The Braves announced that left-hander José Suarez has been designated for assignment. That was the corresponding move to open a 40-man roster spot for righty Scott Blewett, whom they acquired from the Orioles yesterday.
Suarez, 27, was acquired from the Angels just prior to Opening Day. It was a one-for-one swap with righty Ian Anderson going to the Halos. Since then, Suarez has been working as a long reliever for Atlanta, tossing 7 1/3 innings over three appearances.
He has only allowed two earned runs in that time, meaning he’s currently sitting on a 2.45 earned run average for the year, but is probably lucky to be in that position. He has walked more opponents than he has struck out so far, with seven free passes to five punchouts. He’s been spared further damage by a .118 batting average on balls in play and 81.4% strand rate.
It seems Atlanta decided to cut bait before regression caught up with the lefty, so he’s been sent into DFA limbo. That can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so any potential trade talks would have to take place in the next five days.
Any interest in Suarez would likely be based on his 2021 and 2022 seasons. Over those two campaigns, he logged 207 1/3 innings for the Angels, working both as a starter and reliever. In that time, he had a 3.86 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate.
Things haven’t been as great since then. In 2023, he missed a lot of time due to a shoulder strain and posted an 8.29 ERA in 33 2/3 innings. He didn’t get back on track last year, with a 6.02 ERA in 52 1/3 innings.
Suarez is out of options, so any acquiring club would have to keep him on the active roster. If he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with at least three years of service time. However, since he has less than five years, heading to the open market would mean forfeiting his remaining salary. Prior to being traded to Atlanta, he and the Angels agreed to a $1.1MM salary for this year. If no club grabs him off the wire, he’ll likely accept an outright assignment and provide Atlanta with some non-roster depth.
Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images
Trade Acuna!
Canuckle Ball!
…why are we shouting our usernames?
No way. He’s been playing a great 2b for the Mets.
@TradeAcuna
Should have traded him back when he had that big offensive year. He’s only going to be an IL darling like Anthony Rendon.
Braves really blewett, with the saurez trade.
“Suarez trade”…And when Suarez’s brother, Rico, finds out about this, the shick will really hit the fan.
That’s a bummer.
Hes here until Kimbrel gets called up.
7 BB in 7.1 IP (6.31 FiP)
Every team needs one of those relievers to keep our heart rates up.
Everyone should know Suarez doesn’t belong on their roster.
King of trolls. There. Fixed.
“Didn’t deserve that..at least on the surface “..And people like you apparently don’t look or see any further than the “surface” before they label things as racist, right?
Yep. No surprise. The fact that the Angels held on to Suarez for so long is just proof they thought too highly of him. He’ll probably stick in Atlanta’s minor league, seeing as that’s what happened regularly with the Angels.
The Angels don’t get much right but dumping Suarez was a rare good move. It should have happened years ago because he stinks. His current ERA is irrelevant because his issue is allowing inherited runners to score. Be glad Braves fans.
Acuna and Arica are both from Venezuela. He has done well in 3 outings but not long term picture for sure. Figure this spot will go to Kimbrel if he keeps up his good work
Braves will now improve merely by removing Suarez from the roster.
Let’s just hope Perry doesn’t pick him up.
That’s Dave Chalk in 1975 Topps
My favorite player when I first started going to Angels games at the Big A in 1973.
AA’s playing Moneyball with bullpen chaos.