The Braves announced that infielder/outfielder Luke Williams has been outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett. There wasn’t any previous indication that he had been removed from the 40-man roster, but he was apparently put on waivers recently and cleared. This drops the club’s 40-man count to 37.
Williams, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers in June of 2023. Atlanta non-tendered him at the end of that season but then re-signed him to a minor league deal. He was back on the 40-man by the middle of April 2024.
He has never been more than a part-time player. He has appeared in each of the past four big league seasons, suiting up for the Phillies, Giants and Marlins before bouncing to Los Angeles and Atlanta. But he has stepped to the plate just 315 times over those four campaigns with a tepid .221/.280/.290 batting line.
He has still proved to be a useful depth piece, despite that lack of offense. He has 20 steals in 26 attempts and has enough defensive versatility to have played every position except catcher. He also had options, meaning he could be sent to the minors and back fairly freely. However, that is no longer the case, as he exhausted his final option season in 2024. That was going to make it tougher for him to hang onto a roster spot, so he has been bumped off today.
Players can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have at least three years of major league service time or a previous career outright. Williams doesn’t meet either of those criteria, so he’ll stick with the club as non-roster depth.
For Atlanta, they now have three open spots on the 40-man roster. Those could be useful since they seem likely to select the contract of catcher Drake Baldwin. They also have a large number of veteran relievers in camp as non-roster invitees, including Héctor Neris, Enyel De Los Santos, Chasen Shreve and others.
Congrats Eli. Hope they’re also keeping Nick Allen.
I bet Kelenic’s nervous that he still has an option left. Think DeLaCruz is on shaky ground too after the Verdugo signing. Pretty surprised that a player w/Verdugo’s weak (being generous) clubhouse rep was signed. Verdugo doesn’t seem to check several of the Brave’s boxes—–very little power, terrible clubhouse rep. Not a fan of the signing at all.
I’m not a fan of the Verdugo signing either but not because of any clubhouse issues. It’s more that I don’t see him as an upgrade over Kelenic. But one thing AA mentions every single time he is asked about signing or trading for a player is he calls around to ask people who’ve played with or coached the player about their “clubhouse rep”. I’d bet everything I own the first person he asked was Chris Sale and I’d bet Sale had nothing bad to say or there would be no Verdugo signing. I’ll also go out on a limb and guess Sale and others who were called know more about who Verdugo really is in a clubhouse than you or me.
We heard this same thing from many fans when Josh Donaldson was signed and there were no issues. Many of those same fans actually wanted Donaldson resigned after his one year. Same with Ozuna and he is one of the most liked players in the Braves clubhouse. So I have faith in AA’s due diligence regarding his clubhouse rep.
And the only way signing Verdugo affects DeLaCruz is if Eli White is making the team. There will be a platoon until Ronald returns so Verdugo doesn’t affect the RH bats.
Get what you’re saying aboutt AA possibly asking Sale about Verdugo, but Verdugo’s clubhouse issues w/the Red Sox are pretty well documented. He was “late for game” and Cora said of his issues dealing w/Verdugo were his “worst days in the organization.”
“late for games”……. Should have been more clear about what I meant on Verdugo affecting De LaCruz. One of DLC or Kelenic has to go to Gwinnett because it looks like they’re keeping White due to his defensive versatilty (infield).
They will need those roster spots and maybe one or two more! Besides Drake Baldwin, they need spots for Craig Kimbrell, James McCann, Alex Verdugo, Hector Neris (If they keep him?) and any others that may join the team during Alex Anthopolis’s Spring Shop-a-thon! Kimbrell & Verdugo will probably be called up 1st within a few weeks, unless they rather keep Baldwin at AAA and use McCann until Murphy returns. I personally prefer they keep Baldwin even when Murphy returns! None of the newly added veterans could possibly be ready for opening day roster spots, so it will be very interesting in the first month of the regular season as far as roster moves.
Back to the Bushwacker leagues.
I made a similar joke on another page and no one got it.
Braves still looking for a ss. One scenario would be if Story is healthy at the break, and not washed, they get Boston to eat enough contract and send a little salary their way so Story’s AAV doesn’t put them over the tax. With Marcelo close, the Sox could clear the path and shed some salary at least. The Sox have a ton of middle infield talent on the way.
Kelenic is likely gonna lose his spot to Verdugo sooner than later. He and DLC will platoon until RAJ is ready, and the Verdugo will be a lefty bench bat. I like how this is shaping up
Hopefully Williams never plays another game in MLB for the Braves. He cannot hit at all.
Until teams start developing intentional super-utility players and treating the 40-man roster as a long-term asset pool rather than a short-term churn machine, they will continue to create their own inefficiencies and waste valuable depth.