The Pirates and Braves announced a trade sending catcher Jason Delay to Atlanta for cash. Pittsburgh had designated him for assignment on Tuesday. Atlanta optioned Delay to Double-A Columbus and transferred Reynaldo López to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Pittsburgh also optioned infielder Ji-Hwan Bae to Triple-A Indianapolis to make room on the active roster for Alexander Canario, who has reported to the team.
Delay had been with the Pirates since they drafted him in the fourth round in 2017. The Vanderbilt product cracked the big league roster for the first time in 2022. He worked as Pittsburgh’s backup catcher for good chunks of the 2022-23 seasons, combining for 127 MLB appearances. He only got into seven big league games last year and had been in Triple-A to begin this year.
The 30-year-old Delay owns a .231/.295/.315 batting line with two home runs across 373 career plate appearances. He’s a .239/.310/.338 hitter over parts of seven minor league seasons. Delay isn’t going to provide much offensively, but he has slightly above-average pitch framing grades and a strong reputation for his work with pitching staffs. He has yet to qualify for arbitration and has a couple minor league options remaining, so the Braves add him for minimal cost.
Delay is the fourth catcher on Atlanta’s 40-man roster. Drake Baldwin and Chadwick Tromp are dividing the MLB playing time while Sean Murphy is on the injured list. Murphy is at Triple-A Gwinnett on a rehab stint after breaking a rib early in Spring Training. He could return from the IL by the end of next week. Baldwin, one of the sport’s top catching prospects, will probably be optioned back to Gwinnett at that point. If they want to keep Baldwin on the MLB roster, they’d need to designate the out-of-options Tromp for assignment.
The Braves essentially had a free 40-man spot because of the López injury. The righty was placed on the 15-day IL earlier this week with shoulder inflammation. The Braves announced that he’ll undergo an arthroscopic procedure to confirm there’s no structural damage. Even in the best case scenario, he didn’t have much chance of coming back within the next two months. He’s officially out until at least the end of May but seems unlikely to return until the second half of the season at the earliest.
Another Pirate off the sinking ship
Don’t delay, ACT NOW!
Gar, matey.
National Talk Like A Pirate Day is not until September 19th. Calm yourself, little one.
Gar, ‘tis a reasonable ask.
Average Joe’s had a Pirate. How’d that work out? Tune in to the Ocho to find out
Not a single Steve (the Pirate) on the Pittsburgh 40-man roster. That’s mildly disappointing.
Who’s Steve the Pirate?
A pirate and world champion trained by the legendary Patches O’houlihan
“If you can dodge a wrench…”
Gar, ‘tis an unfortunate oversight. My bad.
fiveds.fandom.com/wiki/Steve_%22the_Pirate%22_Cowa…
Actually to be truthful this year so far, it’s Delay who’s going to a 0 and 7 from a 2 and 5.
Dodgers (8-0) defer and Braves (0-7) delay.
They did a trade without us?
Maybe Perry was unavailable?
Is this going to help us win a game?
Perhaps this transaction will Delay another loss?
I’ll see myself out.
No, this will just delay the inevitable.
Absolutely. This guy swings a pool noodle but is a babip God. Would be #1 hope to be batting in risp crucial moment.
Nutting needed to sell Delay to make up for the cash deal for Canario
Yes, robbing Peter to pay Paul. Makes sense if the third most profitable franchise in MLB in 2024.
Canario was promoted this afternoon and Bae was sent down in corresponding moves after Delay was traded for cash
and what has Canario done in today’s game?
Fielding error and 2 strikeouts on pitches no where close to the plate
Yes, he fits right in with this team of minor leaguers
By the way, our first basemen have a combined 4 hits and 1 run batted in
The oldest player on the team has 3 hits so far. 3 out of the 6 total
Shelton needs to go
Shelton should have been fired 2 years ago. This pirate team shows no emotion. Seems like they just go through the motions.
AND HE MAKES MORE EXCUSES THAN TOMLIN
A sap, ASAP
Another example of not striking while the iron is hot. A year ago would have brought back a decent relief pitcher
No he wouldn’t. Not in any history of his life.
He wouldn’t have brought back a deceased relief pitcher at any point in his career, let alone a live good one.
Finally a trade I like!
I like this move too. I hope the Braves give Delay more of a chance than the Pirates.
Problem is, he can’t hit
he fit right in with the Bucs.
They can’t hit either
Now release Profar from his contract!
At least Profar isn’t getting paid the 80 games he’s suspended for.
They can DFA Profar, but they wouldn’t just burn that stack of Benjis, right?
Good backup catcher, best known for his glove.
No jokes about how it should’ve been for a player to be named later?
Those jokes are stuck in Delay. I’m immediately sorry for that one…
Traded for a player to be named later
Lopez transferring to 60-day IL doesn’t sound encouraging from the Braves standpoint! Murphy catching today and Strider Pitching tomorrow, both at Gwinnett eases the pain a little! Hopefully they will be back to Atlanta soon with Acuna not far behind. Just no more injuries, please.
Mike Hargrove’s grandson.
Wait…
So AA waits until the season starts and the team sucks to start making moves…what a clown
He signed Profar
Why did the pirate skip the kids movie?
Because it wasn’t rated aarrgghh!
Braves picked up a good catcher with Delay. Best of luck!
Big breaking news and no Nashville Jeff
Ha ha. I’m here Dream.
Btw, Dream —- my take on why the Braves traded for Delay. They’re probably going to keep Drake Baldwin on the 26 man when Sean Murphy comes off the IL next week. They’ll lose current backup Chadwick Tromp on waivers (no options left) so acquiring Delay is a necessary move to bolster organizational depth.
Drake Baldwin better start hitting, or get busy packing to AAA
Why aren’t teams treating backup catchers the way they treat bullpen specialists—focused entirely on run prevention rather than offense?
It took the Braves a while to do this.
What if Steve has to the a nonchartered flight and is late? Does the airport announcer mention it’s a Delay for delay?
This trade was made without DELAY.
Delay is a quality backup who probably won’t sink the ship if he had to start for an extended period. Figured they could get a bit of talent for him
Delay has no power but came up with a few clutch hits last year when he was on the parent club
The current backup catcher, Endy, has only 1 run batted in and only 5 hits in 25 plate appearance
De layed, de railed, and then De Nutted by Nutter Butter Nutting
The Braves offered something that Bob Nutting couldn’t refuse…CASH! For him, there is nothing better!