Right-hander Julio Teheran will replace injured reliever Chris Martin on the Braves’ postseason roster, the team announced Friday morning. Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets that with Teheran now on board, he’ll likely draw the starting nod in a theoretical Game 4, with lefty Max Fried continuing on as a relief option for the rest of the series.
Martin didn’t throw a pitch in last night’s contest, as he sustained an oblique strain when coming out of the ’pen to begin the eighth inning. At the time, Atlanta held a 3-1 lead but quickly saw things unravel when right-handers Luke Jackson and Mark Melancon combined to surrender six earned runs while recording a collective total of five outs. Despite a pair of ninth-inning homers from Ronald Acuna Jr. and Freddie Freeman, the Braves were left stunned by a 7-6 loss at the hands of the NL Central champion Cardinals.
Fried had been tentatively lined up to start Game 4, if necessary, after being available out of the ’pen in the first couple games of the series. He tossed 14 pitches and picked up two strikeouts in a flawless inning of relief yesterday, and if he’s going to be reserved for a bullpen role for the remainder of the NLDS, it stands to reason that he’ll be more available for multi-inning work now as well.
Martin’s injury, meanwhile, likely brings an end to his time with the Braves. While Atlanta could re-sign him, he’s a free agent at season’s end and will also have the opportunity to explore offers from other clubs. Acquired on July 30 in a trade that sent pitching prospect Kolby Allard to the Rangers, the 33-year-old Martin logged a 4.08 ERA and a sensational 22-to-1 K/BB ratio in 17 2/3 innings with the Braves.
The unfortunate injury also gives the 28-year-old Teheran what could be one final opportunity to pitch in a Braves uniform. While he’s controlled for the 2020 season via a $12MM club option ($1MM buyout), there’s no guarantee that the Braves opt to exercise that clause. (MLBTR readers weighed in on the subject last night and were evenly split when polled about his future.) In 174 2/3 innings this season, Teheran pitched to a 3.81 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 1.13 HR/9 and a 39 percent ground-ball rate. Those are solid enough numbers, but Teheran’s walk rate has risen significantly over the past two seasons while his velocity has dropped (career-low 89.7 mph average fastball in ’19).
A 1st rd pick doesn’t buy you what it used to. smh
This comment makes no sense.
Being a first round pick doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a star.
I believe you guys are missing the point that he’s making. Braves traded a 1st rounder for a rental reliever. RunDMC is insinuating that 1st round picks seem like they used to be worth more than what you can get for them now.
Thanks!
Acuna’s habit of “keeping it real” potentially costs his team by posing a double into a single in a 1 run game, then poses at home after hitting a home run….which can lead to retribution against his teammates by other pitching staff’s.
Seems like he’s pattered his style after Cano (most obvious being a Yankee fan) which eventually wore thin in the Bronx regardless of his talent which obviously Acuna has also.
Wonder how long it will take Braves fans to question his interest in his Brand over the team?
Narrative
As a Cards fan, they better not engage in any “retribution.” Just let Acuna celebrate all the meaningless hits he wants and send him packing for the season.
Why would they do anything that stupid in the playoffs?
Acuna has a brand? Acunafish? Acunamutata? Acunasican?
Winner of the Internet.
Acunna is mot as good as che thinks he is! Showboating in playoff’s. really dumb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If there was ever a time for showboating, it would be in the playoffs. Should have hustled on that missed homer. Other than that, keep being you Ronnie.
Thank you all these haters on here mad cause they never came close to accomplishing anything at 21 years old
Kid is learning the game at an age he should be in AA
Everybody is talkin bout that play being the game changer How ????
He made the catch of the game snd he hit a 2 run HR in the bottom of the 9th
Granted he should have ran the ball out yes he should know better especially with what happened earlier in the year against the Dodgers but to vilify the kid is ridiculous
How bout Snit messing up the 7,8,9 that worked so well the last month or so
Or even just starting a guy who couldn’t get out the 5th inning
Or bringin in a RH RP who amounts statistically to a LOOGY at this point
Need I go on
Face it Brave fans we got outplayed
No single play led to that loss and to blame it on the best player on the team is mind boggling to me
And if you are a Brave fan a true Brave fan you know we miss that bravado
We miss that little bit of flair that Davis Justice or Brian Jordan had
This kid got it
Imagine the narrative on here if he busted out the box and aggravated the injury to his hip
I like the stolen base attempt
The confidence to challenge the bully Yadi
To challenge their biggest weapon
He gets thrown out so what he made him live up to his reputation
He’s probably better than he thinks he is.
So can Martin not be put back on the roster in future rounds? I believe that is the case but it would sort of be a relevant thing for the article to touch on.
Theoretically you are correct, however obliques are typically an injury that takes a longer time to recover from.
It’s already been stated several times that he’s done for the postseason.
So officially…if taken off the roster due to injury then he would not be available for the next round..so no NLCS, but if healthy then he could be on a potential WS roster.
I have mixed feelings about Acuna. He’s exciting and plays with a flair. However, he does do stupid things which hurt the club. Yes, he cost the Braves a run and if it had been the regular season he would have been pulled out of the game. However, the Braves collapsed due to their ineffective relief pitching once Martin got hurt. I think Snitker was trying to save Fried for a possible 4th game start. Martin’s injury changed everything. Goldy’s HR seemed to be the result of Jackson wanting him to hit one.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m thinking Jackson didn’t just say to himself “hmmm I think I want to let Goldschmidt hit a homerun here, that sure would make me happy.”
He missed his spot and Goldy made him pay, but to say that the homerun was intentionally served up is fairly ridiculous.
But he misses all the damn time.
He has over 100 strikeouts. He obviously doesn’t miss Everytime.
How did he cost them a run? By all assumptions, he would have been on 3rd instead of 2nd on Donaldson’s line drive. Are we just assuming Duvall drives him next in as a fact?
Braves fans angry at Acuña are a special kind of stupid. One base running gaffe with little to no effect on the outcome of the game, but the bullpen that allowed 2 in the 8th and 4 in the 9th in a 7-6 loss gets off scot-free.
A quite ignorant hot take. Atlanta fans are not mad that Acuna cost them the game – they are mad because the lack of hustle seems to be a recurring problem. Perhaps you didn’t remember that Acuna was benched earlier this season for the same issue. Fans are surprised and angry that the same issue would come up again and in the playoffs.
You got it. A 10 yr old knows to hustle every time out of the box. That being said. The bull pen sucked again. No need to worry about the next round. Maybe next year again.
What’s more surprising? 1) Teheran was never traded? Or 2) Braves could end up declining his $12M option on a contract that was seen as team-friendly?
The surprising part is the amount of hatred Teheran gets. He’s a perfectly adequate starter, but people want ace numbers out of him. $12m for a number 3 really isn’t bad at all
Just curious here, and 100% NOT saying this is the case here but with being able to add to roster after injury in playoffs what would stop a team with lots of depth from faking injury to bring up more pitchers?
The penalty is that the person who gets injured isn’t allowed to participate in the next round. Good way to prevent fake injuries IMHO
A player removed from the roster due to injury is then not available for the next round. So Martin for example can not be added to the NLCS roster at all…even if there was another injury. He would however be available to be put on the WS roster if he was healthy.
If it was the LCS though the player would not be eligible for the WS.
Unfortunate turn of events. Hopefully, he won’t get anywhere near a mound, but Snikter’s memory is worse than Acuna’s. He conveniently forgets how unreliable Teheran and Jackson are. Can’t put that loss all on the kid. He produced most of the team’s offense. Is he perfect? No, but most of the loss belongs to the manager.
It’s not that he forgot anything
Who else did he have to go to at that point ???
Please enlighten me to the better option at that point in time
Should he have kept Fried in for another inning ?? Absolutely
But hindsight is 20/20 at that point
It all started with Keuchel game 1 SP needs to go minimum of 6 with 7 being the preferred
Folty has been great last month or so
Hopefully he can turn it up tonight
I think he can
Don’t forget Flaherty is young too so this is a big stage for him to
There is a chance he bombs too
Julio gets a bum rap, yes he can look bad but he can also pitch great ball. His career numbers for Atlanta are decent, logs a lot of innings and has been about .500 or slightly better. If the Braves let him go somebody will grab him and plug him in a rotation.
Jackson, he just is not reliable in the clutch, I hope he is someplace else next season, some other organization.
Snit by the way is stubborn, not the best at handling a pitching staff for certain.
I’d rather have Teheran than Dallas K. next year. Dallas signed for what would be around 23 million in a full season, he will probably want that this next season. Keep Julio and his 12 million, use the other 11 million for relief help. Don’t really need both. As it stands now we will have Folty, Soroka, Fried and. Teheran. I think Newcomb, Wright, Wilson, Touki, Anderson and a few others will be after the 5th. spot. I think Wilson will be coming out of the pen, kinda because of the odd man out thing. I think Newk. will win his starting job back. Wright might beat Julio out for the 5th. spot.
If you stack up Teheran’s numbers over his career next to every other starter in the same time frame you’ll be surprised that he’s been steadily in the top 10 to 20 pitchers in baseball. That has alot more value than people give him credit for and Atanta fans owe him alot better. As a Braves fan I hope he has the chance to go out on a high note with the Braves before he gets to finish his career in another uniform.
I wonder, so that Julio teheran in this team. today it was seen that he was not able to finish the inning and lost the game I just hope not to see this guy again in the remainder of the playoffs. what a mess