The Braves announced Monday morning that they’ve optioned right-handers Bryce Elder and Huascar Ynoa to Triple-A Gwinnett. That follows last week’s option of righty AJ Smith-Shawver and closes the book on Atlanta’s fifth-starter competition. Offseason signee Reynaldo Lopez will open the season as the team’s fifth starter behind Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Chris Sale, tweets Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
While it’s looked quite likely for some time now that Lopez would get the spot, it’s nonetheless a scenario that would’ve sounded outlandish after the conclusion of the 2023 season. Elder faded down then stretch in the final couple months of the ’23 campaign but was an All-Star last July. Smith-Shawver rose from High-A to the big leagues in a matter of months last season. Lopez, meanwhile, moved to the bullpen early in the 2021 season with the White Sox and has worked as a reliever for the bulk of the past three seasons.
However, even at the time the Braves signed Lopez to a three-year, $30MM contract, they made clear that the plan was going to be to stretch the right-hander out as a rotation option. Atlanta scouts and evaluators are clearly bullish on the right-hander’s power arsenal and feel it can indeed still hold up in a starting capacity. Lopez started 73 games for the ChiSox from 2018-20, so he’s no stranger to the role, but the vast majority of his MLB success has come since moving to short relief stints.
Thus far in camp, he’s at least looked the part of a viable rotation piece. Spring stats should always be taken with a grain of salt, but through 16 2/3 frames Lopez hasn’t done much to hurt his chances. He’s posted a sharp 2.16 ERA with a 21% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 45.2% grounder rate. Elder has been tagged for 11 runs on 15 hits and six walk with 13 strikeouts through just 12 innings. Ynoa, who’s still making his way back from 2022 Tommy John surgery, was slowed early in camp by some shoulder soreness and only made his spring debut on Saturday, tossing one inning. Were it not for the shoulder issue, perhaps he’d have been more firmly in the mix this spring, but he didn’t have the chance to build up and will open the season as a depth option in Gwinnett.
Once Smith-Shawver was optioned a week ago, the competition was largely down to Elder and Lopez. It might seem surprising to push an All-Star out of the rotation in favor of a converted reliever, but after a brilliant start to his 2023 season, Elder limped to a dismal 5.75 ERA with just a 15.1% strikeout rate against a 10.4% walk rate over his final 72 innings of the year (14 starts).
Lopez, over the past three seasons, has pitched to a 3.14 ERA with a 26.7% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 39% ground-ball rate through 189 innings, most of which has come in a relief setting. He pushed his average fastball velocity up to a career-high 98.4 mph in that role last season, though he’ll likely see that number dip a bit over longer stints as a starter.
Lopez posted a 3.91 ERA in 32 starts for the ’18 White Sox but did so with shaky strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates that prompted metrics like FIP (4.63) and SIERA (4.92) to cast a much less favorable light on his work. The secondary numbers indeed served as a portent for regression; from 2019-20, Lopez was torched for a 5.52 ERA in 210 2/3 innings, thanks largely to pedestrian K-BB numbers and a sky-high 1.88 HR/9 mark.
If Lopez is able to break out as a starter, the three-year, $30MM contract he signed could well look like a bargain. If not, he’s proven over the past few seasons that he can be an impact late-inning reliever, so he could always be shifted back into a one-inning role and deepen an already excellent Atlanta bullpen that features Raisel Iglesias, Joe Jimenez, A.J. Minter, Pierce Johnson, Tyler Matzek, Dylan Lee and Lopez’s former White Sox teammate Aaron Bummer.
Bryce Elder gets screwed every year! This guy need a sub 2 ERA or something to make the rotation?
He’s Chris Sale’s replacement for when the inevitable injury happens.
Or Fried
He stinks dude lol
He’s not very good. Did you watch all of last season?
If you’re gonna say he’s as bad as his second half than he’s potentially as good as his first half. Seems like he’s earned a shot more than Lopez who was a bum starter for many years
Well, I’ll trust the front office that just recently got their team a WS championship than the internet.
When they realize what a dumb move getting Chris sale was both Lopez and elder will be in the rotation so it doesn’t matter much anyways
I’m fine with Elder and Lopez in regular season rotation if they can somehow keep Sale fresh for the postseason. Having a good Sale for the playoffs is all that matters and getting him won’t be a dumb move at all. Time to not get bounced in the first series again.
It was hard for anyone to achieve anything on a Reinsdorf owned, LaRussa managed team that had had all of the energy squeezed out f it due to the “unwritten rules of baseball”…….. I’ve been a White Sox follower since 1959. This owner and his “adviser” lackey Getz have just made a great trade using Cease to SD. They got Thorpe back and boy, does he SUCK!!! First inning of the first game he pitches for us results in 6 runs against the ex-Yankees pitcher who was moved away from SD as fast as possible (perhaps they realized they had traded for a mistake). and that meant Reinsdorf/LaRussa/Getz wanted him……the rest makes me cry…..screwed again………..
@braveshomer Exactly! Sale is not there to turn a great Braves club from a 104 win team into a 105 win team.
He’s there to get the Braves to the World Series.
I can’t imagine they’re going to let him pitch in the regular season beginning in March and just go and go until injuries wreck his season, but it’s tricky, manipulating his playing time in a way that doesn’t hurt him and also doesn’t draw undue attention from MLB.
@profhambone2 Yes, a single outing is always decisive.
Wotta bum!!
Any random major leaguer can put up a good half-season. You need to look at how a guy does it to figure out whether he has a chance to do it again.
Elder has a terrible fastball and gets very few strikeouts. If you don’t miss bats, you need to be very good at avoiding walks and/or limiting hard contact. He is just ok at both of those things. He’s probably not anything more than a fifth starter going forward.
Sub 2 ERA…??? The bar ain’t that high for him. If he could just try and not hang anywhere near that 8.25 ERA in 2024 ST or 5.11 ERA post-AS Break…it’d be nice. Silver lining this ST is that through 4 starts his K-rate has ticked up, at the expense of his control (naturally). Considering his arsenal, he needs to have pinpoint accuracy most of the time. He’s a mixed bag but hopefully can find some consistency at AAA and be ready when his time comes. Highly doubtful Reynaldo will be relied on as a SP the whole year.
Why should you ignore his first half of last year also who cares about spring training stats
He wouldn’t even be considered for a rotation spot, had he not had that pre-AS showing, so no one is ignoring that. The fact that they gave him a postseason GS shows you that didn’t ignore the pre-AS numbers, though he it was obvious he was running on fumes.
Yeah, who cares about ST stats when he’s in competition for a rotation spot after how he ended the season. Just give him the spot despite not being as good nor having a consistent return of the control that was his calling card. He needs some consistency at AAA – not MLB.
Had he not had the post-AS showing he’d be locked in as a solid 3 for them. A 3.81 ERA isn’t good enough now to make the rotation over a bum like Lopez I guess
Had he not had the post-AS showing, maybe G3 in the NLDS in which he started would have been competitive. No, a 3.81 ERA isn’t good enough when your final 13 GS amount to a 5.11 ERA with a 48:29 K:BB ratio…and he hasn’t shown any improvement since. I get that it’s only ST, but it’s also a competition for the SP5, and doesn’t seem like he was aware of it. Again, I don’t think Reynaldo will be in the rotation all year, so the idea that there’s any finality to an OD rotation spot is frivolous in a long season. They’ll need both, so hopefully Bryce can figure it out like he did last year.
RunDMC… First off we all know the Braves front office can do no wrong in your book. You will defend them regardless of whatever move was made. If Elder had been selected and people were complaining it should have been Lopez you’d be talking about Elders first half for why it was a good decision.
No offense but you’re the least credible Braves fan on this site. You just parrot stats to support whatever the FO does.
Now for the rest of us who can think critically for ourselves…. This move makes no sense. Point to the post AS break numbers if you want but ever stop to think why his second half numbers weren’t good?
I’ll take a stab. My guess for him fading was that he’s not used to pitching a full season.
How do you fix that? It’s not by optioning down preventing him from pitching a full season in his next year, that’s for sure. This is something he needs to work through and build the stamina up
But I have some bad news, none of that mattered. Nor did his Spring numbers. The second the Braves signed Lopez he was going to start. Braves FO has to justify spending money and since Lopez makes $10 mil a year and Bryce makes league minimum the decision was made regardless of past performance and spring performance.
That’s the hard truth of it all.
The reality is the Braves optioned a 2023 All Star…. Honestly who does that? And it’s not cause we’re flush with better choices either. Lopez hasn’t been a starter in years and wasn’t effective when he was starting.
You get it! Who cares if his peripherals are bad let him pitch till his season long numbers suck Alcantara had awful peripherals at first and overcame them to be a top pitcher.
Honestly let’s just forget Elder for a second and pretend we had an open 5th spot
What has Lopez done to even be under consideration coming into Spring? Don’t talk about the Spring numbers. I want to know why he was tagged as a rotation candidate coming into Spring.
Talk about having nothing to support why you’re considering a guy as a rotation option. Would love to see the mental gymnastics for why he was even in consideration in the first place
@BravesFAn2024 – I’m the “least credible Braves fan on this site” b/c I used use stats and facts to backup my opinion. LOL!
Wait…do you think he WON’T pitch at AAA? Does his arm/body somehow not get the mileage from pitching at AAA to build himself up to a full year of service?? This is fascinating.
The second they signed Lopez he was going to start?? Why? Because of the contract? Will Smith got more and never started nor closed from the first year after his deal. AA gives out big contacts (or contracts closer to market value) for bullpen pieces. I’d think he did it for Lopez because of starting history, but that would allow him more flexibility in his usage, as either a long man (replacing McHugh, Tonkin, etc.), a spot starter or give him a serious look at a permanent rotation spot (not unlike SF is doing with Jordan Hicks) if he runs with the opp.
“2023 All Star” — who cares?!?! That’s one of the worst reasons to give him a look. Strider wasn’t an All-Star, so do you relegate him because of that lack of title?? Lopez hasn’t been a starter, but they obviously saw something in him to give him $30M…let the professionals do what they’re paid to do. Why couldn’t the guy be a glorified opener (going 4 IP), being a bridge to an excellent bullpen, not unlike they were doing for spot starts (via Shuster, Dodd, Vines, etc.).
Please don’t take any stabs at moves — you’re the OJ Simpson of Braves fans. If the glove doesn’t fit, please just quit.
Yep. They’re going to need and use everyone at some point this season, and I’m sure that’s baked into the plans. I like Elder, but I’m not mad at this choice. They’re all going to get their time to shine.
Yes, there’s no way Reynaldo goes from 60 IP in 2021, 2022, and 2023, to even something like 150 IP in 2024.
Not you, but people in general keep making the mistake of thinking teams are interested in building rotations. What they’re interested in is finding a mix of pitchers who can get them 162 starts, where the last 1/3 of those starts are as close to league average as they can manage—-keeping the guys with ERAs around 5.50 and worse either off the mound or throwing as few innings as possible is almost as important to a GM’s job as is anything else.
Elder is not good idk why anyone would think otherwise
He’s fine for a #5 whom eats innings. Elder would make the team for more than half the league. That just speaks of the Braves’ aspirations and pitching depth.
Before the second half he had an entire calender year of good stats, not just the first half of 23′. It doesn’t take much thought to dismiss a guy because of low K rates and if everyone thinks that’s not all they are doing then I ask if they would feel the same way if he was a strikeout guy. I think the truth of the guy is about a 3.7-4.2 era. A solid option. Lopez won’t remain in rotation all year and neither will Sale so it’s all a moot point. My only complaint is most havent watched him pitch closely. He is a grounder machine who has some unhittable pitches when he locates. Watch the first 2 innings of the Phillies postseason start and you’d think he was Greg Maddux. Watch the third inning. Yikes!!! There is potential to be a decent starter. People too easily dismiss grounder specialists. With that will come ups and downs but he was clearly tired as well. They made the right decision because Reynaldo can be a starting asset next year all season if you stretch him out this year early. But as for this year it’s arguably going to hurt them if he tires and is shaky in the pen down stretch and in postseason/or hurt.
There is an element here of glossing over pitchers like his success and looking hard at the stats to convince oneself that someone like Taj Bradley actually was decent but unlucky. I’m not saying there’s never truth in it but it’s done so robotically with every pitcher. The odds say there are Tim Hudsons in this era that are being screwed with or not given a chance. As well as more lesser guys who could still be decent. Even if Elder is lucky that luck is typical with grounder pitchers and happens a lot which should be utilized.
Elder is a mop up guy. He goes in when you’re up 10 or down 10.
He’s a starter, you dolt.
For AAA, you’re correct.
He’ll be back up at sooner rather than later when the inevitable injury bug hits. Best to keep Lopez stretched out. It’s a long season and Braves have 7 viable starters, with Waldrop possibly making it 8 at some point this year.
Elder has not shown anything that makes me confident that his first half last year is sustainable. You can hit your head on his ceiling. He is Jair Jurrjens 2.0 – when the smoke clears, hitters have no trouble seeing what’s in his mirrors.
Don’t treat Jair like that. Guy outperformed his ERA almost every year and would have been an exceptional mid-rotation SP, but ATL had issues finding a TOR SP. He was good until he was not, but says something he’s still in the league with a below average FB.
Lol I’d have to agree with Rundmc…how dare you speak ill of Jair Jurjens!
Outperform is the key word there. He overachieved big time for a little while there.
He only seems to have overachieved because of the type of pitcher he was. His advanced stats were never gonna be great as a ground ball guy who didn’t strike people out. Sometimes this over performance of stats like FIP is self fulfilling because the type of pitchers they underrated are the same ones that have short peaks because they don’t have anything to lose with velo. So we look back and say “the stats predicted it all”. In reality they usually just get hurt and lose a couple mph or so they can’t afford to lose.
As a Braves fan I’m fine with Elder as a 5th starter. Anything more than that and we’re in trouble. God forbid if he has to start a post season game(see last year).
The problem with that game was he was absolutely lights out for 2 innings if you watched closely. He should’ve been taken out but there was no indication of what was coming in that 3rd inning. They should’ve had someone ready tho. The nature
or the start seemed to indicate fatigue. He is capable of starting a postseason game if he is in a great groove. But he can’t afford to miss at all
Braves need to respect their Elder.
The Braves will have a solid rotation at Gwinnett AAA – Elder, Smith-Shawver, Waldrep, Vines, Dodd, Winans and Ynoa. Plus Ian Anderson this summer. That is great depth,as everyone but Waldrep has already pitched at teh MLB level.
It would be interesting if the Braves convert Chris Sale as their closer down the road due to his history of being overused in the beginning of the season to not having the same stuff towards to the end of the season and his injury history. After all, the Braves are not paying his full salary this season. This is just an opinion so don’t blast me on my take.
He started his mlb career as a closer so yeah this works
I do recall the White Sox using Sale their closer when he first came up. Also, I do recall Sale always starting the season dominating hitters with overusing his sliders to rack up his strikeouts then by August he was getting rocked by hitters due to all of that torque throwing those sliders where his pitches were not moving like they were in the beginning of the season.
@BeeVeeTee The issue here is that the irregular closer role can be just as taxing as starting every 5 or 6 days AND instead of getting 120 innings from Sale, you get 60 innings.
It’s much harder to find a starter of Sale’s caliber than it is to find a reliever of that caliber.
Sale has put up 2/3’s of an inner circle HOFer’s career as a starter. If he can start, that’s where he has the most value by far.
Might all be moot, since the only thing the Braves really want is Sale healthy and starting at something like his career ERA+ of 137 this October. If that’s all they can get from him, they’d jump at it
Elder had a solid yr in’23. Taking next step this season. Surprised smart tm like braves chose to send him down in favor of has been reynaldo who hasnt been full time SP in 5 yrs. not great for elder’s development to be demoted like this. Improve your rotation with bryce in it, improve your BP with lopez in it
So 12 pitchers and 13 position players it appears?
13 pitchers – 5 starters and 8 relievers — 26 man roster
“Meanwhile” has to come at the start of the sentence—it can’t come in the middle, separated by two commas.
I am more concerned about Lee & Bummer in that bullpen, and Lopez not being in the bullpen.