The Braves announced today that they have released lefty Luiz Gohara. He had been dropped from the 40-man roster as part of the team’s series of deadline moves; obviously, he ultimately cleared waivers.
Gohara, who just turned 23, has shown quite a bit of talent but has been limited by health and personal issues in recent seasons. He has been sidelined all year long and is presently rehabbing a shoulder procedure that is expected to cost him the remainder of the campaign.
It has been a roller-coaster ride for Gohara and the Braves ever since he landed in Atlanta in early 2017. The burly southpaw turned in a superlative 2017 campaign, dominating in a spring through the minors and showing quite a lot of promise in a five-start MLB debut.
Entering the 2018 season, it seemed Gohara would help anchor the Atlanta rotation. But the youngster endured a difficult time emotionally that coincided with arm issues and a battle with his weight. The talent was still evident, but Gohara was not able to have the anticipated impact at the MLB level.
Accordingly, Gohara came into camp this year in search of a rebound. There was cause for hope at the outset, but his balky shoulder proved unwilling. No doubt multiple MLB organizations will show interest in helping the Brazilian hurler try to find his way back to the majors, now that there’s no need to place him on a 40-man roster to do so.
1 down, how many more to go with their “elite” pitching prospects?!
BREAKING: MLBTR has DFA’d @AllOurGodsHaveAbandonedUs…
More to follow in this thread, I’m sure…
I think he’s a mets fan.
Please.
Hopefully Thomas Burrows comes up at some point and does something or else we got rid of Mallex Smith for nothing.
He’s not wrong tho
You seriously need to find a different team to follow
He is not wrong. Braves pitching prospects were extremely overhyped. Gohara and Allard were supposed to be big pieces according to many Braves fans. Now they weren’t?
Thanks for reminding me. 2 down, how many more to go?!
It’s common knowledge and (sense) that not every prospect is going to work out at the major league level. Allard and Gohara looked great with a lot of promise in 2017 but a lot can happen in two years. I think a lot of the hype comes from organizational pitching DEPTH
All prospects are like lottery tickets and sometimes those tickets turn into crumpled up paper in the trash.
But you could say that about every team. The hit rate on a prospect is what maybe 30%? Allard still has good future value as a mid rotation starter. Gohara actually showed he could be successful at the major league level when healthy.
That’s fair. I think it probably has more to do with timing, honestly. I like them both and hope they find a spot somewhere to shine
Hart and Coppy knew that would happen… that’s exactly why they drafted so much pitching.
From 2+ years ago:
“A truism is if you have 10, you can really count on two of them making it,” Hart said. “I came up in the (1980s) and never believed it. I said, ‘Come on, there can’t be that much attrition.’ Then bang: This guy gets hurt. This guy doesn’t develop a third pitch. … You can never have enough pitching.”
No way Allard should be included just yet. He wasn’t given much of a shot last year and he’s 20.
Trading him for next to nothing was a foolish move.
I’d say Wright is more exposed as a failure than Allard to this point.
Gohara and Wright were both colossal failures.
I wish they had traded Wright instead of Allard. Allard won’t be an ace but could still turn in to a decent #3 with some more time.
I doubt Wright ever becomes a reliable option as a starter
damn, even i won’t agree with that but point taken. Wright is a bust…right now.
As Wright has put together quality starts at AAA in 6-of-his-last-7 games started averaging better than a K/9.
Allard’s stuff isn’t worth #3. His FB isn’t average and no plus offspeed pitches with consistency. His location isn’t great either. He’s a fringe #4/#5 in a decent rotation.
Wright needs some consistent IP to find some rhythm like I’d expect of Bryse Wilson. These spot starts or long relief are not ideal to what they want him to be doing, so take that with a grain of salt.
Wright has stuff Allard doesn’t. A control guy goes way before a stuff guy does that’s just the way the game is played today. At worst Wright is a backend bull pen guy. At best a #2 or better starter. Allard would be neither of those. At best Allard is a backend rotation piece and that’s a stretch. I’m far more unhappy that they cut Gohara than them trading Allard. Who cares if Allard’s young his stuff just don’t play in the majors unless he is spot on with it every time out.
MJ, It was a 40-man move with Allard. The Braves simply had to clear some space. You can bet they would have kept him otherwise. Same with Gohara, Allard is 21, pitching in AAA and you are correct, he still has a chance to be very good.
That being said, Allard is a soft-tossing specialist in an era that demands dominant, power-pitching. It started to change with steroids, but with all this launch-angle stuff it’s gone crazy. You simply have to be able to miss bats and I am not certain he is that sort of pitcher. Sadly, the Braves have always erred on the side of ‘pitch to contact and keep batters off-balance with command’ over the ‘blow them off the face of the earth’ types. It worked before the Roid era, but it’s just not the same .. that plus they keep trying to re-invent Glavine and Maddux not realizing just how rare those guys were.
Gohara has the raw stuff to be elite, but the two injuries and the craziness outside of baseball may derail him. Hard to blame the Braves for him. If he ever figures it out he’s got ‘Smoltz-like’ stuff in a CC type body.
Soroka and Fried were overhyped too
Allard will be 22 in 11 days so um close but sorry
people love to hate on braves prospects. anyone with a brain knows not all are hits, but Soroka, Fried, and Newcomb all look like hits already, and Allard and Wentz were able to be cashed for valuable pieces. All things considered, i think most Braves fans are happy with how well things have worked out to this point, especially given just how many more arms there still are in the pipeline.
Ian Anderson could better than all of them aside from Soroka.
Gohara was always high risk/high reward.
Detroit Baltimore Miami Seattle are in line to get him. Not sure how it works if he has to go through the National League first or just the rankings as they stand. I can’t see him making it past one of these teams. Think Seattle would like to get him back?
He cleared waivers. No order
No team claimed him. The Braves can’t outright him since he was in minors already. He’s free to sign w any team on a minor league deal (non 40) including the Braves
Hopefully, the Braves sign him back.
About 300, have fun!
Why does anyone even respond to AOGHAU? Anyone who has to go against the best established talent evaluators, calls prospects experiencing their first MLB season and are 23 or younger busts is not open to reason. He’s just going to roll around with all his emotional turmoil and make his decisions based on them.
I know your narcissism yearns for negative attention but please move on to something else.
Cardinals should go grab him since it appears they are in the market for lefty relievers that wont pitch this year…smh
They just swapped Ravelo for the corpse of Lefty Grove.
impossible, Mo already stated he wasnt willing to part with the highly touted prospects
Honestly a team should pick him up what’s the harm
Good chance of a hernia or back strain.
curious what his excat ailment is. Dont know if any majors team will sign him if Atlanta didn’t believe he was worth keeping in their system.
Shoulders are more problematic than elbows. His personal issues were the sudden death of his father and his mom requiring heart surgery. It’s been a tough two years for him. I’m surprised the Braves didn’t keep him in the minors.
Once a cat, always a cat.
Gohara is LEFT-HANDED and can throw 96 mph. Someone will sign him.
But why? What are we all missing here? Injury THAT serious? Serious weight gain? Personal issues beyond repair? I can’t compute… not enough info on such a highly talented pitcher that had potential
Needed a spot on the 40 man roster, all of the reasons you just stated, no guarantee that he will be the pitcher he’s hyped to be after surgery, which tbh didn’t look that great at the big league level
Can’t put him in the minors?
I would imagine with all of the info that they have they obviously ran out of patience. Time will tell if it’s a bad call I guess.
He was on the minor league IL, so passing through waivers after a DFA = release.
But u want to hold on to him in case in turns it around. Big talent. Don’t want another team to grab him
Don’t know why he can’t be put in the minors. No-one claimed him off waivers.
My guess in Toronto or Detroit. Sad thing is the the Braves could have got Stroman for him if the Jays would deal with AA again. Shatkins would of probably thrown in cash and a prospect as well.
Atkins probably would have thrown in Sanchez, Biagini, and a minor leaguer.
Pretty sure if AA could have used him in a trade he would have. He wouldn’t have just released him if he had any trade value. Especially if he could have traded him for a high profile starter. That doesn’t happen
If AA could have gotten a lifetime supply of Q-tips for him he would. Then, no one took him for free (costs a 40 spot).
Now he can sign w any team that wants to pay for and manage his rehab while he recovers over the next 12 months or so. Maybe even the Braves
if they Jays wanted him they would have claimed him for nothing. Obviously they wouldn’t have traded Stroman for him.
If anyone claimed him, he would have to go on their 40 man roster.
It had to have been something big. Like maybe the medicals are not coming back good. Teams just don’t give up on 23 yr old pitchers unless it’s something they didn’t think could be fixed
This is the type of pitcher the Blue Jays should be in on. Not Wilmer Font. Not Jason Adam. A 23-year old with some upside.
Gohara isnt replacing either any time soon, especialy if his injury was enough to cut him loose for.
Who said anything about replacing them? Here’s what I wrote originally:
“This is the type of pitcher the Blue Jays should be in on. Not Wilmer Font. Not Jason Adam. A 23-year old with some upside.”
Translation: The Blue Jays should get him.
im saying if Atlanta didnt thought he was likely to rebound, they would have outrighted him. releasing him suggests there is more severity to the injury and less likelyhood of recovery then would probably appear.
That’s great. Atlanta made that choice. Severe injury or not, go get him Toronto. If that’s wrong then golly gee I’m wrong.
he was already in the minors so they couldn’t outrighted him. The Braves had two choices, release him or put him in the 60 day IRL, but that would mean running service time and paying him MLB minimum.
Atlanta probably needed his spot on the 40 man roster. Someone had to go to make room for these deadline moves. He was the least one of value in the Braves minds at this time.
Apparently what has happened is his shoulder is completely shot and he’s damaged goods and will need to take years to maybe recover.
This is probably procedural. I’d imagine he re-signs on a non roster deal
Calling Blue Jays managent! Pick this guy up on a Minors contract and stash him on rehab for the rest of the season.
Yep
If he cleared waivers why didn’t the braves just assign him to the double A roster and put him on the IL down there. He was our 11 prospect why give up on him when he can’t even pitch this year anyways. This just doesn’t make sense unless I am missing something
He was on the minor league IL, so couldn’t be outrighted.
Then I don’t see why they released if he was on the minor league IL, is that a requirement if they are taking off the 40 man?? I understand a lot about baseball and what goes on with roster construction etc etc but I do not get this one. I just don’t get this one he was our number 11 prospect on the rankings that just came out and he was just a top 100 prospect last year.
Yes to the 40 man roster spot and that’s exactly why this was done
Gohara really seems like the type of pitcher who would thrive in a relief pitching role. Really good fastball and slider, but a two pitch mix only lasts so long as a starter.
You guys do realize he has to pass through all the teams that are not winning don’t you? If he comes around when it is Seattle’s turn I doubt he goes any further. How many teams have a chance before Seattle 2 or 3 maybe 4? I am not sure didn’t look. Seattle will grab him because he fits into the retooling Dipoto is doing. Let him sit the rest of this year and part of next year. Get him on a diet and make him follow it. Of course we don’t know what his shoulder looks like. It is a no brainer for Seattle. They give up nothing and get back a player that was highly ranked here.
Unrelated but: What was the point of eliminating August trades?
-MLB basically gave up another month of media interest and buzz about trade speculation.
-What borderline .500 team even in spitting distance of a WC slot is going to punt on the season with two months to go?
Rare circumstance, but there was zero chance the Giants would’ve traded Bumgarner after the month they had especially in Bochy’s final year. Now, I don’t think the Giants can sustain their play into October, but I’d have put an August deal for Bumgarner at 85%
-It was boring and weird with two sub .500 teams making win now moves.
I hope this was a one-year thing because they need to move it back to the middle of August or go back to the waiver dealer. It was a flop.
Because the Yankees whined after the Astros got Verlander
Yeah it was a weird change. I guess they wanted to pack excitement into a short time period? But that didn’t really happen.
If I remember correctly, this is something that was pushed by the players union. I think the argument was that a player shouldn’t be traded and his family life uprooted for just 1 month of the season. Not sure if I remember correctly on that though.
that actually makes sense, especially if he’s trade to someone that’s not really a contender. if he’s established in the current city that he lives in and his children are in school why uproot them and start them in a new school just to have them have to start over another one ? Players are separated from their families during road trips but they always come home but when they get traded they’re gone longer especially if the family doesn’t come with them, if the kids are in school.
Orioles get on it
SF definitely should pick this guy up. He’s young enough to take a flier on. Plus he’s got a reason to bounce back, and he’s got something to prove. Same qualities that made Dickerson, GrandYaz, and others click on the Giants this season. Sign him up NOW!
In most of these situations the guys sign a minors deal w the team that released them, or with like an independent league in a year.
Is a team even allowed to sweeten the pot and offer say $100k plus rookie scale? I don’t think so. I’m not sure there is a bidding war or anything
Fried, soroka, Anderson, mueller, Wilson , wright . I’d say braves still have good pitching prospects
I would like to see Castillo and Gohara as the 2 lefties coming out of the pen for the Padres next season. The pen had been pretty bad all year except for Yates, but since the call ups of Munoz and Baez, it has been much better. Add to that a healthy Castillo and Gohara as well as the “change of scenery” Edwards, and the pen could be a strength next season.
I hope the White Sox, Padres, Blue Jays, or Rays sign him as he could potentially be a nice piece to a rebuilding team
The Rays are rebuilding?
I watched him play single A ball for the Everett Aquasox years ago. Same team I am going to watch Felix Hernandez pitch for tonight for a rehab star.t. That is all.
I’d be shocked if the Rangers don’t push hard. This is exactly the type of guy we’ve been grabbing lately.
Come to the Tigers. You can probably have the ball tomorrow.
I said that braves needed to get 2 RP and 2 SP We continue in them. Julio Teheran the eternal prospect still in the same .. win 2 games and lose another 3. and gausman not even say that is worse SP … we continue in them … we have no starting pitching to face in the playoffs any team be cubs or whatever and if they are the dodgers … forget