spot, it seems the expectation remains that Sanchez will ultimately ascend to the rotation. For now, though, he’ll be assigned to Triple-A. If and when he does come up, he’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster.
While this slate of moves allows the Braves to avoid any final decisions — since control rights have been maintained over all the team’s options — that doesn’t mean that some moments of reckoning won’t soon arise. As we discussed in our review of the club’s offseason, this roster seems primed to undergo a fair bit of turnover at the start and over the course of the 2018 season.
Lane Adams is a gifted athlete, but he thinks he’s a slugger and he should be a slap hitter. Danny Santana was such a more applicable choice.
That’s an interesting point. I bet he’d do a ton with infield rollers. He’s got killer speed.
Lane Adams hit ..275, had a 110 wRC+ with 5 home runs in 120 plate appearances last year. He also had 10 stolen bases and can play all 3 OF positions. I will take that any day over a slap hitter like Santana. I like him better than Bourjos too.
Watch Lane Adams at the plate. He’s guessing and swinging from his heels always. It seems he comes to the plate with an 0-2 count and he was abysmal until a late surge at the end of the season. Believe me, I’d rather he be the short term answer but Santana is more versatile positionally and a balanced (if not less sexy) player.
so he resembles Jason Heyward?
Umm, you mean the late season surge that accompanied semi-regular playing time?
Let’s be honest if you’re trying to call a streak an outlier and give it the credit it’s due as well.
Good job, it’s pretty obvious Rio Ruiz doesn’t belong in the majors.
Maybe as a bench guy, but not the starting 3B.
They don’t have a bunch of great options at 3B at the moment. I’d rather see Ruiz get another shot than Flaherty. Should have signed Moustakas. Would have plugged a gap til Riley is ready, and based on what his final price was, I imagine his contract would have been very tradable.
I think Ruiz still has the potential to be a starting 3B. In all of his promotions he starts off really slow then becomes a pretty good hitter. Unfortunately once your hit the show, time isn’t really on your side to figure it out. Kids got a sweet swing. But he’s got to overcome the mental side if he’s ever gonna be successful
It’s all small sample size, but over last year and ST I’ve been more impressed with Carmago.
No doubt. In the long run I think they will both be on the MLB roster. Ruiz will prob be a bench piece and Carmargo will be a rotating around the infield starting most days.
The issue with Ruiz as a bench player is that he is not very versatile. That being said, I would much prefer him play third than Flaherty. Fingers crossed Ruiz figures it out
Austin Riley is the 3B in wait…
I agree Austin Riley is the future 3B, but we can’t truly believe that until he’s a little closer. He might be up this year, but that’s moving him along a little fast even for his numbers. I think next year is when he might be up. But you want to create competition between players, so naturally you want a young ruiz to start putting it together some. Kids got the ability to be a good everyday 3b… but he needs to light a fire under him to get there.
Thank you Captain Obvious
I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to anoint someone as heir apparent unless he is just ridiculous like Acuna. There’s no guaranty that Riley will make it to the majors or even be a decent hitter at the major league level. Right now the Braves system doesn’t have any other alternatives. I don’t think it’s a good idea putting all of their eggs in one basket. This could be a major failure. Sure they can make a trade but why not create some competition now? Flaherty and Culberson in the meantime ??? Really? Two of the worst hitters in baseball?
I don’t get the Santana move.
If they kept Santana on the roster they would’ve had to add him to the 40 man roster. To do that they would’ve had to remove someone from the 40 man, the likely casualty to be Lane Adams or someone similar. As Santana signed a minor league contract, he can start the year at Gwinnett without having to use an option to send him down. Even if you feel like Santana is a better player, it gives the Braves complete roster control and gives them the flexibility at the moment.
I just want it to be time to see all the young prospects compete for spots. Almost wish we can cut half our roster and throw them all in there now. Be willing to bet they would hold their own.
Considering the Bravos prospects this year, I’d be up for seeing that too. I feel like they say a lot that you can bring guys up too soon, maybe ruin them in some way? I don’t know.
It’s more about playing time. They’d be competing for time up here but in AAA they can relax and play full time
May be that keeping prospects in AAA 4-6 more weeks reduces the time later in the season competing teams have to “figure out” those hitters and pitchers.
Good young hitters and pitchers adjust, but I suspect it would be easier to do after 2-3 months in the big leagues after the season’s over than starting the year on the Opening Day roster and having to adjust on the fly in late April or May.
I just think the pressure would be a lot less if a group of them came up at once than each one individually. I mean yea they need to be ready. Swanson is a perfect example of why 1 at a time is rough. And not being ready. The entire braves nation expected him to be the savior and I’m afraid that might be the case with all these kids if brought up 1 by one. Tough kind of pressure
Most definitely held their own in the Futures game yesterday. Funny the star of the game was one of the youngest: Pache – with 2 HR (both off of Newcomb). He’s been working on that swing, not unlike the work that was done with Acuna. For a guy that never had any in pro HR, I’d say that’s progress.
Honestly, you mix in ozzie and a few other recent grads of that future game, you have a team that will compete more often than not. Pache has the build to hit some HR. Hope he continues to hit them and turn into a true Andrew Jones comp.
I don’t think with the bat he will ever have Andruw’s power, but might have a higher OBP and average. I wouldn’t be overly surprised though if he is a perennial gold glove centerfielder who hits 16-20 homers and a .280 avg. If he can do that he will be a very valuable contributor.
Lane Adams was excellent off of the bench last year. I’m glad he made the team.
Yeah, last year he was pretty decent. But he didn’t earn a spot with the way he played this spring. Santana was more deserving based on spring training performance. Time will tell if this was the right move, but I have a feeling Lane was selected mostly because he’s out of options.
You don’t really make roster decisions solely off of spring training results. Lane earned the job last year. If he falters while Santana tears up AAA then maybe you make the change then.
Braves made the right decision letting him go, but I am curious to see whether Adonis Garcia absolutely rakes with the LG Twins like I think he will.
I think you are the only braves fan who cares at all about Garcia lol.
Definitely the only one.
Do most team keep 3 catchers? Seems a bit much especially if the 3rd catcher is more defense and won’t be utilized as a pinch hitter. Unless Suzuki pinch hits more this year then a 3rd catcher makes sense.
Yeah think of it as Stewart is the actual backup catcher and Suzuki is a nice bat to have off th bench and he probably won’t get as many starts as Stewart. I may be a bit biased because my first ever autograph was Chris Stewart’s. 🙂
Why even bother keeping a third catcher? Someone here said that Suzuki might just be used as a bench bat so that’s possible, but on an NL roster it still doesn’t make much sense to me.
Swear they have been doing this every single year for 20 years.
Longer than that . . . Anybody remember the days of Naharodny and Pocoroba?
Its frustrating seeing players like christian Colon and Rob Brantley have excellent springs only to have roster spots go to replacement level players.
Stewart will be gone once camargo comes off the DL. People should stop getting upset over having a third catcher that will be gone in 10 days.
Chris Stewart was a good backup for the Pirates for 3 or 4 years but he really only had a decent average for one of them and I think hit maybe 0.175 last year.Not sure how much he is making,not too much,but it seems to me that it must be guaranteed if he is on the Opening Day roster.Perhaps he will only be there for a couple of weeks but I would have thought that they would have had a young player worthy of experiencing Opening Day in the major leagues this year.Typically your main pinch hitters are not catchers.
I’m really looking forward to a lot of the young Braves players this year and especially Albie’s. The pitching staff, the potential of Acuna and the hopefully bounce back of Swanson get most of the headlines but I think it will be fun to watch Albie’s make the ROY award a competitive one.
Albies and Acuña competing for ROY could be the highlight of the season
Lol. Albies had 217 ABs last year. He won’t be competing for ROY.