TODAY: Goins cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, the Braves announced.
AUGUST 22: The Braves announced Monday morning that infielder Ryan Goins has been designated for assignment. His removal from the roster clears a path for infielder/outfielder Ehire Adrianza, who has been activated from the 10-day injured list.
Goins, 34, had his contract selected to the Major League roster last week and was on the team for five days but did not appear in a game. The veteran infielder has spent the 2021-22 seasons with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett, hitting .233/.305/.330 there last season and .221/.250/.272 there so far in 2022 (250 plate appearances).
Rough as those numbers are, Goins is a versatile defender capable of playing solid defense all around the infield. He’s also a known commodity for Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, who was an assistant GM in Toronto when the Jays drafted Goins in 2009. Anthopoulos was elevated to GM just months after that ’09 draft and was in that position for the first several seasons of Goins’ big league career.
Overall, Goins has appeared in 556 Major League games and tallied 1690 plate appearances, hitting a combined .228/.278/.333 between the Jays, Royals and White Sox in the Majors. He’s also posted plus defensive grades at each of second base, shortstop and third base. Now that he’s been designated for assignment, the Braves will place Goins on outright waivers or release waivers in within the week.
I’d rather keep him and release Ozuna…. Idk Goins history much, but appears he can put more or similar value on the field as Ozuna without the chronic off field issues….
I agree bravesfan. I was hoping for a DFA of Ozuna but it appears the Braves are going to keep him. I was also one of the people that wanted him resigned after his 1 year career contract year of 2020.
I’m sure they’d love to get rid of him but I’m guessing they’ll try and find a way to unload at least a little of his contract this offseason. Maybe a bad contract swap of some sort is in the future.
$33M owed to a guy who has hit worse than Nicky Lopez over the past two years who also has character and legal issues. That’s going to be a tall order. Patrick Corbin or Mike Moustakas, maybe?
Either that or see “how the legal process plays out.” Georgia law is pretty unforgiving when a DUI suspect is charged and refuses birth a breath and a blood test.
This is the same team that found a taker for Hector Olivera after his DA issues. It’s possible
Mercenary, I also wanted them to resign Ozuna, he let a bunch of folks down including his family. The Braves are going to do one of two things. One, release him in the very near future. Two, dump him off on some other team this winter. You will not see him on the playoff roster
I was hoping for a DFA of Ozuna myself bravesfan. Not sure how he can be a role model to the younger players or contribute much to this point. Ozuna hasn’t been good for 2 years now ironically right after his career contract year of 2020. I imagine a contender claims Goins.
The Braves are not going DFA Ozuna at this point in the season. They don’t want to eat all that money; at this point in the season you DFA and you eat all that money.
I think you try and trade him in the off season for a bad contract and if that fails you see what happens with him in spring training 2023 and go from there.
Ozuna is still on the top list for hard contact being made so some of this could be bad luck.
Let’s be real if Ozuna would have hit a home rune etc, yesterday or at some point the next few weeks comes up big fans are going forget the negative.
I would love to see Ozuna gone, but to say that Goins offers more on the field than Ozuna is ludicrous.
His brother Stacin was a “junkyard dog” though..
It’s not that crazy. Since 2021, Ozuna is the 4th worst hitter in all of baseball in qualifying at bats. 4th. My point is, he’s so bad right now, that a bad player just might be able to play and provide similar if not better value. And that’s a non-debatable fact.
Ozuna seems to be the non fit on that team of high quality character in the Braves dugout. I agree with your thought process.
The most home runs that Goins has ever hit in 128 games is 5 home runs. Ozuna has 20 home runs so that power is still there for Ozuna.
20 home runs is a hard thing to do. You realize Ozuna is tied at 34 overall in all of Major League Baseball with 20 home runs. Ozuna also is 14th in all Major League Baseball in hard hit balls rate. So it appears that Ozuna has had some bad luck, etc.
Ozuna wins above replacement value goes way down because of batting average is .213 yet that is higher than:
01. Max Muncy of the dodgers who is .190 with only 16 homers
02 Cody Bellinger of the dodge who is .206 with only 17 homers
It doesn’t matter what his stats are. Ozuna has an ego bigger than his own head and José Urquidy’s head, and about the same as Tatis’. With all the booing and the Braves essentially benching him, he will likely not play his best anyway.
MM has like a .325 obp. Ozuna is like in the .250’s if I recall correct. He’s striking out pretty much every at bat or he hits a home run. He’s batted behind acuna, Ozzie/Swanson, Riley, and Olsen, all on base kings, and Ozuna had like 55-60 rbi? I mean, that’s unacceptable and pure trash that’s amplified by the fact that he’s a DH. He’s literally paid to do nothing but hit. Throw the fact he can’t play outfield and all these off field horrible PR issues, give me MM or Bellinger all day all else being equal (which they aren’t). Plus, in todays game, BA isn’t a relevant stat to base an entire argument on
His batting average is not the reason WAR hates him.
When the going gets tough, the Goins get sent packing.
I was a fan of the Braves dumping Ozuna last year, I wish there was a behavior clause in his contract so the Braves could jettison this fool. With all the amazing young talent the Braves have produced, Ozuna is an ulcer on the Braves ideology.
Is Ozuna on a non disclosed personal leave? Hasn’t been in the lineup since last Sunday, even as a ph or defensive replacement. I haven’t been watching , but Ozuna is not in the box score, even the light hitting Grossman has been in rf.
Ozuna’s been on the bench all weekend in StL. He’s been the first guy in line for the “victory” celebrations for the entire 6 game road trip. Maybe he’s vying for Heredia’s. gig as head cheerleader.
Sounds like he’s as worthless as Josh Van Meter
No, Goins is a solid defender.
Goins Goins gone.
Well we all knew that wasn’t goin to work out
I hope that the next one will be Ozuna, when they have to activate Ozzie.
Heredia will probably be the next one to go; he brings nothing with the bat under .200 batting average and not showing to be a solid fielder. He is basically a cheerleader.
Ozuna still have the ability that if he were to get hot he could carry a team.
Heredia still has an option left. They can send him to Gwinnett. Won’t have to dfa him.
When the Goins got rough, the Braves cut Goins.
That’s not how you spell Ozuna…
Ozuna gets arrested in ’21, Braves win WS
Ozuna gets arrested in ’22, Braves win a big extra innings game they usually lose
Ozuna back in the lineup next day in ’22, Braves lose a game they could have won
I wanted Ozuna gone before it was cool to want Ozuna gone. But but but…… is all I heard all season.
After releasing Ozuna, the next big move is to move Acuna out of the leadoff spot. Put Grissom in there and go from there. This will hopefully end Acuna’s attempts at stealing bases cause he is horrible…
“but but…”
before people lose their minds to defend Acuna as always, I should make it clear they should move him down to take away the pressure for him to have to steal bases because he is leading off. Put him in the middle of the lineup and let him focus on hitting with men on.
Your consistency w/the Acuna hate makes it easy to recognize you despite the constant name changes. I’m not defending Acuna, btw, but your attacks on him here have been pretty ridiculous. He’s definitely a superstar. Just working his way back to form from the knee injury. Your comment above actually is one of the more reasonable things you’ve said about him. Let’s change the subject. How’s your crush on MadBum going? Do you guys email each other.? Heh heh, just checking your sense of humor.
Haha, I always get a kick when people bring up my usernames, as if I’m trying to hide my identity. My profile pic has been the same since the Braves won the WS.
I’m glad you finally see how bad Acuna has been stealing bases. Since I said it, he has been caught 4 straight times + he has been caught the most in the sport if I’m not mistaken.
People’s obsession bringing up MadBum is something too. I’m still a believer the Braves would have won the CS if he was with the Braves, but I’m not going to deny the signing would not worked out long term. I’m sure even you would agree he would have made more of a difference in ’21 than Tommy Milone.
Let’s not get too carried away with how bad a base stealer Acuna is. He is third in the majors with steals.
Third in majors with steals but 1st in caught stealing. Clearly, there is something Acuna is doing that has led to five straight caught stealing outcomes. Whether it’s his knee or his terrible jumps, he is hurting the team right now in that department. Move him down and let him focus on his hitting. Acuna is and will be a better player hitting in the middle of the lineup than first. I’ve been an advocate for that for a long time. Hopefully, Grissom continues to sparkle. He will fit there like a glove.
A couple of them were absolute perfect canon throws from the catcher to barely get him.
@Metsfan you are right a lot of those caught stealing lately has been great catcher play along with that freak play where the ball jumped right back to the catcher after hitting that backstop. That backstop in Atlanta is not far from home plate and I’ve seen some crazy bounces off that backstop.
I can play that game too. Some of Acuna’s steals (or steals in general for any player) are due to poor throws rather than good jumps or good reads. If I’m not mistaken, one of the Braves writers mentioned Acuna is not getting good leads lately. Whatever the case may be, Acuna is not getting the job done on the bases when he attempts to steal. He will eventually steal another base, that is not the issue. He needs to be smarter and be better going forward.
I would rather see Harris leading off.
He strikes out and chases way too much too.
Jeeze I hate agreeing w/you, but when you’re right……. Yeah, hoping Harris improves his plate discipline in the future. Watching some of the awful swings he takes at inside curveballs and outside sliders in the dirt makes me a little uneasy. Has to improve on pitch recognition and plate discipline.
No one on this team has plate discipline (still small sample size for Grissom). Throw them all sliders nowhere in the zone, and they will strike themselves out all night.
Throw them sliders in the zone and they hit them to the moon. Most MLB players chase bad off speed pitches too much.. That’s why pitchers throw them in the dirt and off the plate. Olson takes a lot of walks. Riley works his way back into counts after getting behind in the count because he attacks the first fb he sees. Acuna has much better plate discipline than you give him credit for. It’s been stated that the team hitting philosophy is to try to do damage on pitches in the zone. They’re going to get fooled and take those ugly swings because they guess a lot as opposed to see ball hit ball guys. Just gonna happen. I admit that watching anybody chase an unhittable breaking ball in the dirt is cringeworthy, but it’s part of the game. Grin and bear it, ha ha.
The scary part is Harris reminds me of Heyward and Grissom reminds me of Simmons. That is terrible.
Olson walks, but he offsets it by striking out a bunch – dare I say Freeman didn’t.
Riley is probably the Braves best overall player right now, so I’m hoping he will continue to improve his contact ability.
Acuna has done a solid job with his plate discipline lately, but he is not doing much damage either. When he gets his singles, he then gets caught stealing. He is not hitting for power at all. Pitchers will continue to learn to pitch to him and Acuna needs to continue with his progress with discipline to offset that. Not holding my breath, but we will see.
Harris is young. Still time for him to adjust. Heyward had a serious flaw in his swing that pitchers constantly exploited after his initial success. He’s never been able to correct it. Harris can work on bettering his plate discipline. He’s still green. Don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he would have benefited from a few more hundred more mil ab’s. Braves were in a bad spot so now they’re just going to have to finish developing him in Atlanta. He can do it. Kid’s smart, a great athlete, and the organization obviously believes in him.
You don’t have to tell me twice. I’m optimistic Harris will be fine – some people blew their artery when I said Harris will be better than Acuna (admittedly, it was a premature take). The Braves would not be 4 games below the Mets without Harris or Grissom. The call-up was the right move. They have nothing in the outfield to replace Harris.
I think Acuna is still adjusting to the knee injury. Seems to have changed the way he sets up in the box. Have to hope as he heals, he’ll get his power back. He’s still hitting the ball really hard just doesn’t have the launch angle he needs to get those line drive rockets and blistered grounders over the fences yet. Can’t disagree w/Olson striking out more than FF, but he’s what we’ve got. He’s got a helluva lot more power than FF, so maybe enjoy that part of his game. Think he’s still settling in as far as facing NL pitching. He’s got the 2nd most homers in MLB for 1BMen since the All Star break. Agree that Ronnie should do a better job w/base stealing. He’s run the Braves out of innings too much lately. Still love watching him go 1st to 3rd, and 1st to home. Runs like his hair’s on fire and scores some big runs w/2 out. Lots of value w/Ronnie on the bases.
The problem with the knee injury excuse, is that it is an excuse. Is it really the problem here, or are pitchers no longer throwing him meatballs down the middle? It is fair to say we should all wait till next season to fully evaluate Acuna, but I never liked his plate discipline, so it is falling in line with my narrative. It doesn’t matter anyway – he needs to play better in every aspect of the game.
Premature take, yeah. If you had just said that Harris defense is better/going to be better than Acuna’s, I don’t think anyone could have argued against that. Harris is some kind of great glove. Definitely made the pitching staff better w/his defense.
Haha, you wrong. People in that thread were trying to convince themselves Acuna was better than Harris and of course throwing their insults. Eye test alone says Harris is better. Besides, I did have Harris’ defense in mind when I called him the better player and made a note Acuna might still end up being the better hitter. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because both are playing for the Braves.
*Acuna was better defensively
Imo, the knee injury is a reason, not “an excuse.” He may have come back before he was totally healed, and is still adjusting to the difference in his physicality. Acuna’s a great player. Easy to say he “needs to play better.” You can say that about every player in MLB. They all have their flaws. I’ll take this version of Ronnie while he adjusts. He’s still better than 80% or better of ML players just as he is.
I’m glad you called him a great player and not a superstar. Kudos!
Ha ha. Acuna’s a great player now, but when he’s back to being himself after totally recovering from the knee injury (hopefully) he’ll be the superstar that he’s been since he came up. If he continues to improve, he has a better than even chance to be the best player in the game. There. Fixed it for you, lol.
My opinion: He is a good player now, he was a great player last season prior to the injury. He will not be a superstar until he stays healthy and puts up superstar numbers at the same time. It is coincidence of course, but it is funny how people have been so against my Acuna takes, yet they won the WS without him. Again, coincidence maybe, but kinda not buying Acuna would have played as good as Rosario/Soler did. I’ll stick to it to keep my narrative going ).
Most guys take over a year to come back from the injury Acuña had, so no, it’s not an excuse.
He’s walked 11 times this season. His obp is not that high for leading off.
Seems like every player who gets dfa is always a “solid defender” or a “plus defender.” It’s ok to be positive but these aren’t good players. Yeah I never played major league baseball and yeah they got farther than me but it’s their job to hit as well.
That’s basically just the explanation for how he got rostered in the first place. If you look at his offensive numbers no one is claiming he’s a good player. To me the article is just informing us that his versatile defense is probably the reason they rostered him for 5 days.
I’m aware but thanks for the explanation. I was just noticing how the guys who can’t hit always get credit for their defense when they are dfa.
34. 34? 34!!!! No foolin? How’d that happen?
Has not played in the show since, really, 2019. Outside of a couple of years in Toronto where he saw some healthy playing time, a utility guy with a glove.
2022 and some GMs still find him relevant. That’s strong, that’s very strong. Way to hang Ryan! Dude.
He played for the white Sox for a year, and he can play any position. Doesn’t make errors, has good arm strength. He won’t get any big hits, but he will wear your pitcher down by making him throw a lot of pitches, and hitting foul balls. So that’s the plus of having him on your team, and has a good on base percentage.
Braves Country, just support the Braves. We all make multiple mistakes, these peoples mistakes are magnified because they are in the spotlight. Ozuna was and is plain wrong for the domestic violence stuff period. However, who has NEVER gotten behind the wheel when they know they shouldn’t have? Dude has not played well even though he has 20 homers but come on this isn’t Philly, or New York were they boo everyone out the the door it’s Atlanta. AA knows what he is doing and if he and Snit want him gone he will be. But as of now he still has a Tomahawk across his chest so I say pull for him to contribute to this team. Just my thoughts.
What if something tragic has happened though? Fortunately it didn’t, but it easily could’ve. Look at what happened with Henry Ruggs in the NFL.
Rather Ozuna goes to jail or not is up to the legal system, and whatever it decides is what it’ll be. That’s fine. Playing professional baseball however is a privilege, not a right. I’m not going to “just support him” because he plays for a team I happen to like. I want him gone, and it’s not just because he’s been a disappointment on the field.
Born just outside of Philly and a Mets fan. We can be rather tough fans for sure, but this take is flat wrong. Domestic Violence and DUIs are not jokes. These players belong out of the league and not getting second chances in any city. He is a terrible human and a pretty darn bad player now. Ozuna is a disgrace and should be gone. The only reason to cling to him is hoping he gets hot down the stretch. That’s a disgusting point of view and the Braves should be better than that. They seem totally okay with a bunch of cocky young guns that haven’t proven a thing so this to me is no different. Don’t compare this pathetic excuse to Philly or NYC ever again please.
“They seem totally okay with a bunch of cocky young guns that haven’t proven a thing so to me this is no different.” Congratulations. You win the prize for the worst troll comment of the day. A Mets fan who labels some Braves rookies “cocky young guns that haven’t proven a thing” and then rationalizes that they’re “no different” than a player who’s facing DUI charges. Your use of the phrases “a disgusting point of view” and “pathetic excuse” are apt descriptions for your troll post. Note that I’m not defending Ozuna here because there’s no excuse for DUI. I’m just pointing out the total lack of a logical thought process w/regard to your attempt at linking your pov about the attitudes of a couple of Braves rookies to the crime of drunk driving.
Go Braves!!!
He who casts the first stone….
Is that from scripture?
Who’s casting the first stone? If anything its the tens of thousandth stone. Not sure there is an old English wording of a parable about casting the thousandth stone.
His bro Stacin was junkyard dog though. Kicked Johnie Cochrans a$$ as a matter of fact.
“Goins, 34, had his contract selected to the Major League roster last week and was on the team for five days but did not appear in a game.”
Getting called up to the Bigs, not being tabbed to play in 5 games, and then getting demoted almost seems cruel.
Sound like he’s Goins away. I’ll see myself out.