The Braves are in agreement with lefty reliever Chasen Shreve on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The CAA client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee and would lock in a $1.3MM base salary if he makes the big league roster.
Shreve, a former Atlanta draftee who debuted with 15 appearances for the club in 2014, made one MLB appearance as a member of the Rockies last season. He tossed a scoreless inning. That extended the veteran southpaw’s streak to 11 consecutive years logging some major league action. Shreve spent most of the ’23 season in the big leagues. He combined for 50 appearances between the Tigers and Reds, working to a 4.63 ERA across 44 2/3 frames.
While his big league appearance came with Colorado, Shreve played for a trio of Triple-A affiliates last year. He spent time in the Rangers, Yankees and Rox systems. Shreve turned in a cumulative 2.62 earned run average across 34 1/3 innings at the top minor league level. He fanned a strong 26.7% of opponents against a slightly higher than average 9.2% walk percentage. He got swinging strikes at a near-14% clip.
The results were good, but Shreve doesn’t have the velocity that teams prefer to stockpile in the bullpen. His fastball averaged 90 MPH in Triple-A last season. He averaged 89.4 MPH during his only major league appearance. He leans frequently on his slider and splitter to compensate for the fringe velocity. Shreve has neutral platoon splits over his career, so he’s not a great fit for lefty specialist work.
That’s not an issue for an Atlanta team that’ll have Aaron Bummer and Dylan Lee in the late innings. Angel Perdomo is out of options and will need to stick on the MLB roster or be made available to other teams. Depending on whether they carry Perdomo and keep Rule 5 pick Anderson Pilar, Atlanta could have two or three middle relief spots up for grabs in camp.
Awesome. Hello all young kids. If you’re a Lefty you can go pitch forever
I still resent my brother for taking the ball out of my left hand and forcing me to be a righty so I could be a SS. I also regret not learning to switch hit. Coulda been a contenda!!!
Hey SlowCurve! long time no argue lol….Man i tried and tried to make my son when he was 2 -3 years old to throw lefty to no avail. But I sure tried lol
It’s hard to change nature! But my bro was successful. Turned me into a perfectly mediocre 2B lol. I still throw a frisbee, write, and eat lefty though.
Shreve is no big deal, but I really think this was a player the Yanks should’ve signed and stashed in AAA. Right now we don’t have any lefty relievers in the pen and while we might be able to get by without one it would make sense to have one rest in AAA for a call up for an inevitable injured relievers. The only thing I can think of is if he needed to be added to the 40 man and would rushed them to release someone.
There’s no way that the Yankees will break camp without at least one LHP reliever. Perhaps Shreve saw a slim chance of making the team. He’s got a low-ceiling so I would pass on wasting any resources on him during S.T.
@Yankees
What resources? It’s a ST invite and $1.3 mil of her make the MLB team. It’s almost zero risk. He’s had success vs lefties and the Yanks are familiar with him since he was in the organization before. I’m not making a big hub bub about it but it just seems like a no-brainer.
It’s not uncommon for minor league contracts to have opt-out dates. Let’s say Shreve has an opt-out date of April 20th. These often do get reported until later or after the fact. Then the Yankees need to decide whether to promote him or release him. I don’t see him being useful. If they do the latter, those S.T. and MiLB innings could’ve gone to someone else.
Every single team should have been interested.
Agree with looking for opportunity. Yankees Hill makes sense. Try to better even.
Welcome back!
He was very good for the Bucs in ‘21, obviously not as good since then, but I’ve always felt like he’s a battler and a good guy to have at the back end of your bullpen.
Not only as good since but better. Better with Mets. Much better with Tigers.
Yep! That was the piece that we’ve been looking for to make this a World Series contender!
Sure is. At worst excellent depth. Best a useful pen arm.
What do the Braves need to make them a WS contender?
Craig Kimbrel and Shreve were warming up before a Spring Training game when Kimbrel spiked a hard slider that ricocheted off Shreve’s glove and almost took my head off. That’s the most exciting Braves news this offseason. Stay tuned for more useless antidotes!
Dumping Soler salary was biggest exciting move.
Would be nice if they actually used it to sign Flaherty or someone else.
Flaherty southern usa I dunno about that fit. I like Quintana. Really like Scherzer.
Max is washed
@slowcurve wasn’t last year. I mean he wasn’t cy young material but still useful. It’s risky. 2025 could be the last. But if healthy he has upside. They didn’t bring Morton back so might be more than they want to spend. Maybe they think he is toast. Maybe they want to go in house. For depth I’d look at Quintana Heaney.
Yeah, too risky for me, but I’m not AA. Wouldn’t count on catching lightning in a bottle twice, a la Sale. I’m a bit concerned about Sale to begin with. Didn’t end the season on the best foot.
Well Sale had cy young material if healthy. And little reason to think he wouldn’t be healthy. Max stuff probably isn’t there anymore. Older. But Dodgers aren’t throwing Quintana at you. You don’t have the prospects to pull off Crochet trade. Can’t afford Fried Burnes. So hoping Max has another year in him isn’t the best plan but it’s something.
Curious why Flaherty wouldn’t fit in the south? Fried did fine for many years, from the same area.
Maybe he would. I haven’t looked into it. Demographic marketing isn’t a hobby of mine. Haven’t talked to Jack. I personally wouldn’t want players who share their opinions on anything. Will he be more vocal with guarantee $. Just things a team needs to consider. No one cares what the biggest A list celebrities think. So don’t want to hear it from some random baseball player. If Braves fans and teammates don’t care then sign him.
Braves fans, you should be more Chipper. Don’t be Maddux at your management and say “Oh, Smoltz!” every time you see a minor league deal.
Are you off your Rocker?
Glavine you enjoyed it.
You probably shouldn’t be Medlin in Braves affairs though!
@Slow
Oddibe a Rusty Kuntz.(former braves roving instructor)
@Knicks you guys are being a bunch of Cox…lol
I about dyed laughing, nevertheless I will give y’all a Deion all the puns.
He could turn out to be the Pillar of the Bullpen!
Hey, you’re just being a Weiss-ass
Braves offseason seems to line up with Murphy’s law
Pitches to a zero ERA last year in the majors and has to settle for a minor league deal! MLB rigged
Not the worst arm in the world, 100 ERA+ since 2020. You figure he could probably close for the White Sox…
A+ signing. Really just wanted a thumbs up from Nashville Jeff.
Bargain Bin Braves baybay!
I don’t mind depth moves but this is a silly one in my opinion. Cause he’s no good and really should never see the light of day on our major league roster. Even at the low cost, if this team is currently in a budget crunch (which it appears it is) then even his $1 million + salary is a waste. Just continue to use and develop young guys before doing this. I’d rather just save the money and get the same poor performance and possibly go out and make a deadline move or use it next year despite how “little” it technically is. Again, if it didn’t appear we were in a budget crunch, I really wouldn’t care at all about this move… but to me, it appears we are until they prove otherwise
Shreve Palpatine for life
Stripers are gonna win the International League Championship this year lol
Pilar looks quite good from the limited vision of what I’ve seen of him, I doubt the Braves will be giving him up. I am also looking forward to see what Perdomo can do.
adds depth and based on every team going through 20 plus pitchers a season now is very important to add arms for the long season. he may only come up a few times to help out while another is on IL but still need someone who can run out there.