The Braves announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating catcher Sean Murphy from the injured list and recalling outfielder J.P. Martínez. In corresponding moves, outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was placed on the 10-day injured list and infielder Joey Wendle was designated for assignment.
Wendle, 34, was just signed three days ago to serve as a depth infielder for the club. However, Atlanta was delivered a devastating blow yesterday when Acuña tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the 2024 season.
With Acuña out of the picture, Atlanta was left with just Michael Harris II, Jarred Kelenic and Adam Duvall for the outfield. They have recalled Martínez today to give them a fourth outfielder, which quickly nudged Wendle off the roster shortly after being added.
Atlanta will now have a week to trade Wendle or pass him through waivers. The Mets are on the hook for the majority of his $2MM salary since they released him last week. That means any club that brings him aboard would only have to pay the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.
Wendle has had some good years as a solid bat who can competently play multiple positions, but he’s been in a rough skid at the plate for a while now. He hit just .259/.297/.360 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 84 and has been even worse since then. Dating back to the start of 2023, he’s hit .213/.247/.300 for a wRC+ of just 47.
But he’s still capable of bouncing around the diamond, with experience at the three infield positions to the left of first base and the outfield corners. Even without much offensive output, he’s capable of being a glove-first bench piece. He also hit .275/.330/.416 from 2017 to 2021, 106 wRC+, which could lend some hope to a bounceback at the plate.
For the moment, Atlanta’s roster depth is tenuous and it wouldn’t be a surprise if further moves were coming. Murphy’s activation gives the club three catchers, alongside Travis d’Arnaud and Chadwick Tromp. The club could have optioned Tromp to the minors but perhaps felt that would have left them thin behind the plate. Murphy is just returned from missing around two months due to an oblique strain while d’Arnaud missed some time this week after taking a foul ball to the mask and experiencing some dizziness. Perhaps they opted to keep Tromp around while they make sure both Murphy and d’Arnaud are healthy enough to play regularly.
In the meantime, that leaves them with no real backup infielder. Austin Riley hasn’t played in about two weeks due to some side soreness but the club hasn’t placed him on the injured list. That has forced Zack Short to step in as the regular third baseman. As of now, Atlanta’s bench consists of Riley, two catchers and one outfielder, at least until Riley is able to return. Perhaps Tromp will be optioned out for another infielder shortly, or Riley will return to the lineup and nudge Short back to the bench.
How the club decides to play the outfield will also be interesting to monitor. Kelenic and Duvall have been in a platoon this year, since Kelenic is a lefty who hits better against righties and Duvall is the opposite. Kelenic has hit .220/.298/.401 against righties in his career but just .189/.254/.309 against lefties, leading to respective wRC+ numbers of 96 and 60. Duvall has hit .235/.307/.474 against southpaws and .230/.285/.468 otherwise, producing respective wRC+ tallies of 104 and 95. With Acuña’s injury, they will likely give regular playing time to those two, with Martínez in the fourth outfielder role.
The 28-year-old Martínez was acquired from the Rangers in January. He has a line of .265/.337/.394 in Triple-A this year, 90 wRC+, stealing 14 bases in 20 tries. Double-digit steal totals have been a regular feature for him for a long time, including 41 in the minors last year. He also hit .298/.418/.543 in Triple-A last year, for a 133 wRC+, but hasn’t maintained that here in 2024. Like Kelenic, Martínez hits from the left side and has been better against righties this year. He has a .260/.348/.415 line against righties and .277/.306/.340 against southpaws this season.
That was quick…
The Mets thank the Braves for saving them, like, $5.
A reaction to the Acuna jr injury. Another team will take a chance on him for minimum wage.
The reaction should be let Kelenic be the everyday RF-er. AA paid enough for him, time to let him ride it out… Duvall, Harris and Kelenic are definitely great defensively, let’s see what happens offensively splitting up that very expensive platoon.
Kelenic may play full time now but I think Martinez will platoon with Duvall
Joey is beginning to feel unwanted.
3 catchers on the roster then, wonder if they’re leaving open the possibility of TDA/Murphy DH, and *gasps* Ozuna in the outfield
I would be surprised if he doesn’t start at least one game in left this year even if it’s just to see or to be quickly reminded why he’s not an outfielder anymore.
Kelenic and Duvall are both great defensively, but both have left a lot to be desired at the plate this year as a platoon. Now those are your starting corners and the Braves’ most potent offensive would involve Ozuna, TDA and Murphy in the lineup.
Braves will be fine, particularly should they play the passionless Dodgers.
That’s why there’s a wildcard! Braves should be good for that. Depth in pitching with be downwall again. This seems to be ongoing with this team.
Witless talking about passionless.
I wonder why JP and not Wall? Not that it makes a big difference.
Probably JP because he’s a rh hitter. Wall would make 3 of the 4 of’ers lefty hitters. Leaves them too vulnerable to lh pitching.
It’s hard to say. Forrest Wall is a better defender and better hitter than JP Martinez. Both bat LH. Perhaps Wall will be traded.
Tx Garry. Don’t know why I thought JP was a righty. Duh.
I hope they make a definitive 3-disc DVD Set about his time with the Braves.
LOL! They should retire his number, have him throw out the first pitch next season and give him some big, gold appreciation trophy.
Ken Burns is already doing research and interviews for this.
I hope he’d get a ring if they pull off a 2021 repeat.
I will never forget these tragic events of 5/27
#atlantastrong
Ahh… too bad. I thought he was gonna rake…
Maybe his next job will be with the grounds crew. Then he can rake.
Damn you Rox! I was going to crack that joke!
Did they even finish the Jersey ?
Did they seriously have Joey Wendle and replace him with Zack Short after dropping Guillorme? I expect to see more of the AAAA level Syracuse roster in Atlanta later this year.
The Mets are paying their AAAA roster what like $400 million. They have to pay players 50% more than the next best offer just to get them to play there.
@Yeti
LOL
Trade for Walker from the Cardinals. They’ve given up on him so he must be destined for greatness!
Probably would have hit better than Acuna anyway
I actually agree with you a lot of times on your sentiments and the just straight forward thinking not based on stats and fandom like most on here operate….but no team is better without Acuna, no matter how you spin it lol
I never said all teams are better without Acuna. In fact, the Braves are better with Acuna when he is hitting like last season. This season and years before, he was overhyped and not worth the headache (bad baserunning, dropping routine outfield flys, etccc). The only thing that made him tolerable was the contract. However, now with his career at limbo, thankfully he didn’t get a huge contract. He never deserved it.
Unanimous MVP last year. I get freedom of speech and all, but this goes too far.
@Gabe: TradeAcuna’s irrational hatred of Acuna Jr. knows no bounds.
Irrational or. not, his career is over and he will never replicate his 2023 even when healthy. Sucks he is hurt, but this is a good opportunity for the Braves to go a different direction this summer. Trade Albies, Sale, Morton, and Fried and retool completely. Their embarrassing exits the last two seasons to an inferior Phily teams proves they are not postseason gritty enough.
Far more delusional now than your year long plus rant that the Braves couldn’t win unless they traded for MadBum. Calling for a rebuild is moronic. They’re at worst the 3rd best team in the NL as they are now. Anything can happen in the post season. They’ll easily make it. Division race isn’t over either. They’ll add before they subtract.
Wow! Talk about being around for a cup of coffee!
*sadly hangs Braves Wendle jersey back in closet*
Long live the Wendlessance.
My jersey hadn’t even arrived yet and too late to cancel.
Your comment made me laugh out loud
The Braves lineup should be much better as the Braves have also activated Austin Riley and he’s batting second.
Riley was never on the IL to be activated from.
Thank you for coming. Now see yourself out.
Why is Wendle in the headline instead of Murphy or Acuña?
Who is this JOEY WENLE that you’re referring to? I’ve never heard of him. If you’re going to be a cad at least be good at it. Just sayin…
He pre-negotiated his post season shares for time served.
Wendel back to the Rays!
Call me crazy but I think the Acuna injury could provide a spark for the team, eventually at least. After losing Strider and Acuna they are likely no longer the frontrunner to win the division, or the world series obviously. Having a bit of underdog status (I realize they are still really good) can be helpful in pumping up the team. Adversity (potentially) calls forth strength. Look at 21′. The two years where they were favorites they lost. So much is mindset. Look at Acuna last year. His own adversity motivated him to work harder than ever and he put up a tremendous season as a result, saying himself that the injury was a sort of blessing.