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Braves Select Josh Tomlin, Matt Joyce; Designate Raffy Lopez

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The Braves have announced their final Opening Day roster moves. As expected, righty Josh Tomlin and outfielder Matt Joyce were selected. To clear a 40-man roster spot, catcher Raffy Lopez was designated for assignment.

The Atlanta organization’s late-breaking addition of Tomlin came after a barrage of pitching injuries that the club hopes will prove to be minor. Starters Mike Foltynewicz and Kevin Gausman have officially been placed on the 10-day injured list along with relievers A.J. Minter and Darren O’Day.

The veteran Joyce will make the roster at the expense of Adam Duvall, who remains with the organization but has been optioned to Triple-A. A career .250/.351/.451 hitter against right-handed pitching in nearly 3400 plate appearances, Joyce will give the Braves the left-handed-hitting fourth outfielder they’d reportedly been seeking. He’s not an option in center field at this stage in his career, though on days that Ender Inciarte needs a breather, Atlanta can shift Ronald Acuna Jr. into center field while deploying Joyce in a corner.

Tomlin will serve as a long man out of the bullpen, providing depth for a Braves rotation that has been hit by injuries this spring. In addition to Foltynewicz and Gausman landing on the IL, right-hander Mike Soroka was out for much of Spring Training due to shoulder troubles and was optioned to Triple-A to build up strength. Tomlin had a brutal season with the Indians in 2018 but gave Cleveland nearly 500 innings of 4.44 ERA ball from 2013-17. The 34-year-old righty doesn’t miss many bats and has one of the game’s slowest fastballs but also has uncanny precision; over his past 557 MLB innings, he’s averaged just 1.1 BB/9.

Lopez, 31, hit .176/.265/.284 in 117 plate appearances with the Padres last season. The Braves acquired him from San Diego in exchange for cash back in early November, but he didn’t have a place on the active roster behind Tyler Flowers and Brian McCann.

Roster Decisions: Braves, Jays, Tigers, Twins

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With Opening Day nearly upon us, here are a few of the notable roster decisions from around the game …

  • Right-hander Wes Parsons and non-roster invitees Matt Joyce and Josh Tomlin have made the Braves’ Opening Day roster, the team announced to reporters today (Twitter link via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Meanwhile, as The Athletic’s David O’Brien writes, Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright will be a part of Atlanta’s rotation to begin the season. That makes for quite an interesting and unexpected collection of roster pieces. The club is waiting to finalize its roster completely while evaluating external options.
  • Right-hander Trent Thornton, whom the Blue Jays acquired in exchange for Aledmys Diaz this winter, will be Toronto’s fourth starter to open the season, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Fellow righty Sam Gaviglio will open the year as a long man in the bullpen. In other decisions for the Jays, also via Davidi, the club has decided to keep Rule 5 righty Elvis Luciano despite some rocky moments this spring. Southpaw Thomas Pannone and infielder Richard Urena are also heading north, with the team’s final roster spot still up for grabs. It may go to Bud Norris if he’s ready, says Davidi, with the team also pondering Javy Guerra while eyeing outside possibilities.
  • The Tigers have informed righty Spencer Turnbull that he’ll be in the rotation to begin the season, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports. He took that job over lefty Daniel Norris, who’ll open the year in the bullpen. Norris will work in a long capacity, with the goal being to keep him stretched out in case a starting spot comes open. Turnbull, 26, earned the nod with an excellent spring showing: 15 frames of 1.80 ERA pitching with 15 strikeouts and just a pair of walks. The former second-round pick reached the big leagues briefly last year, but spent most of his ’18 season at Double-A. He pitched to a 4.47 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 98 2/3 innings over 19 starts at the penultimate level of the minors.
  • In one of the better stories of Spring Training, Ryne Harper has made the Twins’ Opening Day roster, as manager Rocco Baldelli recently announced (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Harper, who turns thirty today, enjoyed a terrific spring with the Twins and will now have the opportunity to pitch in his first big league game after grinding through eight minor league seasons. The call to the big leagues for Harper is surely sweetened by the fact that he’s come as close to making his big league debut as possible in the past; the Mariners selected Harper’s contract back in 2017 but optioned him back to Triple-A before he ever appeared in a game. He was outrighted before ever being summoned back to the big leagues.

NL Notes: Rendon, Freeman, Dodgers, Padres

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Even though it’s extension season in Major League Baseball, a new deal between the Nationals and contract-year third baseman Anthony Rendon doesn’t appear imminent. General manager Mike Rizzo said Saturday there isn’t anything new to report vis-a-vis Rendon, nor does the recent flood of extensions across the majors have any effect on the two sides’ talks, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post tweets. Rendon spoke about his future earlier in the week and didn’t sound particularly optimistic about an extension coming together. As things stand, Rendon’s on track to be one of the rare high-end players available in next winter’s free-agent class, which has rapidly lost its shine because of the extension trend.

More from the NL…

  • The Braves don’t yet have to worry about extending first baseman Freddie Freeman, who’s under control through 2021. But when it’s time for Freeman to sign another deal, he hopes Atlanta’s the team that gives it to him. Freeman said this week that he loves Atlanta and would like to spend his entire career there, Mark Bowman of MLB.com relays. Regarding a potential extension, Freeman stated: “If [the extension is] four or five more years following [my current deal] and I’m declining, I’ll be out. I really will. I don’t want to put on another uniform for another year.” The 29-year-old added that he doesn’t plan to approach the Braves about a new contract, but “if they want to engage in that, I’m obviously here to engage because I want to be here for the rest of my career.” The club may take Freeman up on that in a year or two, Bowman suggests. At this point, Freeman still has $65MM left on the eight-year, $135MM extension he signed heading into the 2014 campaign.
  • The Dodgers plan to deploy Austin Barnes, not offseason acquisition Russell Martin, as their primary catcher, according to manager Dave Roberts (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). “If you look at it from a five-man rotation situation I would say Austin three out of five,” Roberts said of Barnes, who nosedived last season after a stellar first-year showing in 2017. The Dodgers hope he’ll bounce back and team with the 36-year-old Martin, who’s in his second stint with the franchise, to effectively replace now-Brewer Yasmani Grandal. It won’t be an easy task – despite Grandal’s playoff miscues in LA, he was one of the game’s most valuable catchers during his four-year tenure with the Dodgers.
  • The Padres’ rotation picture is becoming clearer, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. It appears highly touted prospect Chris Paddack and Matt Strahm will slot in behind Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer, while the battle for the fifth spot is seemingly down to Logan Allen and Cal Quantrill. Robbie Erlin had been in the competition, but manager Andy Green said Saturday the left-hander will open the year as a reliever. Allen and Quantrill, who rank among the Padres’ top 15 prospects in a stacked system, will each get one last chance to make a case for a rotation job Sunday.

Braves Acquire Matt Joyce

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Per Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News, the Braves have acquired outfielder Matt Joyce from the Giants for cash considerations. It’ll be the third team this week for the 34-year-old Joyce, who was released Tuesday by Cleveland after the team informed him he wouldn’t crack the Opening Day roster.

Joyce enjoyed a late-career renaissance in 2016 with Pittsburgh, slashing .242/.403/.463 (136 wRC+), and again the following season in Oakland, where his 2.7 fWAR was a career best. He fell back to earth last season, though, posting an 89 wRC+ and just 0.2 fWAR in a 246 plate appearances, the vast majority of which came against right-handed pitching.

The lefty-swinging Joyce has long exhibited one of the game’s most pronounced left/right splits, slashing a career .250/.351/.451 (121 wRC+) against righties, versus just .184/.267/.306 (61 wRC+) against same-side arms. Despite the down year in ’18, Joyce’s 35% hard-hit rate was one of the highest of his career, and he maintained his always-robust walk rates, checking in at 14.2% to end the season.

He’ll serve as an ideal corner-outfield depth piece for Atlanta, and perhaps even an upgrade over incumbent Nick Markakis in right field (Steamer projects the two at an identical 102 wRC+). Despite trading for the plummeting Adam Duvall late last season, Atlanta was decidedly light on experienced corner options, so the Joyce signing seems a savvy one indeed.

Braves Reportedly “Still In” On Craig Kimbrel

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5:59pm: Whether or not there’s ongoing contact, the Braves have yet to make Kimbrel an offer, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (via Twitter).

4:10pm: The Braves are “still in” the market for veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to O’Brien’s sources, the race at this point is down to the Braves and Brewers.

Atlanta’s reported interest in their former ninth-inning man has wavered all winter long. The team has made quite clear that it isn’t interested in a lengthy entanglement with the veteran reliever, but has remained engaged in shorter-term scenarios.

Other potential participants in Kimbrel’s market have also remained murky. The Red Sox have all but ruled out a return; the Nationals were briefly rumored to be involved but have said they don’t want to go over the luxury tax line. Otherwise, the Rays are the only team we’ve heard much about; the light-spending org is said to be keeping tabs but obviously hasn’t pushed the market to this point.

Last we heard, just over a week ago, the Braves were not even engaged with Kimbrel’s representatives. Perhaps the team’s ongoing pitching health questions have spurred the front office to reconsider the 30-year-old reliever, who racked up 186 saves and 289 innings of 1.43 ERA pitching in his incredible early-career run in Atlanta.

It’s good news for Kimbrel that there’s finally some added interest. The Brewers have also had injury troubles and are said to be “pretty serious” about getting something done. The question remains whether any of these organizations — or some other one — will feel compelled to offer Kimbrel a significant multi-year pact. At this stage of the offseason, the odds seem stacked against it, but the fact that he has yet to sign could suggest he’s still holding out hope.

Braves Release Sam Freeman

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March 22: The Braves announced that they’ve released Freeman.

March 21: The Braves have outrighted left-hander Sam Freeman, per a club announcement. He has been assigned to Triple-A but will have the right instead to elect free agency.

Now 31, Freeman joined the Atlanta organization as a minor-league free agent in advance of the 2017 season. He ended up turning in a worthwhile campaign and being tendered a contract for the campaign that followed.

Freeman’s follow-up effort left some questions. He finished the 2018 season with 50 1/3 innings of 4.29 ERA ball, with 10.4 K/9 against 5.7 BB/9. Freeman allowed only three home runs on the year and maintained a healthy 52.1% groundball rate. He was as usual more effective against opposite-handed hitters.

The Braves ultimately decided to tender Freeman a contract once again, settling with him at $1.375MM. But it seems the team has decided to go in another direction at this point, preferring to drop the southpaw while it is only obligated to him for 45 days of salary.

Braves Sign Josh Tomlin To Minor League Deal

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7:25am: MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that Tomlin will start Saturday’s Grapefruit League game for the Braves and could potentially break camp with the club as a long reliever. If not, it appears he’ll head to Triple-A Gwinnett.

7:04am: The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve signed right-hander Josh Tomlin to a minor league contract. He’ll be in Major League camp for the remainder of Spring Training and add some depth to a pitching staff that is currently dealing with numerous injuries both in the rotation and in the bullpen. Tomlin, a Meister Sports client, opted out of a minor league deal with the Brewers yesterday.

Tomlin, 34, has spent the entirety of his big league career with the Indians to this point and was a fairly regular member of the Cleveland rotation from 2011-17. During that time, he posted a combined 4.66 ERA with 6.2 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9 over the life of 755 1/3 innings. He’s a quintessential soft-tosser, averaging 88.7 mph on his fastball in his career (87.8 mph over the past three seasons) but also demonstrating pinpoint control. Tomlin has averaged just 1.3 walks per nine innings pitched and has never allowed an average of more than 2.3 BB/9 in any single season.

Last season was a rough one for the veteran Tomlin, who pitched to a 6.14 ERA and yielded a stunning 25 home runs in 70 1/3 innings of work. The long ball has always been an issue for Tomlin, though certainly never to that extent. Tomlin’s homer-to-fly ball ratio leaped more than seven percentage points to a fluky 21.4 percent last year. That mark seems highly likely to regress, and a move to the National League figures to help to an extent as well.

The Braves had great success with a similar late-spring signing last year when another AL Central castoff, Anibal Sanchez, revitalized his career in Atlanta. Expecting that level of resurgence wouldn’t be reasonable for any pitcher, but Tomlin does seem to have a chance to log some innings for the Braves early in the season. Atlanta’s top starter, Mike Foltynewicz, will open the season on the injured list, and fellow righty Kevin Gausman could do the same. Right-hander Mike Soroka was optioned to Triple-A yesterday after shoulder troubles limited him for most of camp. Even if the Braves opt to deploy a number of younger options in the rotation, Tomlin could provide some support in a long relief role for a bullpen that will be without both A.J. Minter and Darren O’Day.

In 15 innings with the Brewers this spring, Tomlin allowed eight earned runs on 12 hits (three homers) and two walks with nine strikeouts.

Braves Rumors: Duvall, Outfield, Pitching Staff

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It seems the Braves may be looking at alternatives in the outfield, with David O’Brien of The Athletic tweeting that Adam Duvall’s hold on a roster spot is “tenuous at best.” The Braves acquired Duvall from the Reds in a minor trade last July, and while they didn’t give up much in the way of long-term value, the trade simply hasn’t paid dividends. Duvall was slumping at the time of the acquisition and cratered further with a disastrous .132/.193/.151 through 57 trips to the plate with the Atlanta organization. Despite struggling through the worst season of his career in 2018, Duvall was surprisingly tendered a contract by the Braves, who avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a $2.875MM salary. If the Braves cut ties with Duvall, they’d only be responsible for about $696K of that non-guaranteed sum. O’Brien notes that if another fourth-outfield type becomes available in the next few days, it wouldn’t be surprising if Atlanta moves on from Duvall, who is 5-for-37 with seven walks and six strikeouts so far in camp.

More out of Atlanta…

  • On the pitching side, O’Brien took a look yesterday (subscription link) at a roster that’s loaded with possibilities but also a number of health questions. The Atlanta organization will be piecing things together at the back of the bullpen while A.J. Minter and Darren O’Day work back to full health. Both will open the season on the injured list. Some young starters could be tasked with relief duties to open the year, though the rotation is also missing its top piece in Mike Foltynewicz.
  • Not only is Foltynewicz headed for the injured list to start the season, Kevin Gausman’s status for the early portion of the season is seemingly up in the air, writes MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. Gausman did throw 58 pitches in an intrasquad game yesterday, but the organization would like him to be built up to 90 pitches before joining the big league rotation. Thankfully for Braves fans, it doesn’t seem as though there’s much long-term concern following Gausman’s early camp shoulder issues. If he’s not ready to go for the opening week, then it’s possible that each of Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson and Max Fried could make the roster.
  • Meanwhile, the Braves announced today that Mike Soroka has been optioned to Triple-A, where he’ll get at least a few outings under his belt before he’s reconsidered for the MLB staff. That’s actually positive news, it seems, since it indicates that Soroka is healthy enough that he did not require a trip to the injured list to open the season. Soroka was limited in camp with problems in his throwing shoulder, though if he can put that issue behind him he should quickly emerge as a candidate to rejoin the Atlanta rotation.

East Notes: Orioles, Hays, Yankees, Hicks, Braves, Anibal

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The Orioles announced several roster cuts Sunday, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to cover. Outfielder Austin Hays, who looked like a strong contender for a season-opening starting role, is the most notable player returning to the minors. General manager Mike Elias insisted service time didn’t factor into the decision, suggesting it’s irrelevant in Hays’ case because he already debuted in 2017, Kubatko tweets. Based on his spring, in which he put together a video game-like .351/.385/.892 line with five home runs in 37 at-bats, Hays deserved a roster spot in Baltimore. The promising prospect is coming off an injury-shortened season in which he posted underwhelming minor league numbers across 327 plate appearances, however. Per Kubatko, Hays and the Orioles believe there’s more for him to work on at the Triple-A level, where he hasn’t yet played. “I still haven’t played too many games in the minor leagues,” Hays said. “I haven’t had too many at-bats. I missed almost a whole year last year due to injuries, so there’s some time I need to make up.”

More from the East Coast…

  • The lower back problems that have shelved Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks this month will also sideline him for the team’s season-opening series, ESPN’s Coley Harvey reports. Hicks informed Harvey he underwent a second cortisone shot Sunday, though the 29-year-old is optimistic he’ll return at the outset of April. Without Hicks, it’s likely both Luke Voit and Greg Bird – who have been vying for the starting job at first base – will make New York’s roster, observes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, who notes the team will have to choose between Clint Frazier and Tyler Wade as its fourth outfielder. Regardless, the Yankees are left to hope Hicks’ injury doesn’t turn into an ongoing issue, especially after they inked him to a seven-year, $70MM extension last month.
  • Braves manager Brian Snitker expects relievers A.J. Minter (shoulder) and Darren O’Day (forearm) to open 2019 on the injured list, Mark Bowman of MLB.com relays. Minter’s absence could prove especially detrimental, given that the lefty has thrived since debuting in 2017 and figured to begin the season sharing closer duties with Arodys Vizcaino. O’Day hasn’t yet pitched since last June, nor has he debuted with the Braves, who acquired him from Baltimore in July while he was shelved with a season-ending hamstring injury. The absences of Minter and O’Day may make Atlanta an even better fit for free-agent closer Craig Kimbrel, but to this point, it doesn’t seem as if the club has seriously pursued its former star.
  • Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos has developed an affinity for right-hander Anibal Sanchez over the past several years, as Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com explains. Despite that, the Braves didn’t re-sign Sanchez this past offseason after he experienced a career renaissance in their uniform last year. Thanks in part to their collection of young, major league-ready starters, the Braves were hesitant to ink Sanchez to a multiyear guarantee over the winter, Anthopoulos revealed, thereby paving the way for his exit. The 35-year-old ended up accepting division-rival Washington’s two-year, $19MM offer. “Obviously, you never want to see a division rival get better, but I’m so fond of him that I’m really happy for him,” said Anthopoulos, whose club benefited from Sanchez’s presence in 2018 after signing him for just $1MM in late March.

SP Notes: Keuchel, Braves, Eovaldi, Astros, Angels, Phils, Kershaw

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With left-hander Dallas Keuchel still unemployed, the big-name free agent’s preparing for the season by “going through a full Spring Training, just like [Kyle] Lohse did,” agent Scott Boras told Jon Morosi of MLB.com earlier this week. Boras was referring to Lohse’s protracted trip to free agency six years ago, which ended March 25, 2013, with a three-year, $33MM agreement to join the Brewers. The majority of MLB followers expected Keuchel, 31, to land a far richer deal than that when the offseason began, but the onetime AL Cy Young winner has instead watched in recent months as most of the majors’ other high-profile free agents have come off the board. Still, the longtime Astro “is receiving offers,” Boras informed Morosi, who writes that the Braves are monitoring Keuchel’s market but are leery of surrendering a draft pick to sign the qualifying offer recipient. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported earlier this week Atlanta would “consider” Keuchel on a short-term deal; regardless of contract length, signing Keuchel would only cost the Braves their third-highest draft pick in 2019.

The latest on a couple other established starters…

  • Nathan Eovaldi re-signed with the Red Sox on a four-year, $68MM contract in December, but only after the right-hander drew serious interest from elsewhere. The Angels and Phillies “really wanted” Eovaldi, per Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, though the feeling wasn’t mutual. During the free-agent process, Eovaldi informed his agency, ACES, he only wanted to sign with the Red Sox or his hometown Astros, according to Bradford. But the Astros, despite the questions in their rotation, didn’t pursue the 29-year-old. “Houston is home for me,” Eovaldi told Bradford. “I would have had more talks with the Astros but they just didn’t want any part of it so they were out of the question. While Eovaldi added that he was “a little surprised” the Astros ignored him, he’s happy to be back in Boston after helping the club to a championship in 2018.
  • Clayton Kershaw has been the starter for the Dodgers’ last eight Opening Days, but it appears the superstar southpaw’s streak is on the verge of ending. Manager Dave Roberts said Friday (via ESPN.com) it’s “unlikely” Kershaw will take the ball for the Dodgers on March 28 in their season-opening game against the Diamondbacks. Kershaw has been battling shoulder inflammation throughout the spring, which has prevented the three-time NL Cy Young winner from making an appearance in the Cactus League and from throwing offspeed pitches during his rehab. Set to turn 31 on March 19, Kershaw’s entering the first season of a three-year, $93MM contract – a deal that’s off to an inauspicious start.
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