The Braves have placed closer Arodys Vizcaino on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 11, and optioned left-hander Sean Newcomb to Triple-A Gwinnett, Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. In corresponding moves, the team recalled righties Jacob Webb and Dan Winkler from Gwinnett.
Vizcaino has been battling shoulder inflammation, which is part of the reason why he hasn’t pitched since April 7. This is the second straight year in which Vizcaino has dealt with shoulder problems. He did open the season in decent fashion, though, with four innings of one-run, three-hit ball and six strikeouts against three walks. His absence should lead to more save opportunities for co-closer A.J. Minter, who converted his lone chance on April 8.
Newcomb, 25, emerged as a capable starter for the Braves from 2017-18, when he combined for a 4.06 ERA/4.16 FIP and 9.14 K/9 over 264 innings. However, Newcomb walked 4.7 batters per nine during that span and has continued to fight control problems this year. Prior to his demotion, Newcomb posted more walks (eight) than strikeouts (five) across his first three starts, during which he yielded a combined six earned runs. There’s no indication how long Newcomb will stay in the minors, but for now, his rotation spot is likely to go to fellow promising youngster Touki Toussaint. The just-recalled righty impressed during six innings of relief in a win over the Mets on Saturday.
My wish came to reality. Hopefully, this is the last time I see Newcomb..
Every time I watch this guy pitch I think man we used to have Simmons playing short stop. Should have traded him this past offseason when he had alittle value. He has always had a control problem. Like the kid like the stuff. He just struggles to get it over the plate.
Give me Swanson all day. Simmons is older and hitting .196 this season and was hurt last season
Simmons wasnt hurt. He played 146 games and hit .290
Who, Gene Simmons?
Andrelton hit .292 BA and .754 OPS. 6.2 WAR, which is a total of 17.4 WAR/$25M since the trade.
Yeah, who wants that? Better keep Swanson and convince yourself it’s an upgrade.
Exactly. Simmons is one of the best defensive players to ever step on a field. He makes plays other players dream about and makes them look easy. I wouldn’t care if he batted
.100 I’d still take him any day of the week. Anything he does at the plate is a plus.
It was a horrible trade at the time and it’s still looking horrible for Atlanta. They could have gotten much more for Simmons. Not that there was any need to trade him anyhow.
Not to join the Newcomb “hit parade” but I recall one announcer saying he has 50 ML starts.so far. To still have the chronic control problems for this long with the “stuff” he has points to a deeper problem that he needs to mature out of.. The bad is he hasn’t matured yet and the good is Snit is not putting up with it for too long. We have too many who will perform to allow one who wan’t too long a leash. That said, with any degree of pitching ATL can be in the mix in the East. If pitching doesn’t step up we will be comfortably close to the Marlins. in the standings. since the other East teams have markedly improved. – with solid pitching..
Wow. That’s what happens when you have a stacked pitching prospect system. You don’t perform, you lose your spot. Got to throw strikes though. Team gives you a freaking 4 run lead last night and you couldn’t come out and shut down the next inning? Walking everyone, even the hits you gave up you didn’t put yourself in a good count or made bad pitches. Come on man, too talented to be this bad. Throw strikes, your stuff is good enough to where you don’t have to be perfect in the zone, just give yourself a chance by getting in the zone.
I hate when people say that. You think the guy purposely walks all these guys? How much have you played baseball in your life? It’s not that easy. So much of it is mental where you walk one guy and it can spiral. Telling a guy to just throw strikes and is one of the worst things you can tell anybody who struggles to find the zone. If it were that easy, he would be doing it.
Right. And so would I.
Snitker said last night that he was too tentative and needed to attack the zone, so I guess he agrees with the OP.
Totally stealing this from someone else who said it but it’s a great analogy…we’re just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic of our pitching staff
While i agree it’s a great analogy, it doesn’t really apply here because the pitching staff is actually GOOD with a ton of upside. They just have so much depth they can afford to move kids up and down based on performance on any given night. Newk needs to figure it out, because he definitely belongs in the bigs.
Agreed. If you want to see the Titanic, watch San Fran or Baltimore.
I don’t hear any music from the house, uh ship’s band… We aren’t sinking just yet.
Newcomb’s walks are quickly filling up the ship’s manifest with more “walk-ons”.
We can shop in any aisle they said in December. We’re savings funds because things happen during the season they said
And still Kimbrel sits waiting.
An organization of lies and greed
They don’t want to give up a draft pick also they are under penalties from the coppy fiasco. Do you even pay attention or do you just whine?
Why not trade Freeman? Pretty sure we could snag multiple draft picks!!
How dumb to not feel a clear need because you lose a draft pick. A second round, 3rd overall at that.
That’s not shopping in any aisle. Any way you spin it they fed you lies straight up and you’re in here defending them.
Too afraid to criticize them just because they’re your team. Following blind like fool
Wow. Trade Freeman! Now that is funny! That’s the last thing the Braves will be doing anytime soon.
Hilarious. This guy is talking about trading a MVP candidate every year and team leader who has stated he wants to play his entire career for you while making under market rate and you want to trade him for draft picks? Allen Iverson voice — “ Draft picks? DRAFT PICKS…?? We’re in here talkin ‘bout draft picks?”.
Dude, that’s about the most idiotic comment regarding the Braves that I’ve ever seen. Sean Newcomb has control problems, so it’s time to trade Freddy Freeman. Let’s not trade Freddy for a starting pitcher, but for some draft picks!!?? FF is the backbone of this team. You either know nothing about baseball, or you’re a troll.
MJ was being sarcastic about Freeman, and made a good point to further his argument.
Knowing AA as a Jays fan, he shouldn’t worry about a draft pick he probably won’t sign. That practice was habitual. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn’t. That is for another day.
I think MJ is saying he wants to see Atlanta have a greater desire to win right now. Personally, I think AA is letting things play out this year to allow some young players to grow, and in 2020 they are going all in for the next 5 years. At least.
I agree 100%, MJ being sarcastic. Nothing wrong with ditching the losers mentality of always waiting for tomorrow that may never come and a desire of going for it now. If you’re not competing for a World Series than what’s the point? The old model produced 1 championship in 30 + years, it might just be time to move on from that
MJ is in LaLa land!
I am amazed how many people are too stupid to get sarcasm
They haven’t signed Kimbrel because they don’t want to give up the draft pick.
Now that Kimbrel’s price has allegedly come down, the braves would be foolish not to try and sign him for the sake of an extra draft pick. They are in a very tough division and a lottery pick prospect isn’t going to help them win now, if ever.
It’s not just the actual pick, it’s the slot money that comes with it as well.
not giving up a 1st round pick for and aging Kimbrel
You will be chastised by some posters but sadly I concur with you on the ” lies and greed “.
The Braves have had 5 off seasons to attempt to rectify their marginal bullpen and have hardly showed much interest.
Young highly regarded arms in the minors is great and gives hope but if one in ten becomes a solid starter you will be fortunate..
The Brave organization is very thrifty and profit is the basis of every move they make. Fans are fans and they will pay regardless.
Not to mention how they routinely draft under slot guys with their picks so they can pay them less.
But I’m sure all the blind Braves fans here will still tell us how important that pick is while burying their head from the facts forcing them to actually think critically for once
Blind Braves fan here, Ian Anderson/Joey Wentz or Kyle Wright? They didn’t go underslot at the top of the last 2 drafts and the underslot from a few years ago, which is easily their best draft (though it is still early).
No more funny than you telling part of the story. If they signed someone for under slot then they just as equally signed someone for over slot as well or did you buy into the braves didn’t signed the free agent I wanted so they MUST be cheap in everything conspiracy crowd? How is it automatically the Braves fault that a free agent didn’t sign with them? By many accounts they were very competitive on several players, but sometimes the price needed is just more than it makes logical sense to pay. The Braves set a MLB record for signing Donaldson to the most expensive one year contract ever. It is very possible that if the team NEEDS to take on addition salary in a trade that they are positioned to do so.
Just because they aren’t managing the team the way that you feel they should doesn’t mean that no one is thinking critically. PERHAPS it is you who is the narrow minded one.
It cracks me up that there are so many general managers in the comment section of MLB websites. None of these people have a clue about what factors are involved in making these decisions. It’s real easy to throw around someone else’s millions. I don’t always agree with the decisions that the Braves brass make, but I defer to someone that has more knowledge about running a big league team.
the 2nd round pick tied to Kimbrell the Braves would give up is a franchise altering crippling move that will be felt for years to come. I’d say even worse the Texeira trade to be honest… we just can’t do it. So more of the same last year to come
If losing a second round pick cripples your franchise, it’s fked.
I think he’s being sarcastic.
just a tad lol
Things are going to be okay. Braves have a better record than the (we are going to win the World Series every year but then we don’t Yanks).
Kimbrel will sit and wait until after the draft the money is not the problem it’s the draft compensation attached
With the restrictions placed on the Braves draft picks are going to be extremely important they can’t give away potential top young talent when they can’t sign international free agents
Let’s be honest, not signing intl picks does hurt some, but it’s only this one more year before half the cap comes back next year.
The farm has talent, the core is young and increasingly locked in for the long term. I don’t think it will hurt much for the long term team.
There’s a bunch of reasons not to sign kimbrel (depending on the ask) but I think the 2nd round pick might be becoming less of one knowing 2/9 are affordable for the long haul in albies and acuna.
Why are you so in love w/ Kimbrel? He’s not the Kimbrel of old.
I feel a little bad for Newcomb. If Donaldson picks up that sharp hit to third and starts a double play, maybe he gets out of the inning giving up just one run. But maybe a few starts in the minors will help him be more aggressive with his pitching. IMO he has improved, but he still has a lot of 3-2 counts
If AA doesn’t just sign his best friends and acted like a real GM Camargo is playing 3B and makes that play.
Silver lining Camargo still made the play…. from left field
That’s a dumb take. If Newcomb didn’t walk everyone, there wouldn’t be so many runners on base to need double plays. Donaldson is much better than Camargo.
He deserves to be sent to the minors. I’m just making an observation of how close he was to get out of the inning, yet again, unscathed. It’s not Donaldson’s fault that he didn’t make that play, that was a 50/50 ball at best.
He’s been on the struggle bus his entire career with control. He got away with swing and miss stuff in the minors, had some soft contact last year, but it looks like he can’t harness it. Can we please just try some of these broken starters in the pen and salvage them while improving the ML pen?!?! I know they have more value as a SP, but they soon will go the way of Wisler and have potential without progress and will get us the Adam Duvalls of the world.
All of our natural reaction is to immediately scramble for Kimbrel, which is an obvious fit and need. So to all the Braves front office apologists out there here’s a simple question…if you had no idea the contract amount or compensation it would take to sign Kimbrel..would you not be ecstatic if we signed Kimbrel?!?!
I think pretty much every team would be ecstatic to sign him if money wasnt an issue.
exactly…I hate how a players abilties gets tied to money. Either Kimbrell makes the ball club better or he doesn’t. So Kimbrell helps the bullpen at 5mil a year but not at 15mil a year? Kimbrell helps the bullpen if he doesn’t cost a pick, but he doesn’t help if he does cost a pick?!?!….i get the business side but the arguments we’ve all created for signing vs not signing truly don’t make sense
they appear to make sense to 30 GM’s, so who are we to argue?
you mean to the 30 GMs that get fired year and year out and get shuffle around just as much our current bullpen lol…those same GMs? bhambrave you seem objective but let’s route for players on the field and not the front offices and owners
I don’t route for front offices, but I do try to see things from their perspective. Perception is reality, after all.
Oh, kinda like wanting to pitch in the Braves bullpen for 15 million, and not wanting to pitch in the Braves bullpen for 5 million. Does he want to be in the Braves bullpen or not?
Viz needs to be put out to pasture, he’s a race horse with a broken leg at this point. If Braves want to make it to the playoffs they
have to sign kimbrel at this point otherwise their lineup is guna have to play like last nite much more often.
One or 2 of these sp prospects is going to be traded by the deadline and I think newk just pitched his way out of ATL last nite.
Time to start brainstorming trade packages for bullpen depth, bench pieces, and a TOR arm to pair with folty (if he’s guna be able to stay healthy.)
It can definitely be done but they’re not quite there as they currently sit..
Throw strikes boys!
His arb salary definitely makes him unnecessary. If they had done anything to develop a solid closer or backend piece Viz would be DFA’d. Kimbrel’s 15MM AAV looking as doable as ever.
They thought Minter was going to be that guy. He’s not there yet.
He could be, but that’s a lot to ask for a young arm to develop quickly especially when he hasn’t really had anyone guiding him. I mean, even Kimbrel had Wagner. I am scared that Minter shares the same clubhouse with Arodys.
I think the barriers to bringing in Kimbrel were both his asking price and the draft pick. If his price is coming down, they may consider it.
Reports are out that he is dropping his price to 3/50 approximately. If they could get him for 3/45 with a mutual option (large buyout), I’d say do it.
If Kimbrel is still on the market after the draft I think AA will be more motivated to sign him
I think if Kimbrel is still unsigned when he loses the draft pick connected to signing him the Braves go hard after him.
i wonder if the braves would consider moving one of their extra starters for a comp pick and then sign Kimbrel. Then theyd only really be losing sports in the draft, not a whole pick.
But they’d be losing a prospect. If another team would give up a pick for a pitcher, we should probably hold on to that pitcher.
Lost in the talk of which of the starters to move to the bullpen was Webb, who was the closer at 2 levels last season. He had 69 strikeouts in 54 innings. Winkler was great until overuse caught up with him at the end of last season. The internal options are looking pretty good.
If kimbrel was signed now, he would have to have extended spring training and a few appearances in the minors before he’s ready to pitch for the Braves. End of may? Beginning of June? Later? This looks like a lost season for kimbrel.
Chances are Newcomb will find the magic formula eventually. Some pitchers take longer to develop and figure things out. He doesn’t quite trust his stuff yet. On another topic, we see now why the Braves were frugal with their purse this past offseason. Signing young stars Acuna and Albies long term was a bigger priority.
Everybody stop with the Kimbrel stuff if he is still out there after the draft the Braves will sign him
It’s the draft compensation not the money preventing it
With the restrictions put on because of Cappy they can’t afford to pass up any opportunity to add potentially good young talent
I’m glad we’re expecting more out of these guys this year. not knowing where the ball is going to go every pitch isn’t going to cut it. it really baffles me too, Newk has such good stuff with an easy and repeatable motion. Makes me think it’s more mental than anything.
Always takes lefties longer to develop command for some reason look at Randy Johnson only problem is why is he going thru the problems in the majors let him develop slowly in the minors
All these young arms coming up at 20-21 yrs old no reason for that should be at least a year at every level before they even sniff the big leagues
Does anyone else think Newcomb’s air of arrogance outweighs his air of confidence? If he could swap these two traits (easier said than done) then maybe, just maybe he would start attacking the strike zone instead of trying to paint the corners, and also low and high strikes the umpire has established. Newcomb has to show the umpire he can put the ball in the same spot more than once or twice, some umpires will adjust with Newk and he may get more borderline pitches.
Confidence not Arrogance, Newcomb.
“Fear and ignorance, Meat.”
Name that movie.