The Braves have claimed right-hander Cal Quantrill off waivers from the Marlins, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It was reported earlier this week that the Fish had put the righty on waivers in an attempt to dump his salary. It appears their division rival has helped them out in that regard. Atlanta has open 40-man space but would need to open an active roster spot for Quantrill once he reports to the team.
Quantrill, 30, is a veteran back-end starter. He doesn’t strike out a ton of guys but avoids walks and hasn’t been hurt very often. The Marlins gave him a one-year, $3.5MM deal coming into 2025. In return, he gave them 109 2/3 innings over 24 starts. His 5.50 earned run average and 17.4% strikeout rate aren’t amazing figures, but he had a good stretch in the middle, sandwiched around some rough outings.
At the end of April, Quantrill had made six starts and was sitting on an ERA of 8.10. He then settled in for three good months, making 15 starts over May, June and July with a 3.55 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate. But he was then lit up for an 11.25 ERA in his three most recent appearances.
The Fish are playing out the string on another non-competitive season and have some other pitchers they could call upon to take Quantrill’s spot, so they put him on waivers to get out of paying the rest of his contract. Kevin Barral of Fish on First reports that Ryan Gusto, acquired in the Jesús Sánchez trade, will be recalled to start Friday’s game against the Blue Jays.
While the Marlins’ end of this transaction makes sense, it’s surprising to see Atlanta put in the claim. That club definitely needs innings with their injury-battered rotation but they are also winding down a lost season. They are 58-69, 9.5 games out of a playoff spot, two games behind the Marlins. Quantrill is still owed a little more than $700K, with $500K of performance bonuses also in the deal.
It’s unknown how Quantrill can trigger the bonuses but the $700K is notable on its own. It’s not really a ton of money relative to MLB payrolls but it’s odd that Atlanta is incurring that extra cost for a lost season. Quantrill is an impending free agent, so there’s no long-term benefit, unless the club wants to get a close-up look at him and offer him a deal for next year.
But as mentioned, in the short term, they could definitely use solid rotation innings. They have each of Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver, Reynaldo López and Grant Holmes on the injured list. Sale is the only one in that group who seems to have a shot at returning this season.
That leaves the club with a rotation consisting of Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz and Erick Fedde. Both Wentz and Fedde were recently scooped up after being cast off by other teams and now Quantrill joins them in that category. Wentz and Fedde are out of options, so one of them could end up in a long relief role or designated for assignment when Quantrill joins the club. It’s also possible Elder gets optioned down to Triple-A. Sale got up to four innings on his most recent rehab start and will be back in the mix soon as well.
Photo courtesy of Jordan Godfree, Imagn Images
AA must have looked at the calendar and realized he still has another month worth of games to get through…
Either that or it’s just ‘Ol Scrap Heap Anthopolous up to Josh usual tricks.
As bad as Quantrill has been, he has been better then Fedde and Elder both. Not much, but still better!
Time to move on from Elder. Chance after chance, but can’t stay consistent.
Plan the parade
Not many impact rotation arms are available on waivers.
Impact? I thought we placed Cal Quantrill on waivers and this article was about him.
AA bargain bin special
…but why?
He can throw the ball and has a pulse.
There are guys that can do that for the league minimum and probably at least match Quantrill’s 5.50 ERA without saving a much poorer division rival the better part of a million bucks.
His numbers are better than both Fedde and Elder. The Braves could send Elder down, I know he looked good his last start, but he has been bad
Yep. Send down Elder, Dfa Fedde when Sale comes back.
I think ATL had room in this years budget that they wanted to spend. Fedde and Elder have been pitching BP.
I am pretty sure everyone here was just waiting for this one. Next up is the guy the Rockies have on waivers.
Perfect 0.0 WAR for 2025, talk about balanced!!
Fedde -0.6
Elder -1.8
Austin Gomber is also available on waivers, so this at least was not the worst possible move for the Braves.
Nothing a good pitching coach and some video can’t iron out. I wish the Padres would have brought him back. Maybe he’s too expensive. .
Braves running out of time for a playoff berth.
But why?
How is this a controversial move? Cheap, veteran arm to lean on until the end of the season. Hopefully he takes some of the burden off of the players that factor into 2026 and beyond.
Dry powder they spoke of
Don’t trust the braves pitching valuations over last 4 or 5 years. Elder, Anderson, muller, shuster, tarnok, wright etc all were garbage. Luckily for them some were used in trades. Strider one exception if only can stay healthy
Trading those pitchers was a solid valuation of their value. Dealt for decent returns because the FO knew they had no future w/the Braves. “One exception” is Strider? Schwellenbach, AJSS, and Waldrep all evaluated and developed well. JR Ritchie in AAA w/solid chance to crack the rotation next season. Plenty of other good arms in the system—most notably Caminiti, Burkhalter, Raven Antonio, Braun, etc. Several big relief arms as well.
Forgot to mention Didier Fuentes at AAA too.
Kyle Wright and Ian Anderson both helped the Braves win a World Series, pitching well until injury. There was nothing wrong with the valuations beyond there is no way to tell how injuries will impact a career. Hardly garbage, though.
The other names you mentioned were never as highly touted as prospects, sans maybe Muller. Muller did have some hype, but you aren’t going to hit a home run on them all. It is what it is.
Do you think they may back off Strider’s innings? Or is Wentz about maxed out? They could a lot worse to run out the string. Oh, and Fedde is awful.
Fedde is awful, lol. Wentz grip change to his cutter and a added extension to his delivery have (so far) turned him into a viable rotation option. Looks like a different guy. Hope he’s for real as a 4/5 starter. Get the feeling they’re going to keep running Strider out there to let him try to work things out. Nothing to lose by doing so anyway.
Shocked that AA signed an Excel client after the botched Freddie Freeman negotiations. Desperate people do desperate things.
Fedde is better than Elder, Elder does not belong in mlb. He seems like a good guy, but he does not belong, someone likes him though.
@olereb: Hope someone likes Elder in trade this winter.
My Pobres could have used this guy in the coming series against that team everybody hates so much. He would have given us a better chance of winning that series. But alas, we’ll open with Yu & Nestor (Mr. Cortes if your Nasty)…
Piveta might give us a chance to steal at least one and move our record against those big spending meanies to 3-10
Please explain how Boston is dirty rotten
Trolls don’t explain. They just keep trolling.
Show me on this doll who hurt you. Your explanation is absurd and you obviously don’t follow the Red Sox but maybe someone can explain it to you
it helps the brand to avoid throwing hopeless pitchers out there. it helps the morale. it helps the team go into the offseason on a good note. it helps the kids to be exposed to veterans. it helps the fans who are for some reason still coming out and cheering like it matters (it technically does, since they made up 10 games on the Mets just a few years ago in very little time), it prevents using up a guy they plan on using next year. it prevents Snitker from going out on the sourest of notes by keeping things normal-ish. it’s also possible AA has a spending directive that allows him freedom with the cheap stuff. this would explain his behavior over last two seasons. he’s clearly been handicapped financially. probably a bunch more reasons.
braves try to maximize control years and postpone arbitration and maintain rookie status and prolly a bunch of other reasons they don’t wanna throw all the kids in there.
The suggestion by the author that Wentz could be DFA is ridiculous. He has pitched to a 2.60 ERA and an 0.95 WHIP with the Braves. Other than Waldrep, their best starter.
Fuentes is 20 years old, and they tried rushing him to the majors from A ball. He got crushed, as expected.
Wiles is a depth piece that can’t get major league outs.
Suarez is being used in the pen.
Anderson is out of options, so if he comes up, it has to work. They likely don’t feel he’s there. Why do it when you can claim Quantrill?
Elder should be DFA’d, but he has a healthy arm…
The best thing that has happened besides Harris since the break is Wentz and Waldrep putting their names in play for the 2026 starting rotation.
Sale, Strider, Schwellenback, Waldrep, Wentz
Bullpen: López, Holmes, Jimenez, Lee, Johnson, possible resign of Inglesias,
I wish that the Braves would sign Brandon Woodruff if he comes out as a free agent over the winter. A 3 year 20 mill / year with a 4th year mutual option for $20 million might get it done.
Yes Cal has been a nightmare in August, but May, June, July he kept the team in the game 14 of his 15 starts where the team went 10 – 5.
I suspect he’ll be closer to good Cal with a change of scene
There ARE still nearly 40 games left in this season.
Stranger things Have happened
I appreciate all the Braves junk pitching pickups in the 2nd half. They are gonna greatly help my future Immaculate Grid scores.