The Braves announced this morning that lefty Sean Newcomb has been reinstated from the Covid-19 injured list. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, righty Mike Soroka was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Atlanta also recalled righty Edgar Santana and optioned both Bryse Wilson and Johan Camargo to their alternate site.
The Soroka portion of the announcement may cause some alarm among fans, but that 60-day term refers to the total number of days he must spend on the injured list — including days already spent there. In other words, it’s 60 days from his initial placement on Opening Day — not 60 days from today. Soroka will be eligible to return at the end of May, but the latest reports out of Atlanta suggest he’s not likely to be ready to return to the roster until mid-June anyhow. It’s a largely procedural move.
Newcomb, 27, got out to a fast start this season but has been sidelined since being placed on the Covid list back on April 17. The starter-turned-reliever has pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed just one run while striking out a whopping 12 of the 22 hitters he’s faced. Granted, he’s also walked four batters and hit another, but the early uptick in strikeout rate, average fastball velocity (95.2 mph, up from 93.6 mph in 2020) and swinging-strike rate (14 percent, up from seven percent in 2020) are intriguing small-sample things for Braves fans to keep an eye on.
The 23-year-old Wilson started last night’s game, so he’ll head down to the alternate site as a means of getting some fresh arms into the ’pen. Santana will be making his club debut when he first gets into a game. The former Pirates righty missed the 2019 season due to an elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. He didn’t make it back to the big leagues in 2020 due to that surgery and an 80-game PED suspension. The Braves picked him up earlier this month in exchange for cash. Prior to surgery, he sat 95 mph with his heater and carried a career 3.31 ERA with a sub-par 21 percent strikeout rate but a 6.8 percent walk rate that was much better than the league average.
Crazy how all of the Braves’ high leverage relievers are lefties. Smith, Newcomb, Minter, Matzek. Some teams struggle to have 1. They have 4.
Your Yankees should trade for one of them.
Once again not a yankee fan. Just a fan of bad sports films
This comment introduced me to “The Scout”, looking forward to the viewing.
Texas had 6 lefties in their pen. Two of the 3 right hangers are players the Dodgers didn’t have room on the 40 man to keep. The other is their minor league contract closer in Ian Kennedy.
Hopefully this is the last of Camargo on the Braves. He’s been given plenty of opportunity.
Newcomb is a good reliever. I didn’t say he was great reliever but he is a good guy to have in the pen. I’ve noticed the uptick in velocity this season which makes him even more valuable. He insists that he is a starting pitcher but the numbers don’t show it. When his contract ends, he will probably sign with another team that promises him a shot in their rotation. Good luck with that.
He walks too many people to be an effective starter, but if he keeps pitching like he is, he’ll probably still get some good money as a FA reliever, so he might not care as much how he gets used.
With the way things are going, he just may get another shot. They seem very reluctant to run Muller/Davidson out there without more AAA seasoning, while Bryse Wilson continues to be throwing batting practice. If Soroka and/or Fried aren’t able to come back, while Smyly continues to struggle, we may be seeing Newcomb again, if even in an opener role, while ultimately means we’re running out the Unholy Trinity: Tomlin, Dayton, Nate Jones, with everyone’s all-star: Luke Jackson.
I would give Wright a shot at rotation before Newcomb, who is a valuable piece of the pen.
I think Tomlin and Jones are still A Step Above Dayton and Jackson I wonder if Annabal Sanchez can still throw the ball for number 5 starter
@rundmc for the cost of the investment in smly he’s going to start until at least the all star break. They are going to give him every chance to work his struggles out. No way they go back to starting or opening with newk when he’s doing what they need right now.
Yea, Newcomb does and always has walk too many guys. His problems as a starter are more than that. He reduces velocity on FB as a starter, I guess to extend innings. Result is a lot of hits and runs scored. I forget which site it was, but one of the pitcher analytics sites surveyed pitchers that lose velocity as the innings pass in a game and Newcomb was in the top 10 (or bottom 10) back when he was a starter. This may be why Newcomb reduces velocity as a starting pitcher…to conserve strength for later innings. It’s not working because he isn’t very effective with low 90s FBs. Interestingly, Nola (Phils) was also in the top 10. This was published a few years ago, so I don’t know if Nola is still among the starting pitchers who lose velocity as game progresses.
Bottom line is that I get tired of hearing Newcomb say he should be in the rotation, a line he repeated again this season. Most guys would thank their lucky stars to even be in the majors and doing something that they are pretty decent at, like being a ML reliever.
Middle relievers/set up men don’t get paid very well in arbitration. Newcomb has quite a few turns left in arb. Starters get paid a whole lot better in that process. I’m sure that has a lot to do w his motivation to start.
I’m aware that money is probably a big reason he wants to be a starting pitcher. It’s not like Newcomb hasn’t been given lots of opportunities to start for the Braves. He had a few years in the rotation to begin with then at least 2 more time in the rotation after that. None of those worked out. But each time he went to the pen, there was a marked improvement.
As I said above, I expect Newcomb to leave the Braves when his contract ends and join a team that promises him a strong shot at the rotation. And I’ll repeat what I said above. Good luck with that.
I’m disagreeing with that last part though. if he’s a solid reliever through his contract w the Braves. He’ll be a reliever. But what I’m saying is on the open market, solid relievers can do just as well as #4 starters. Not to mention if he’s a reliever for the next 4 seasons—I doubt many teams are going to view him as a starter at age 31.
Not sure whether a good middle reliever can make as much as a #4 starter but Newcomb has made it clear over and over and over the years with the Braves. He thinks he should be in the rotation, despite the evidence over and over and over that he performs better as a reliever.
As such, I predict he will join a team that promises him a shot at rotation. As a Braves fan, I hope I’m wrong and he stays with the Braves as a reliever. But my gut says he won’t stay. It’s too easy for a team like say, the Royals, to promise him a shot at rotation because they may not be contending. And then figure they have a good reliever at worst.
During the rebuild, when Braves were losing close to 100 games a season, Newcomb was a mainstay in rotation because Braves had little to lose by keeping him in rotation and giving him an extended chance to stick in rotation. He was mostly subpar as a starter. Then when the Braves became contenders, they couldn’t afford to have Newcomb in the rotation. They moved him to the pen where he performed well. Based on his performance in the pen, they tried him back in rotation at least twice, where he got hit a lot with reduced velocity on FB as I mentioned above. Because Braves were contending, they moved him back to pen. And voila! FB was in the mid to upper 90s and he was effective again.
So, I’d like to see him in the Braves pen for a long time. I just don’t think it will happen.
While there’s a decent chance Soroka returns in 2021 and is effective, the Braves should nevertheless be heavily engaged in talks with the Rockies re Marquez and Gray. They have the prospects to land either or even both, starting with Riley, Pache, and young arms such as Wilson. The two teams seem like natural trade partners. Riley could be deadly at Coors.
The contract status of the two pitchers. Gray is in his final year at $6 million. Marquez would make $11.3M in 2022; $15.3M in 2023, and $16M in 2024 (team option) with various bonuses for Cy Young votes.
Absolutely no reason for the Braves to trade a productive blossoming 3B. Their starting 3B at that.
Hard pass. They do have guys in the minors to make that move though.
Then hard pass by the Rockies. Gotta give to get. Marquez and Gray are both excellent and, at this point, more valuable than Riley. Over the long haul, I like Marquez better than Fried. If the Braves don’t pounce, those two pitchers might end up on a team like the Mets or Phillies or even the Giants (a legit WC contender). That would be a tough blow for the Braves since there’s no guarantee one of the wildcards will come from the NL East.
The Braves have plenty of minor league prospects. You might be the high man on Marquez then. I don’t think his value is quite where you have it. I like him but he’s more of a #2/3 guy. Gray is a rental and he’s been pretty up and down the last few years. Off to a hot start but we’ll see if that can continue. I do like him but you’re only going to get so much.
There’s no reason to trade your starting 3B of the next 6 years. The Rockies need everything. That team is a mess and in need of a total rebuild. The Braves have a bunch of top prospects that make more sense. Shewmake, Pache, Langliers/Contreras, or Waters make sense to move. They aren’t ML regulars at this point. Certainly would take 2 of them + if you’re looking at both Marquez and Gray. But there’s no reason to move Riley.
And from the Rockies perspective—the more team control the better.( Or at least it should be. The Rockies have made a ton of head scratching decisions over the last half decade.)
Riley will have burned 2+ years of control after this season. It’s going to take 4 years to get this Rockies team competitive again with the state of their minor league pipeline.
Yeah I’m with you I think Riley and Pache are off limits unless it’s a major superstar. Doesn’t make sense to move a starter off the MLB team for a guy who isn’t an ace and only plays every 5 days. If the Braves weren’t in love with Riley then they would have moved him in the offseason. Also Riley has had an incredible season so far which further gives me the feeling he nor Pache who is expected to be the starter in CF for the next 7 years will get traded for anything less than a Superstar
I think Pache is possibly a moveable piece. I only say that because he hasn’t developed as a hitter at all. Maybe he will or maybe he won’t. The glove is all world but the Braves will have Inciarte and Heredia to cover CF. I think the loss of Pache at this point is one the Braves could swallow for 2 arms like that. Can’t take Riley out of that lineup and expect the team to be better though IMO.
Plus, like I said I don’t really think Riley fits Colorado’s window at all. They’d need to extend him or you’re looking at him as an obvious trade candidate in 2 years for more prospects. I certainly wouldn’t be targeting guys w/ that much service time if I were Colorado.
But that’s a great glove. and I’m sure the Braves want his speed and glove for the postseason run if at all possible. Some combo of Langeliers/Shewmake/Waters makes the most sense to go. All those guys are strong pieces. Braves shouldn’t have any issues acquiring a player they want as long as they’ll use those chips.
Pache had only a few weeks at AAA Gwinnett in 2019. Minor league season was cancelled last year and Pache played at the alternate site until end of season and post season where he wan’t bad at the plate.
Braves have 2 top 50 OF prospects, Pache and Drew Waters. They have been on similar paths in the minors. Both played most of 2019 at AA Mississippi, then were promoted to AAA at same time. Waters raked with the bat at AA, was the hitting leader in the Miss league. Pache hit well but a notch below Waters. At AAA, both had adjustment issues but Pache adapted offensively a bit quicker than Waters. Pache has been a bit better in ML spring ball with bat than Waters. Because of these offensive numbers and his glove, Pache has been given the first chance at the bigs over Waters.
That’s the background, but bottom line is that both players have had limited opportunities in the bigs and it’s way too early to judge either at the big league level. Both are promising and highly ranked OF prospects (yes, Pache is still considered a prospect). Both are among the top few OF prospects in all of MLB.
I think they would trade Pache if they had another long term CF option, but until they find one I can’t imagine they will. Unfortunately the prospect well has started to dry up and will limit what AA can pull off. Definitely can center a trade around William Contreras or Langeliers, but if they trade Waters and there’s a DH next year, they then have another outfield spot to fill while trying to extend Freddie.
I think the chips AA will try to move are Alex Jackson, Camargo, and Shewmake. With Langeliers maybe that’s enough to net a starter like Marquez, but I doubt it. Right handed reliever is a bigger need right now anyway IMO.
Your analysis spot on btw, no way they trade Riley unless they’re getting a starting 3B in return.
If he suffers a setback, it’s possible Soroka will never pitch again.
If he alters his delivery to favor the ankle , to get back sooner he could ruin his arm. More important the ankle is 100% . Herb Score, Dizzy Dean…. rushed it and ruined great arms.
Another night, another Smyly start, ANOTHER HR barrage. Again, dude got 11M for a partial decent season in SF of all places.
Braves would have been much better off paying me the 11 million they gave smyley. We saw that Freddie struck out in some 70 mph heat. I can throw it about that fast with some accuracy. AA needs to hit me up. If my ERA goes over 7.00 like smyley’s I’ll leave in my own fruition
Look at this dudes stats from the last full MLB season in 19. Pitched for 3 MLB clubs and gave up at least 40 BOMBS!!! In Bowman’s latest article he is talking about have a more consistent cutter? The back of his BB Card spells it all out. HE is not very good. Like Hamels last year, get through the year and hope for a minor league invite.