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.
This years Anibal Sanchez
I’d be willing to wager he doesn’t even see a high 3 ERA with the improvements the Phils and Mets made.
Just what I have for thoughts. This is my candidate for best minor league signing of the year. A lot!
Not exactly the upgrade we need. But not really a high risk signing. I think all our young guys can hold down the SP fort. In fact, I think they are gonna push some vets out of their current job.
We need to fix the BULLPEN.
who needs Kimbrel!?!?! 🙂
Atta boy AA. Your getting things done now!
We already have an excess of high ceiling prospects who can be expected to pitch at least as well, and probably better, than this guy, at their current level of development.. At best, this is a pointless signing, and at worst, he’ll get in the way.
Maybe they plan to convert him to a relief pitcher; fine, so long as he has to earn a spot.
Oops, just read that they do plan on making him a relief pitcher, not a minor league starter. Fair enough..
Tomlin wasn’t good as a reliever either.
Or maybe the young guys will be on inning restrictions this year and he will be counted on to fill some innings all year. People on here act like the young guys can come in and throw 200 innings right away. SP doesn’t work like that.
I agree they relied on O’Day being healthy to much and now it has come back to bite them. But for god’s sake stop with the Kimbrel nonsense unless he drops the years down to 3 the Braves won’t touch him nor would I want them to not for the money he is asking for.
Braves missed the boat with guys like Robertson or Soria. I would still kick the tires on Wil Smith.
We can shop in any aisle they said
AA sniping that clearance aisle!
Lol. There are a lot better options down that isle right now than this guy. Really don’t get what the front office is doing. If only coppy didn’t have to be a cheater, he said was a master at these kinds of pick ups
Doesn’t say too much good about the current Braves rotation that he even has a chance with them.
This guy is on a massive decline. I don’t think this move is going to help the Braves. He will probably be let go by June do to his poor performance. I think better options will come and other teams start trimming their rosters down. Coming from a Pirates fan, I know plenty of dumpster diving moves and I think this is a dumpster diving move.
Ha ha….maybe Ray Searage can turn his career around!
Tomlin’s neck still has to be sore from watching home runs sail out of the park last season in Cleveland. Can the Braves be that desperate for pitching help?
There’s the number 1 we’ve been after
Braves fans wanted AA to go out and get one of Cleveland’s starting pitchers.
Braves fans never satisfied.
I was just going to post a comment like this. Good comment RunDMC!
Braves fans want to win a WS. AA has had the worst offseason in the history of major sports in our country. What most Braves fans do not understand is he has over $ 100 million to spend on this years team based on revenue. Instead LM is putting the money that should be going to building a winner into real estate development. Why are most Braves fans happy with never competing for a WS?
sports.yahoo.com/braves-rolling-money-aren-t-16054…
The history of major sports? You provide some data to back that up…
Not quite $100 million. They increased revenue certainly but they reinvested most of that back into paying off debt. Doesn’t excuse management for not increasing payroll even a bit. They were at $133 million last year. I think to compete they need to move up to the mid market level since they are actually in the bottom 10. Just think what an extra $20 to $30 million could do for this team.
Unfortunately the Braves are correct about most of their fans.
mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/02/14/braves-think-their-fa…
Prospects are cool, parades are cooler. #fireAA.
What’s the reason(s) why the Atlanta Braves have lost 12 of their last 13 postseason series? Settling for postseason appearances instead of championships. Yes…you have your Derek Lowes and your Kenshin Kawakamis and BJ Uptons. However, does that have to mean that risks shouldn’t be taken? Look at the Astros. Homegrown talent but they still took a risk in trading talent for Verlander. Even the Royals were 16 out of 30 in payroll when they won their championship. Currently the Braves payroll is lower than last years and they were 21st. Participation awards are praised in Atlanta and it shows.
When did they trade for Verlander? Late in the season. What month is it now? Oh, right…it’s March.
Pretty easy to disregard my argument about spending some coin since it’s hard to refute. Also, make the comparison between the Astros other 4 starters that season compared to the Braves entire staff. Actually, come to think of it, I’m not even sure what 5 names to even rely on considering their “ace” is banged up, their “number 2” is averaging a walk per inning this spring, and a playoff starter for them last year is currently on a division rival (Anibal to the Nats). Simply put, at least pretend to be hungry and not settle for participation banners.
Embarrassing signing
Embarrassing team. Embarrassing GM. Embarrassing ownership.
Youngest team in baseball and won the division and they are embarrassing? Keep crying about not winning the off-season or do something about it and cheer for your Phillies.
Top 10 revenue team. Bottom 10 payroll. #totalfraud
Revenue doesn’t mean profits
In this case it does. Taking care of a stadium is all fixed costs. They brought in an additional $100 million. That’s phenomenal. Instead of Liberty increasing payroll even a little they paid off debt. Figures doesn’t it ? They only care about increasing team value on the books rather than wins.
Braves are going to be good. Stay the course and don’t trade the farm. Watch the Albies Acunas and Paches come up and make this a great team.
Wilson, Wright or Toussaint may get the short term call. Wilson is having a great spring and he came up for a cup of coffee last season.