The Braves optioned lefty Sean Newcomb back to their alternate training site just two days after recalling him, per a club announcement. His roster spot goes to Touki Toussaint, who is up from the alternate site to start tonight’s game against the Orioles.
It seems increasingly likely that the 27-year-old Newcomb isn’t in the team’s plans for the remainder of this season. The southpaw was clobbered for 17 runs in just 13 2/3 innings across four starts earlier this season and sent to the alternate site to try to right the ship. He didn’t get into a game in his most recent return to the roster, however, and Newcomb will now be required to spend 10 days at the alternate site unless he’s recalled to replace a teammate who is being placed on the injured list. That minimum optional assignment will take him nearly through season’s end.
Just two years ago, Newcomb looked to have established himself as a mainstay on the Braves’ staff. He followed a respectable rookie showing in 2017 with 164 frames of 3.90 ERA ball and nearly a strikeout per inning in 2018. The Braves moved him to the bullpen in 2019 after some early struggles as a starter, and he responded to that role quite well, posting a 3.04 ERA with 9.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 through 51 outings.
With Newcomb headed back to the team’s alternate site now, it’s fair to question whether he’ll pitch for the team again in 2020. At this point, it looks like he’ll fall a bit shy of reaching three years of service time, which he’d need to reach arbitration eligibility. While Newcomb would technically have the service time needed to qualify as a Super Two player, that status also requires a player to have spent 86 days on the active roster or injured list in a conventional season. That comes out to a prorated 31 days in this year’s shortened schedule, but Newcomb was optioned out less than three weeks into the season and only picked up two additional days of service in this most recent stint.
If he indeed remains in pre-arbitration status, then perhaps the Braves will keep him around and hope for better results next year. There’d be little harm in doing so, and Newcomb will have a minor league option remaining even after being optioned in 2020. That said, his standing within the organization certainly looks to have tumbled over the past couple seasons as he’s been leapfrogged by several younger arms. He’ll likely have to earn his way back into the mix next spring, and it’s not hard to imagine other clubs inquiring on the former top prospect as a change of scenery candidate this winter.
Kinda interesting to call him up in the first place. Guess they wanted a fresh arm for the bullpen if needed for a short time :/
Why are they giving up on Newk? He needs to be a bullpen guy.
It’s sad how Newcomb has become Chad Sobotka
Just as long as he’s not become Chad Kroeger. Dear lord, please no.
Sean Newcomb:
-Has pitched “Too Bad” to remain a starter.
-Is not a “Leader of Men” it would seem.
-But we keep waiting for that “Someday” he’ll be good.
-Then it becomes a case of “How You Remind Me” you’re a RP for Sean.
Look at this “photograph” of Sean Newcomb
I bet Soroka likes Nickelback
I think he prefers Robin Sparkles. I dont think Nickelback is popular in Canada.
I didn’t come to a baseball website and expect to see a Robin Sparkles reference. Legen… wait for it… dary.
The Pirates should look into him for next year.
Then they gonna have to trade for him. Because the Braves have control of him until 2024.
I could see him as a non-tender at some point well before then, however. He may not be worth a few million in arbitration.
he’s only just arb eligible this year, so he’s not going to be making that much.
I’d love to see the Pirates go after some of the Braves young pitchers who’ve struggled. Wright, Newcomb, or Touissaint would be great to try.
Wonder which of the Braves highly touted arms these past couple years gets non-tendered or traded.
Newcomb. Touissant, Wright, Sobotka, Will Smith, Hamels (due to injury), B. Wilson, have all underperformed expectations.
Wonder if they make a run at Garrett Richards, Trevor Bauer, old friend Gausman, or go get a front line arm like Tanaka for a couple seasons, highly doubt that happening though.
Going to be interesting to see what the Braves will do to vault themselves ahead of the NL East for 2021.
I doubt they’re going to give up on Will Smith, and Hamels is a FA after the season. But I could see them moving any of Touissaint, Wright, or Newcomb. Idk about Wilson Though. They really haven’t given him a shot in the majors.
i dont think Sobatka was ever as highly regarded as the rest in question.
Former 4th round pick, dominated the minors, has the stuff but no control.
Not as highly touted like the starters but definitely highly touted as a relief pitcher or even possibly a future closer.
Guys coming up as relievers and closers in the minors never get much recognition, aside from their respective fan bases. I don’t think ive ever seen a top 100 prospect that was a pure reliever.
Huston Street and Drew Storen are two strictly relievers I can remember being top prospects. Bruce Rondon maybe. He started a couple of games at the beginning, but I don’t think anyone every thought he would be a starter.
Wright isn’t going anywhere and he’s going to have a long leash with the organization. Smith will be fine, just having a fluke yr because he was kept out related to lengthy covid issue. He’ll basically play second fiddle to Shane Greene next yr with Melancon leaving in free agency. Everyone is easily replaceable.
What is this fascination with Gausman…? Add in elbow tightness concerns on to forever control problems. We’ve got a poor man’s Gausman in Kyle Wright. We don’t need another high draft pick from a SEC school with great stuff that can’t harness it.
Add Stroman to the list, though his price may go past what ATL is willing to pay. He has a history with AA, is an innings eater and could provide that vet leadership to the staff. I wouldn’t sign him to be a #1-#2.
Gausman is having the best year of his career. He’s striking out more guys, backed up by sustaining last year’s rise in swinging strike rate. He may have disappointed for most of his 20s, but he’s sure looking like a full blown good pitcher these days.
Gausman got his start skipped the other day due to “ elbow soreness “ – no bueno
Braves aren’t giving up on Wright or Touki, Smith is signed for 2 more years, Hamels is a FA.
They will go after Bauer or Stroman in the off season to round out the rotation with
Soroka
Fried
Anderson
Wright
Bauer or Stroman.
Gonna be exciting in Atlanta over the next few years.
Send Newcombe to Pittsburgh for a prospect not in need of 40 man protection. The Braves need to free up some 40 spots, maybe even do a Inciarte & Newcombe for Archer & see if he can be fixed.
The Pirates are not going to pick up Archer’s pricey option so he will be a FA …. even if he wasn’t why would the Braves trade for another injury prone under achieving starter? They could just keep Newcomb around for less money and get similar results to Archer
First off Hamels contract is over after this year.
No way Will Smith gets non tendered. I actually think he’ll be fine next year. He got off to a weird start this year coming down with covid and falling behind the team. Even coming back it just felt off for some reason
No excuse for him underperforming but I think just a reset to a new season kicked off properly will help him.
Every pitcher you listed for them to go make a run at getting is garbage and lol at Tanaka as a front line arm.
If they wanted to grab a front line starter their chance was with Clevinger.
Imagine Clevinger, Soroka, Fried, and Anderson as your 2021 starters.
Braves always content never taking a real shot though so I wouldn’t hold my breath for a true front line starter to ever be added.
Garrett Richards – 4.27 era / 4.29 FIP this year. As a #4 or #5 Id think the braves would welcome that kind of production from the back end of their rotation. Same with Gausman – 4.05 era / 3.55 FIP Would be great #4 production or decent #3.
Trevor Bauer – 1.29 era / 2.90 FIP this year. Yeah terrible. Just terrible. Pure garbage. Anyways. Braves would certainly love to put that at the top of their rotation. Given the fact he’s going year to year he definitely should be on their radar.
Up until the rays game on 8/18 Tanaka was pitching pretty well this year, was clobbered for 6 runs, and is in line for a big pay day. He still will be a highly coveted pitcher in a weak market.
Didn’t see who was coming down on Richards but if he was a no.4 or 5 as Marvel is talking about, that would be very welcomed production indeed. His injury history would be a concern but I’m sure that would be reflected in his contract and I’m sure they would have back up plans for an injury.
I don’t see the Braves going after Stroman but I can see them going for Bauer. I wonder if he still likes the idea of 1 year contracts but if he still does, how can you NOT see AA going after that?
Fried
Soroka
Bauer
Anderson
Richards (insurance arm)
That could be a world series calibre rotation if Fried and Soroka are real.
If the Yankees want Tanaka back the case is closed. Bauer will cost way too much for the Braves. If he sticks to the one year plan (which is highly questionable) then the price will be in the high 20s. If he goes for a multiyear deal then it will probably be 4/90+ or 5/120+. Of course, he isn’t worth that much but that is the cost of pitching in today’s market.
The Braves paid Josh Donaldson $23 million for one year. Getting to $26-28 million isn’t THAT big of a leap but I question the amount you think he is going to cost. He has a checkered history of success. Even so, AA has been willing to pay more for 1 year contracts. Look at Hamels. Does anyone think he is worth what he got on an annual basis? Of course not. It’s worth it to AA because he doesn’t want the burden of long term commitments.
@MJ – Just curious, what part of Ozuna, d’Arnaud, Hamels, Duvall, etc. was the ATL FO “not taking a shot”? At the beginning of the year our rotation looked to be Soroka, Fried, Hamels, and a bunch of young kids led by Anderson. ATL has a budget, sure, but the relatively regular thread of “Braves don’t really try” or “Braves don’t care about winning” baffles me. They’re one of the best teams in the NL and, sans injury to Soroka, in pretty good shape for the postseason.
Remember seeing him a few years ago and he was lights out. Wouldn’t mind seeing him as a Cub.
Trust me, you’d mind after about 3 starts.
Good job, Billy Eppler.
Andrelton Simmons for Newcomb, at the time, was a good trade for both teams. It is risky to trade an established everyday player for young pitching. Simmons has been even better than the Angels expected while Newcomb still has the same command issues that slowed his ascent to the Majors. This was Eppler’s only good move in his five awful seasons as the Angels GM.
Pitching is a crapshoot. The odds are that a young pitcher will have arm problems at some point. Bauer at 30, comes with a history of arm problems and he is going to get paid a bundle.
I’ve read several comments the past few weeks regarding Bauer signing with ATL this offseason. The Angels are desperate for pitching so I imagine they will go hard after Bauer, as well. At the right price, the Angels may also reunite with Mike Trout’s best bud, Garrett Richards.
Newcomb was highly effective out of the bullpen, and that’s probably the best place for him. There was no harm in trying one more run as a SP with him given the franchise’s desperation, but it’s got to be done now. They shouldn’t keep bouncing him around.
The timing of this screams of service time manipulation, though.
i highly doubt they cut ties before the start of next season, but he would be worth just about any team looking into.
Angels should get him back. They now have a good pitching coach who can determine the best role for him.
To think Newcombe was all we got for the best defensive SS in baseball the last 10 years. I’m very happy we have Dansby Swanson playing SS and his defense is great and his offense is better than Simba’s but we should have got a pitcher with some top flight ability for him. Instead we get Newk who can’t throw strikes consistently and gives up many runs.
I still can’t help but think the way that the braves organization is training/teacijg their pitching prospects is flawed in some way. We have to many young pitchers who were in the top 100 prospects who all seem to have the same problems. The Indians on the other hand have another pitching prospect make their debut each week and strikeout 10 with no walks. Of course the Braves have outliers like Ian Anderson , Fried and Soroka. But they also have many more on the flip side who haven’t been successful at all.
The braves really need to look at how they are working with their pitching prospects.
I wish you luck trying to convince anyone that Swanson is better than Simmons defensively.
Well with all the injuries and the age id buy swanson over simmons for the future anyways
I wasn’t trying to convince anyone that Swanson is better defensively. But Swanson doesn’t make errors and turns the double plays and is more than sufficient for us at SS defensively. And at this point in their careers I would rather have Swanson with his better offense as Simba has dropped off a little this year. All I was saying is that we should have gotten more or a pitching prospect with a higher ceiling than we did with Newcombe 4 years ago.
He was solid in the bullpen last year. It seems increasingly likely that he won’t be a reliable starter long-term; why not just stick him back in the pen? It seems to be a waste of time to watch his value tank trying him out as a starter.
Bauer would be nice even if he is a bit eccentric at times. Yet, I doubt the Braves would spend the money he will command.
Richards cheaper but not cheap enough.