The Braves have reinstated Max Fried from the injured list and optioned Sean Newcomb to Triple-A, the team announced.
It’s been a season of false starts so far for Fried, whose has twice been on the injured list, once with a hamstring strain and more recently with a blister. Nevertheless, he’s managed to make 11 starts, pitching to a 4.21 ERA/3.89 FIP across 57 2/3 innings. The Braves’ rotation has been a strength, tying for the Majors’ lead in fWAR this month with 3.1 fWAR.
He will not, unfortunately, help the offense. In the past month, the Braves’ bats rank 20th with a 95 wRC+. Despite their struggles the Braves are just 5 1/2 games behind the Mets in the NL East. With Fried alongside Charlie Morton, Drew Smyly, Kyle Muller, and Ian Anderson, the rotation will look to lead the Braves until their offense finds its way.
As for Newcomb, the 28-year-old hasn’t had the bottom line results he desires with a 5.82 ERA in 21 2/3 innings, though a 3.98 FIP suggests there could be smoother sailing ahead. Fact is, Newcomb needs to find his command after posting a far-too-high 18.5 percent walk rate.
Duke Newcomb!!!
I wonder how long it will take this team to fire Snit and overhaul the bullpen and offense?!
The bright side is – the only way an overhaul happens is if this team keeps losing…maybe. The rebuild has been a failure and they need to start over.
A failure? 3 division titles, and win away from the World Series hardly seems like a failure. They’ve got 5 players that are solid or better contributors playing the field. This season has gone poorly, yes, but the rebuild overall has gone decently well; especially when you consider that it took place over 3 different GMs.
I don’t think it’s been a COMPLETE failure but they definitely haven’t accomplished the goal. They do have some solid pieces though.
Fanthemson is the worst kind of self-hating fan. He won’t be happy until they are winning 130 games a year and sweeping their way to a WS every season. No concept of what it takes to build a winning team. No understanding of the processes. The best thing for the Braves to do is almost always the exact opposite of what he suggests.
He may be a bit extreme but he does have a point. Atlanta has only one championship in 55 years.
True but in the last 30 years they’ve made the playoffs 20 times. That’s pretty good. For comparison, the Yankees made it, 22 times, Cardinals, 15, times, and Dodgers, 14, times. But especially in the case of the dodgers and cards, those two teams have a total of 3 WS wins between them, since 1990. The Yankees have won the WS once from 2001 on. So it’s just tough in general. As a Braves fan who lives in Chicago, trust me, enjoy the playoffs.
I want them to trade Ian Anderson just to spite him. I like Anderson, but really unsure of why Ian makes him come out from under his bridge while chanting Acuna is an illegitimate superstar, ignoring any subjectivity.
But he plays a mean flute
Haha, please trade Anderson. They already wasted Freeman and he will hopefully be gone next season. Anderson is next in line.
In the next 8+ years, you will be watching your precious Acuna trying to retain relevancy on his perennial 5th place team. I’m more than confident Acuna will be an average player in the last half of his contract. But Braves fans have been living under the reassurance umbrella the last 4-5 years.
Oh this is the same idiot who wanted MadBum, saying they needed him to make the NLCS. Then he refused to admit he was wrong.
The Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals all have several championships in their current cities though. The Braves do not.
You know you have no point when one,
1. Insults
2. You cherry-pick
You never know…this team might have made the WS if Bum was pitching instead of Wright/Milone, etc…who knows what might have been.
It is alright now. The cherry on top was him no-hitting the team.
Results on the field speak for themselves. The Braves thought they were a WS team but never cared to go for it fully. Remember when they acquired the big three during the deadline? It worked. The Braves bullpen was dominant in 2020. But what else did they do? Not improve the rotation.
This season, they improved the rotation by getting Morton, but let their strength go. Results? You watching it now.
Not sure firing Snit will make a difference until they get a haul of new relievers.
That’s hilarious that you admitted you’re MadBumNoNLCS. Sure, 2020 MadBum and his 7.18 FiP for $75M was the difference maker. Surely he’s not the reason that they’re the WORST TEAM IN MLB. He conned the team out of $75M producing a 0.1 WAR since signing the deal.
Guess what? With or w/o Bum, they are still a bad team. So, I guess yea I was wrong. They probably would have lost anyways. But again, you never know……
Hey, you never know! Maybe they should dig up the corpse of Phil Neikro and put him on the bump. It probably wan help much, but yOu NeVeR kNoW!
Idiotic remark. You sound like the knucklehead in the broadcast booth.
I wouldn’t say it’s been a total failure, but the international signing restrictions have certainly begun to really hamper it. Only two ways to improve in this league: money, or prospect capital. Braves have been short on both, along with some bad luck (Ozuna, Soroka). They should trade one of Pache or Waters for a controllable middle of the order bat. Then trade some lesser prospects for some bullpen fliers, because what they have isn’t working. Or trade all your short term assets (other than Freeman) and go big this offseason (Correa?). Running out of time to just “wait and see”.
Why would a team trade a controllable middle of the order bat for either of those guys?
Fire Snit? No way.
Normally I would be content with a World Series title once every 10-15 years but I’m going to need a 2010-2014 Giants or 1996-2000 Yankees type run to make up for this constant choking.
Broken record.
You mean like 12 postseason appearances this century and not a single World Series appearance? Yep, that’s a broken record. I don’t expect dynasties but give us SOMETHING at least.
You’re just like that guy I muted. In fact, you might be him.
I’m not the guy saying we should trade Acuña. I’m just tired of this team wasting talent. The ‘90s Braves should have won three or four titles but at least they won one. I’ll gladly take one title right now.
Yes but that has a lot more to do with a manager who completely mismanaged his players and lineup while in the playoffs. They should have won in ’91, 95, 96, 97, 98; but Bobby Cox was a terrible post season manager.
Replace 1998 with 1993. No one was beating the 1998 Yankees.
Imagine how entitled a fan you are that you are demanding a title. The Mets haven’t won since the 80s. The Dodgers were the same before that. The Red Sox and Cubs have lifetimes between championships and you complain that you only won one. Kind of like complaining that your parents only bought you one Lamborghini.
20 postseason appearances in my lifetime and only one title? I know it’s not easy to win in the postseason but a 5 percent success rate is not good enough. There’s no excuse for this team not having three or four titles. Also, the Red Sox have won four titles this century so that’s irrelevant now.
The Marlins, Royals,. Orioles, Pirates and Reds all have more titles than the Braves since they moved to Atlanta. None of those teams have been known for making the postseason consistently…at least not for decades at a time. Maybe the Orioles from 1966-1983 are a slight exception but even that only covers a decade and a half and they won three titles…not one title in 30 years of consistently making the postseason (2/3 of the time).
I hate you mom! I wanted it in magenta! Not red! Seriously, FML!
It would be one thing if this was 2001 but it’s 2021. 1995 was more than a quarter-century ago.
You’re way off. I consider a dynasty to be the Lamborghini and a stand-alone title to be the Honda that you see most teenagers driving. The Yankees got the Lamborghini…not the Braves.
Your supposed to watch Baseball for the enjoyment of the game not the CRITISISM, Look at the Cubs how long did there fans wait! Cubs have great fans. Get Real!
What a slap in the face to every person who saved up so they can finally afford a new Honda Civic. The average household in America can’t afford a new car at all and you are complaining you can only get one of the most reliable vehicles on the market. I got a feeling your entitlements do not stop at your baseball team.
This team went 20 years without even getting out of the first round. It gets old.
I watch every game that I can but that doesn’t mean I can’t have standards. I want more than just a bunch of division titles. I want to win it all.
Well put on your cleats and go win a championship. Demanding a bunch of men who are accomplishing something with their lives aren’t doing well enough on your behalf while you sit on your fat ass and do nothing is pretty freaking pathetic.
@48 Watch another team
12 post season appearances isn’t something?
They’re getting paid millions of dollars and the fans help pay that by buying tickets, concessions, merchandise and cable. It’s called having standards. I know this team can be better so I’m not going to be content with them underachieving.
@1984…I’m glad they’re competitive most years but it hasn’t led to a single title in nearly three decades. You can’t just lose in the first or second round every single year and call it a success.
Also, MLB has the fewest teams in the postseason out of any of the four major sports. There are only 10 total and that number is actually eight after that ridiculous one-game Wild Card playoff, which division winners obviously don’t have to deal with. The NFL just went from 12 postseason teams to 14, the NHL has 16 postseason teams and the NBA just went from 16 to 20, with the 7-10 seeds in each conference having to play that play-in tournament. Basically, baseball has the shortest postseason so there’s less of an excuse for having such a low success rate when you get there.
Ok, I said I was going to mute you, but I have to respond to this first. With fewer teams in the playoffs, you have higher quality teams. The competition is much tougher, so getting past the first round is a lot harder. Duh.
The best team on paper doesn’t always win in baseball though. It is by far the streakiest sport because even Hall of Fame hitters fail at least two-thirds of the time. All it takes it getting hot for three series. Even the best teams in baseball do not go an entire season without losing a single series. The 2003 Marlins, 2006 Cardinals, 2010 Giants, 2011 Cardinals and 2015 Royals were definitely not the favorites. There is no reason for the Braves to have not won a title in the last 20 years.
“I’m not going to be content with them underachieving.”
What are you doing to help them win? You seem to demand they win for you. Are you helping them out in any way? Just seems really pathetic to complain about something when you aren’t putting any effort to change it and just waiting for someone to do all the work for you
Also, we’re not talking about losing in the first round here. We’re talking about not winning it all. Obviously it should be easier to get through three rounds than four.
I have gone to tons of games over the years, paid ridiculous amounts of money for their pizza, hot dogs and chicken fingers and I’ve watched continuously on TV. I also have tons of Braves shirts and hats. I support the team more than you know…but that doesn’t mean I can’t hold them to a higher standard than just winning a bunch of division titles with nothing to show for it.
You should email Freddie Freeman and tell him about how many hotdogs you have ate in his honor. If that doesn’t get him fired up, I don’t know what will.
ewwwww…a Honda Civic!?
I’d rather walk, bro
You think they don’t? Also, baseball is the most random of all the major sports. The best teams often don’t end up winning the whole thing. Just look at the Nats of a couple years ago.
That’s the point. With this many postseason appearances in the last 25 years you would think they would have simply gotten hot at the right time once or twice and won it all whether they were the favorites or not.
Tbh, a 5% success rate at winning the World Series out of the last 20 chances is pretty high. Running into an early-2010’s Giants or late-90’s Yankees run isn’t something that most teams just do.
Winning three or four in a five-year span may not be realistic but winning two in seven or eight years or winning three in 15 years isn’t that unrealistic.
25% of the time Braves win, What about the other 29 teams? When do they get there 25%! Like I said GET REAL!
25 percent of the time the Braves win? The Braves have 20 postseason appearances in the last 30 years and only one championship. That’s 5 percent, not 25 percent. That also doesn’t include the 25 years they spent in Atlanta before the 1991 pennant run.
25% is what you were asking the braves to do in your post above my reply “winning two in seven or eight years” That 25%! Like I said GET REAL!
LOL are you seriously suggesting that a rotation of Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz plus all those other great players weren’t capable of winning more than one championship? They went to five World Series and lost four. I know you can’t win every single year but they should have definitely won three of the five (1991, 1995, 1996). They also had great lineups in 2002 and 2003 and then brought in Tim Hudson in 2005. There’s no reason to not have multiple championships with all that talent.
I love how you’re telling people to be content with one championship in 55 years when your pic has a Yankees hat. I’ve heard Yankees fans whine about the “Core Four” losing in 2001, 2003 and 2004…as if they hadn’t just won four titles in five years. I would have been content with two in the ‘90s.
Once you’ve pan Fried the noodles, sprinkle on a little Morton. Throw a Jethro Tull record into the rotation and it’ll be Smyly faces around the room.
What you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I’ve ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.
Lighten up, Francis.
Hey, now.
As a Francis, I want to point out that saying is racist towards myself & all the other Francis’s in the world.
My dad’s name was Francis, well, it was Frank, but very close to Francis. I choose to be offended on his behalf.
I’ll be in my safe space with my comfort iguana.
So…I did it right then?
I’ve been practicing.
a simple wrong would have worked.
Geez Louise. Braves fans are wound just a little too tight.
@whyhayzee:
Just one.
Whew, I got family down there I want to visit.
They really need to to make a move for a bat for the middle of the lineup and a setup rp OR closer. That’s it. They have the capital to do it. Question is will AA pull the trigger.
The question is are there any available right now, Maybe Haniger? Name some others that are on a team thats selling this year.
Gallo? Mancini?
Gallo is good for HR’s alittle low for avg But still a great pickup. With the whole cancer issue i dont think the BO’S would trade him because of the whole feel good story. They would look bad.
My good man, you mean Mancini
Thats correct, Thank you I missed that.
Gallo, Adam Frazier, Max Kepler? All are controlled through next season. So this gives the Braves time to really let Pache and Waters develop or flame out.
We need someone for the 4 spot, How about Adolis García. I dont think Frazier or Kepler have enough power for that. Or even bring back Duvall, he’s hit 17 so far this year?
I think Garcia is controlled for another 4 years so I don’t see the Rangers trading him. Duvall has been pretty bad this year, and the fish will likely ask for more in a trade because it’s within the division. But you’re right Frazier does not have a ton of power. Honestly though, I just want guys who can get on base. If you’ve got say 6-7 getting on base but only 4 with big power potential then that’s okay, imo.
Hanniger is the obvious one, especially with the outfield prospects they have, but he’d cost a lot, and I’m not really sure he alone would be enough. But certainly better than waiting for Almonte and Heredia to crater (almost there)
Haniger hasn’t been a middle of the order type bat since 2018.
@1984:
Haniger was injured in 2019 and 2020. He’s playing well again.
….I was including this season. He has a 117 wRC+. If that’s your opinion of a middle of the order bat, you have really low standards for what that phrase means.
17 homers. He needs to take more walks,
Ozuna for moose. Email the front offices
Ozuna is untradeable, this year for sure, possibly forever. Sad but true. Oz made a catastrophic mistake.
Yep. He’s facing prison time and will more than likely never play professional baseball again, which is a shame, but that’s what happens when you make a mistake of that magnitude.
He apparently committed a crime, which is more than just a mistake. His mistake was allegedly committing the crime with the front door standing open.
bhambrave, you’re correct, he actually committed felony assault. I intentionally down played it because the Judicial system can negotiate a felony to a misdemeanor, i.e., plea bargain. No matter how you look at it, he made a catastrophic error in judgement & it most likely, will destroy his career. I just hope the Braves can take his salary & reinvest it.
Newcomb & Minter have been painful to watch recently. Muller had an impressive start of late. I’m surprised at all the vitriolic statements coming from some Braves fans. We put out a competitive team almost every year. We’re not halfway through the season & only a handful of games out of first. AA said he was going to spend money, lets see what he can do before we bash this team down any further.
We’ve had a lot of competitive teams but it has resulted in nothing more than division titles. Fans want to win it all occasionally. 1995 alone is not enough. The 1996 WS collapse was horrible but what’s worse is that we haven’t won a single World Series game since. It would be different if we had won a couple more titles after the ‘96 collapse.
Broken record.
That’s what happens when this team continues to pull the same garbage every single year. I will gladly give them a free pass for five years if they actually win it all.
Yes, it’s a broken record, a skipping CD, an eaten cassette tape. It’s blah blah blah blah
You mean the excuses that they give in the postgame after every horrendous loss? Or how they constantly claim that “anything can happen in the postseason” or that they’ve “never seen a game like that in their entire lives” after each and every early October exit? It’s definitely a broken record.
Hey 48,
I’m tired of reading the same things from you over and over and over, so I’m going to mute you. No offense.
@48, You sound like you want to go root for someone else.
I don’t want to root for someone else. I just want results.
I’ve never seen a “fan” so entitled. Firstly who cares? If they win are they bringing the party to your house? Secondly, all one can hope for is a competitive team every year. A championship is magical but only one team gets it each year. Temper your expectations and if they’re such trash stop cheering for them.
I’m not asking for a championship every year. I’m asking for something better than 12 postseason appearances this century with zero titles and zero WS appearances. Even just winning once or twice would make a HUGE difference..
@backhandinbaptist I am with you I tried to tell him “Your supposed to watch Baseball for the enjoyment of the game not the CRITISISM”
“Once a decade”, huh? This is why they put TVs in the back of headrests so kids would sit down and quit asking “are we almost there yet?”
It’s been since 1995. That’s nearly three decades.
Please AA get Escobar, move Riley back to LF, and get rid is Almora with his.206 BA.
*of
Almonte?
* Almonte
Newcomb is a prime example of why you can’t put any faith in FIP. He just flat out sucks, period. He’s easily one of the worst pitchers in the league.
I remember when Newcomb was an Angels top prospect. When we traded him away the Angels faithful were furious. He is a perfect example of how rare it is for someone deemed a top prospect to actually live up to their hyped expectation.
Angels fans were furious? I was furious we traded one of the best, if not the best defensive shortstops of all time for him…still am! Newcomb can’t throw strikes. It’s naive to think he’s going to magically learn how to at this point. Trade him if you can, but he’s a nontender this off-season when I believe he will be out of options.
We won’t get anything for Newcomb. He’ll just have to be a throw-in to make the overall value of the deal look slightly better than just our top prospects alone.
Yes, furious. When he was in our farm, he was regarded as our front end starter of the future. Obviously we were not upset about getting Simmons, but we needed pitching then and still do now. He had yet to make his debut but the hype was thick. Then he got to the Braves and apparently can’t throw a strike. So in the end, it shows that top prospects rarely match their hype when they make the big club. In hindsight, we for sure got the better end of that deal but at the time we were upset.
He has a career 4.26 ERA and 4.29 FIP, how exactly is he a prime example of not trusting FIP?
It’s more an issue of small sample size. 21 innings from 2021 are more likely to produce divergent ERA/FIP numbers than 367 career innings.
Lets see what ownership does with Freddie, he will be 32. Does he even want to stay or head to California ?
Are the Braves buyers or seller in July?
Some big questions and they will answer the direction the Braves take for the next 4 or 5 seasons.
The Braves need to give Freddie 5/150 if he’ll take it, and trade for Gallo. I wouldn’t mind seeing them trade Swanson and prospects for Story.
COL doesn’t want Swanson, who has 1 more year until FA, though his home splits will fit right in in the Mile-High. Seriously, they already have a few SS prospects including Brendan Rodgers finally getting a shot — and Swanson only provides voluminous hair consistently.
Points taken. I thought they might want a placeholder for a year. IMO, Dansby doesn’t have a ton of trade value. I guess we could keep him and make him a utility player.
I think we all agree that we need a middle bat (someone who can get on base not just a HR hitter, maybe one starter and at least two or three shut-down relief pitchers. Might look into a good hitting catcher cause our starter will be a FA this winter. That’s what I think we need. Also need to explain to Acuna that you don’t have to hit a HR each time at bat. Singles and doubles are good too. Then try to RESIGN FREDDIE NOW. It could be that the unknown future for him and his family is what’s affecting his play. It’s possible that these things will send a message to the rest of the team that you’re in it to win NOW. Might be just the spark that’s needed to get things going.
That’s just my opinion. What will really happen will probably be nowhere close to this.
Your guess is as good as anyone else’s on this site, and better than some.
Another thing to consider: Even though 2020 was a fake season, the Braves had a 3-1 lead in the NLCS until Dan Quinn, the head coach known for the worst Super Bowl collapse in history, decided to take a picture in Braves gear. After that we were cursed with no hope.
Ozuna is toast because he best on his wife in front of the police. I think it was a fit of temper and rage. Very unfortunate. What I don’t understand is why people like Bauer feel that they a entitled to disrespect women.
The Braves have issues in the batting order and also in the bullpen. I think Newcomb could be a closer if coached correctly. That aside, they need a new pitching coach and most of the bullpen is useless. Starters need to go a minimum of 7 and that would protect the bullpen from overexposure.
Beat on his wife.
Why is it that the bullpen is so bad and most of them were lights out last year? Well except for Luke Jackson, he’s always been bad. Same pitching coach! It would be nice to know.
Miami, Kansas City and Baltimore all have more World Series titles than Atlanta. NOTHING about baseball makes sense.
It is interesting. Looking deeper, Matzek was a find, and now that he’s pitched the same IP in 2021 as 2020 (29 IP), his totals are quite different with quite a bit more BB, though K are still strong. He’s seeing more of the league (not playing East foes) now, with some tape on him, so he was bound to regress.
Chris Martin pitched 18 IP to a 2.36 FiP (1.00 ERA/0.61 WHIP). While he has missed some time, he hasn’t found his groove and should be better though nothing like 2020.
Will Smith is almost vintage Will with a 2.76 FiP in 32.2 IP – twice as many IP as 2020 (3.58 ERA/1.04 WHIP) and a 125 ERA+, down from his previous 150 ERA+ when he was vintage with SF. His HR/rate is back down to career levels. While he has had a few blips, he’s been one of the better parts of the bullpen and should be as consistent with his role more defined.
AJ Minter’s 2020 vs. 2021 is hilarious:
2020: 21.1 IP – 597 ERA+ (!!!), 0.83 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 2.82 FiP
2021: 29 IP – 96 ERA+, 4.66 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 3.09 FiP
Oddly, less walks in 2021 and about the same K-rate, just massively different results. Just goes to show the holes in some of these stats, especially for RP. To me, he’s the most maddening (even more so than Jax in 2021) with his inconsistencies.
Newcomb? Damn near killed um
On another subject. So Acuna couldn’t face deGrom because of mid back stiffness but he makes a miracle recovery when deGrom leaves the game?? This guy is a great player but he is all about himself and what he can personally accomplish. He knew he would likely struggle against Jake but once the lousy Met bullpen enters the game he is cured from back stiffness. Anything he does on the field or at bat is always about him…hit a HR, show up the other team and he points to himself like “look at me”. The same in the field after a good play. This “hot dog” disrespects the game and he is nothing but a “me” player. He is no Mike Trout, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente etc.
Mike Trout has only played in three postseason games in his career and the Angels lost them all to KC.