The Braves announced that outfielder Phillip Ervin has been claimed off waivers from the Cubs. Ervin was designated for assignment by Chicago yesterday.
Ervin joins his fourth organization in less than six months, after being designated for assignment by the Reds in August and then picked up on successive waiver claims by the Mariners and Cubs. Ervin had previously spent his entire career with Cincinnati after the Reds selected him with the 27th overall pick of the 2013 draft.
The 28-year-old hit .262/.326/.438 over 571 plate appearances from 2017-19, with most of the damage coming against left-handed pitching. Ervin’s production badly fell off last season, as hit hit only .149/.292/.189 over 89 PA with the Reds and Mariners. This led Seattle to expose him to the DFA wire to create roster space for Keynan Middleton, and after Chicago made a claim, the Cubs DFA’ed Ervin themselves when Jake Marisnick was signed.
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna will play every day in the Atlanta outfield, with Acuna’s ability to play either center or right field opening the door for a number of possibilities for the third slot. Highly-touted youngster Cristian Pache might have the first crack at the center field job, while Ervin joins Ender Inciarte as a backup option who can play all three outfield positions. Abraham Almonte and utilityman Johan Camargo are also in the mix for outfield at-bats. Ervin is out of minor league options, so he may be facing another trip to DFA waivers if he doesn’t land a job on the Braves’ active roster.
Booooooo …… boring!!!
not terrible upside for the last guy in your bench. probably wolnt see Waters for a while though, which absolutly sucks for him.
Yeah probably wolnt.
Yeah…wolnt.
We need more bullpen help. Sign Greene already.
Good thing Ervin can pitch too.
Braves will just pass him through waivers now. This is the way.
Kind of surprised that Colorado didn’t put in a claim.
On June 24, 2019 for the Reds, Phillip Ervin’s BA sat at .194. Over the next 32 games (16 starts) Ervin hit .432 in 72 AB, 5 doubles, 4 triples, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 3 SB, and a 1.164 OPS. These are the kinds of pickups that win fantasy leagues (at least). I can see Ervin carving out a role as a platoon guy vs LHP’s. The RH hitting Ervin has a lifetime .811 OPS vs LHP in 220 AB. Meanwhile vs RHP his OPS drops to .678 in 366 AB. I was surprised that even with their plethora of OFers the Cubs let Ervin go yesterday. I like this move by the Braves.
Decided to bring back Maybin instead as the 4th/5th of. Played well down the stretch last year with us too abd a great dude.
Enough with three Minor league signings, we need Greene. Need a vet reliever.
Not sure we have the budget, but 5 million should get it done.
Despite his struggles last season, I still like Ervin a Hell of a lot more than I like Inciarte or Almonte. Ervin crushes left handed pitching and plays respectable defense. He looked pretty good at times for Cincinnati. Nice pickup for the Braves.
Sorry but Greene isn’t worth 5 million. I wouldn’t mind seeing him return but only for $2M or less.
Trevor Rosenthal got $11 million and Trevor May got 2 years, 17.5 million or whatever. Greene has an ERA of 2.40 and a WHIP of 1.05 the past two seasons combined, with about a strikeout per inning. I’d say Greene is well worth $5 million for just one season.
It’s weird that in 2020 bot Trevor Rosenthal and Jeremy Jeffress had a 1.2 WAR. Yet, Rosenthal got $11 M for a year and Jeffress had to settle for a minor league deal with the Nationals (I believe). I’m a little surprised (also) that Shane Greene is still on the outside looking in! And Greene was an all star just 2 seasons ago when he amassed 23 saves (22 with Detroit) and had a 2.30/1.01 ERA/WHIP and a 64/17 K/BB. Greene should get a deal commensurate to the deal that Joacim Soria received from the D’Backs ($3.5M).
The All-Star Game has to take a player from every team. Idk if Greene was there sole representative but it’s possible.
Braves will likely have to try to pass Ervin through waivers if he doesn’t make the team. If Pache isn’t in CF on opening than the possibility is there for Ervin to make the team. Could be a decent 5th Outfielder, also gives the Braves depth if they find anyone willing to take Inciarte off of their hands
Financial flexibility paying off dividends! Now ask yourself this, what if the Braves did not sign Acuna and Albies to cheap deals.,,,
But they did. So….moot point.
Why ask a question that doesn’t matter
Okay I asked myself. They would still be controlled for very reasonable salaries just for less time. Now ask yourself this, what’s your favorite planet? Mine’s the sun, always has been. I like it because it’s like the king of planets.
There’s gotta be a little bit of the tooth fairy money left to shore up the pen AA..
Idk why the Rockies didn’t sign him. He tore up Coors with us and could patrol their OF
Absolutely LOOVE this deal, along with the Braves other low risk, solid reward potential deals they’ve inked over the past few weeks!!
Signing Lamb, Kipnis, and now Ervin are all excellent bench pieces or at least solid potential bench pieces!!
The Braves definitely needed some reinforcements they have either Jackson or Contreras on the bench as their backup and then just Adrianza and nothing much else..These moves will for sure help the Braves out in terms of depth signings..
And if they don’t, the Braves haven’t lost anything in giving them all a chance to produce and rebound for them..
Great depth signing.