The Braves have claimed outfielder Guillermo Heredia off waivers from the Mets, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). New York had designated the 30-year-old for assignment over the weekend. By claiming Heredia, the Braves will become responsible for the entirety of the $1MM salary that he’d previously agreed upon in order to avoid an arbitration hearing with the Mets.
Heredia has spent parts of the past five seasons in the Major Leagues — mostly with the Mariners. Seattle traded him to Tampa Bay for the 2019 season, after which he was non-tendered and subsequently signed with the Pirates. The Mets claimed Heredia off waivers themselves back in August after a lackluster showing in Pittsburgh, and he went on to appear in seven games before season’s end.
Overall, Heredia slashed just .212/.278/.394 in 36 plate appearances between the two clubs. It was a small sample, to be sure, but Heredia’s prior work in the big leagues doesn’t give much more reason for optimism at the plate. He’s a career .239/.316/.344 batter in 1137 plate appearances across those four teams.
Heredia, however, is capable of playing all three outfield positions, has a minor league option remaining and does have a respectable line against left-handed pitching: .274/.337/.397. His right-handed bat will give the Braves some depth and a possible bench bat, though his skill set is somewhat similar to fellow recent waiver claim Phil Ervin. With Marcell Ozuna, Ronald Acuna Jr., Cristian Pache and Ender Inciarte all ahead of him on the depth chart, it seems likelier that he’ll be ticketed for Triple-A Gwinnett to begin the season than for Atlanta’s 26-man roster.
It’s only a matter of time this guy will be either robbing the mets of a late inning win, or clutch pinch-hitting vs our glorious bullpen to really stick it to the mets.
Yea this years hechavarria & asdrubal
Exactly what I was thinking!
Bad Bruce! Interesting name. I used to have a friend who was a big Braves fan and his name was Chad Bruce. He also went by the nickname Bad Bruce occasionally. It has me wondering if you are him. Is it you, Chad?
who would you take? Maeda for 29 or Lynn for 27
I would want to see what kind of shape Lynn is in before I even considered him. He keeps putting on the lbs….
Hmmm. Lynn even though I think Maeda is better. Lynn will give you more innings and he is really good at times.
Lynn has a much better track record of success and health.
Braves are grabbing everybody these days.
only outfielders haha, they already had snatched Garlick and Ervin
and Demeritte
Garlick is gone now, though. They had to cut him to add the reliever we claimed from the Cubs.
Are the Braves hoping one of these light hitting outfielders will outhit the equally (or maybe more) light hitting Inciarte? Or are they actually considering letting Ender walk despite the $$? I just don’t understand picking up all these guys unless something is in the works.
They only pay him the million if he’s on the OD roster. Otherwise, it’s just the ST salary. No problem in getting some cheap looks considering the Braves have virtually no money to spend now.
They aren’t cutting Inciarte at least until May. Braves won’t eat the $9 million without seeing if he can at least be a serviceable fourth outfielder
My guess is that if they cut Inciarte at all it won’t be until August. If some team needs him due to injuries at the trade deadline we could trade him for salary relief. Considering Ender has a million dollar buyout after the season, trading him for virtually nothing at the deadline could save the Braves around $4 million from the roughly $10 million we would have to pay him to release him. The only way it makes sense to cut Inciarte is if we acquire a player who is so much better than him it is worth eating almost $10 million to give him Ender’s roster spot. I don’t see any of these guys as that much better than Inciarte but we’ll see.
I think they want to keep Pache in AAA to start the season to get an extra season of control and they’re hoping one of these guys has a big spring.
They’ll say that they want Pache to get more AB’s in the minors since he only has 26 games in AAA and that Ender is a gold glover and they “liked what they saw in spring training from [Insert Name Here – Ervin, Heredia, Demerrite, Camargo, Almonte]
I guess it’s possible but they have not done that with any other prospects coming up so why would they start now
What? Are you from a parallel universe where Acuna, Albies, Riley, Soroka and Anderson were on an opening day roster?
The Braves, like the Padres, seem to be a team that has an infinite amount of 40 man spots.
ALL YOUR CASTOFF ARE BELONG TO US
It baffles me why the Braves would continue to nickel and dime their bench which is probably the weakest bench of all contenders. Compared to the $26 million they spent on starting pitching, this is pathetic..
Because finding value signings for your minor league depth and 25th man on the roster is much more appropriate than going bargain hunting when filling out a 5 man rotation. He signed to be the 5th outfielder at best, what possible issue does this cause?
Lamb for $1M is a STEAL
They’re not really nickel and dimeing the bench because Ender will probably be on the bench, which is the problem. He’s a large salary, and he doesn’t have a position. The defense is slipping off CF, and his bat has never played on a corner.
Lamb, Camargo and whomever isn’t catching that day will probably be the primary PH. The way Snit manages, Acuna Jr., Pache and Ozuna will play almost every day. All these OFs are probably being brought in for insurance if someone gets hurt or a defensive sub in LF. The quality of the reserve doesn’t really matter in that event because if any OF misses significant time the Braves are going to have to go external for a bandaid.
I agree, Outlaw. I really think we should try and re-sign Yasiel Puig for a multitude of reasons:
1: Puig would be a dirt cheap 1-year deal. He was a cheap 1-year deal last season and he was considered a top 40 free agent. Now he is a year older and he’s not even considered a top 50 free agent. The price can only go down.
2. If MLB does what they did last season and announces that they will allow the universal DH at the last minute right at the end of Spring Training, Puig could fill Adam Duvall’s place in left field and allow Ozuna to shift back over to designated hitter.
3. If rookie Christian Pache struggles with the bat, Puig could easily play right field for the Braves and allow Acuna to play center field. Puig still has a cannon for an outfield arm.
4. Finally… even if there is no DH and Pache hits well enough to become the everyday center fielder, Puig would instantly become the Braves best backup outfielder, best bench player and best pinch hitter. Puig hits both lefties and righties so he’s perfect for any pinch hit occasion. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather see Puig walking up to the plate over Ender Inciarte, Johan Camargo, Mike Lamb, Pablo Sandoval, Guillermo Heredia, Abraham Almonte, Travis Demerritte, Ehire Adrianza or any of the other bench options the Braves have.
A Puig contract would be a very low-risk/high-reward option. He would cost very little money and the commitment would be extremely short term. Just look at all the scenarios we could use him. He can’t be asking for much money. Why would the Braves NOT sign Puig at this point?
Phillip Ervin or Guillermo Heredia? Who do you like more as a backup outfielder?
Ervin, no question.
yeah. Heredia has never done anything in the Majors and has less upside.
Yeah I like Ervin much more too, was just curious what people thought. Heredia might be slightly better defensively, but Ervin’s bat is far superior in my opinion.
they seem to have endless 40 man space
Sometimes the guy you let go, comes back and bites you later on. Wouldn’t be surprised if that happens here later on. I hope releasing Greg Allen doesn’t come back to hurt the Yankees later on. You never know. Sometimes these guys turn out to be really good utility players off the bench.
Damn, the Braves are making news this off-season after making it to the NLCS (by beating the Marlins).
These moves really put the team over the top. I guess they were right when they said they will spend when the time comes.
I feel a trade for MadBum may be in the works….
AZ would be all ears if ATL wants to make an offer.
Why trade for MadBum when you can just sign Odorizzi? Odorizzi is better and cheaper and the Braves wouldn’t have to trade any players to get him.
What are you smoking?
OP is probably the MadBumNLCS guy. angry made the NLCS…without MadBum.
Mad Bum and put him where? We already have a deep rotation need to sign Greene in the pen. I can’t believe he is still out there
@bobby Cox. The current Braves bullpen doesn’t look good.
Why do they need Greene ?
The bullpen is fine Smith will revert back to 2019 Wil Smith & watch Newcomb he was good out the bullpen in 19 and failed as a SP last year He got Andrew Miller 2.0 written all over him
Also watch Arano he was good in 18 and was hurt
Braves now how to find guys for the bullpen
Always have
I would rather we picked up Guillermo from the Jimmy Kimmell show. Funny guy and reportedly has a good glove. AA’s dumpster diving continues.
“It’s me yayson, Bourne identity” classic skit!
How long until AA tries to squeeze him through waivers? It looks like the Braves don’t have a AAA team and they are trying to build one through waiver claims.
It’s kinda funny, cause it does feel like we are building an entirely new minor league team. Really, it just collecting a bunch of guys to battle it out for a bench spot. Our bench is a high level of bad, so any help will go a long way
You might be onto something here. Hey… It worked with Travis Demeritte. They claimed him and now he’s back in the minors. Too bad they had to cut Jeremy Walker to get all that done. The Braves need bullpen arms and Walker has a career ERA in the 2.00’s. Cutting Phil Pfeifer might come back to haunt them as well.
Next Mets-killer.
This boring. There’s not enough news. Since this is a “rumors” site anyway, let’s start some rumors.
(1) Angels and Yankees considering Rendon for Cole swap?
(2) Jarred Kelenic considering retirement to become labor lawyer?
(3) A-Rod and J-Lo calling it quits?
(4) You make loving fun, It’s all I want to do
Sometimes ya gotta make your own fun
Nice work bpun
You’re never going to be funny. No one thinks that it’s cute.
Fleetwood Mac reference?
DuMpStEr DiViNg Aa
Bringing people to spring training to see where the chips land and look at their options.They are also looking for the right personalities to fit in with the boisterous core which gets super loose at times.
If he can put up those 2017-2019 numbers off the bench for us, I’d be happy. Keep stacking all these borderline talents and let them battle it out for bench spots. Are bench is clearly our weakest spot
Our* just noticed my mistake
Heredia and Ervin seem like a wash to me. Also seems like the Braves are stocking up on RH Outfielders who play CF to back up Ender while Pache gets more seasoning in the minors