The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran first baseman Matt Adams and outrighted fellow veteran Yonder Alonso off the 40-man roster. Alonso has the service time to reject that outright assignment, though it’s not yet clear he’ll do so. Atlanta also included southpaw Tyler Matzek on its Opening Day roster, which means his contract has been selected to the 40-man roster as well.
Atlanta only just added Alonso to the 40-man roster this past weekend, though they hadn’t yet worked out a deal to bring Adams into the organization at that point. With Adams now on board, the club clearly views him as a better option to back up Freddie Freeman. Freeman has previously missed time due to Covid-19 but was cleared to return and included on the Braves’ Opening Day roster. The 31-year-old Adams hit .226/.276/.465 with 20 homers in 333 plate appearances for the division-rival Nationals a year ago, but also had a productive run with the Braves in 2017.
Matzek, 29, represents a fairly remarkable comeback story. The southpaw was the No. 11 overall pick by the Rockies back in 2009 and for a few years was considered to be one of the game’s premier pitching prospects. Injuries and poor performances caused him to fade from the radar, and he was out of baseball entirely in 2017 before latching on with the Texas AirHogs of the independent American Assocation in 2018-19. He parlayed that into a look with the Braves and struggled in 15 minor league innings, but his summer showing helped him to land a spot on an MLB roster for the first time since 2015.
great story for Matzek. he’ll be battling Bard for that comeback player of the year title
Good
Where is Bumgarner?
Oh right…
Not riding a dirt bike, I hope…
at least he will pitch unlike Hamels. We are stuck with the terrible trio of Newcomb, Faulty and Wright
Your just a troll, Wright is still a prospect, Newcomb stepped up big last year and pitched well out of the pen and I won’t argue with you on Folty. Either your a 12 year old kid and just writes off any prospect that doesn’t play and a MVP leve immediately or some 40 year old troll living in your moms basement eating Cheetos
Of course you wont argue about Faulty. He has been terrible since day 1 and you were one of those ppl who would tell me to give him time.
Newcomb is a walk machine too. No different from the above.
I’m not writing off Wright. But with Hamels gone and everyone below Soroka being a huge question mark, yes the rotation is a problem.
But I’m used to ppl shrugging this all off. Clearly you are right!
@NOBumgarnerEqualsNONLCS, I guess you’re too stupid to realize that the lefty right behind Soroka won the second most games in the National League last year.
Yes I’m stupid apparently for not caring about a useless stat like that. But whatever fits your narrative i guess.
apparently you are because Fried is a very good pitcher.
I dont think he is but he can be.
We will see!
I didn’t know Bumgarner played first base.
Off he goes, into the wild blue…
Wonder about the three man taxi-squad. What about Alex Jackson, Bryce Wilson, Tucker Davidson or Drew Waters. Playoffs now 16 teams with best 2 of 3 in first round.
May still be an opportunity to get Matt Joyce for fifth outfielder. He is third deep on depth chart but is on the 40-man at Florida.
Joyce is still on the IL
@Backatit, Matt Joyce is currently injured.
That sucks for Alonso… had it not been for Adams being released and then subsequently signed by the Braves he probably would’ve made the opening day roster! Now we’ll have to see if he rejects the assignment and finds a gig elsewhere or if he thinks he’ll have a shot to make it back to the majors with ATL (which actually is probably unlikely unless an injury occurs… as Freeman is obviously the starter and Adams is better than just a standard backup)
I’ve always been a fan of Matt Adams, I used to think when he was younger in STL that if he were just given starters AB’s he’d have had a chance to consistently hit 30 HR. Now those days might be behind him but I still think he’ll be a solid bench bat or possibly DH for the Braves this year.
Big Matt Adams fan. He’s hit 40 HR that the Braves could have had for a mil per year. Great move!! Yes, I’d grab Joyce again too. Pitching is what knocks us out early.
This will be Austin Riley’s season. I have a good feeling about it.
Not Freeman’s. Not Acuna’s. Not Albies’.
@NOBumgarnerEqualsNONLCS, I’m betting you’re wrong. Riley has always struck out a ton at every level he’s ever played at and my money is on him returning to that striking out 2 to 3 times out of every 4 at bats at some point this season. He struck out his only 2 at bats Tuesday against Urena and then homered his only 2 at bats yesterday. He’s a Reynolds type hitter, all or nothing. He hasn’t learned how to adjust to how pitchers adjust to him because he’s always swinging for the fence. He could tone his swing down some or choke up on the bat, cover the plate better and still hit plenty of homers.
I wish he could turn it around but I just don’t see it happening. It looks like if he was going to be able to cut down on strikeouts he could’ve at least made progress at some level.
I think the talent is there and I do believe he will find it this year.
He split time in college between pitching and hitting, so the track record isn’t long, and look at his second year at each level and you’ll find decreased K rate, increased BB rate, and elevated BA.
Feelings, nothing more than feelings.
Feelings, for all my life I’ll feel it
Feelings, wo-o-o feelings…….
Jackie Robinson isn’t enough. There are going to be small things that annoy us all throughout life. Its perfectly ok to disengage, rather than complain. BLM wouldn’t be necessary if we treated all people with respect equally.
This is one of my favorite comments ever, about anything.
What’s this we stuff white man?