Joe Jiménez has been out all season after undergoing left knee surgery last November. The Braves reliever is now nine months removed from a procedure that came with an 8-12 month timeline. Jiménez had been throwing but was shut back down after experiencing soreness in his knee, manager Brian Snitker said yesterday (relayed by Barrett Sallee of 680 The Fan).
It now seems there’s a good chance Jiménez won’t pitch at all this season. This is a lost year for Atlanta. There’s little incentive to push Jiménez through discomfort. The 30-year-old righty would surely love to get back on the mound so he can go into the offseason with some normalcy, but the Braves aren’t going to take any chances.
Jiménez had the best year of his career in 2024. He threw a personal-high 68 2/3 innings with a 2.62 ERA. He recorded a career-best 27 holds while striking out nearly 30% of batters faced. It was an excellent start to his three-year, $26MM free agent deal. The injury unfortunately robbed him of most (potentially all) of year two. He’s signed for $9MM next season.
Atlanta is likely to see Raisel Iglesias depart in free agency. They’ll exercise their $7MM club option to retain Pierce Johnson, barring a late-season injury. Aaron Bummer and Dylan Lee will also be back. The rest of the relief group is in question. Daysbel Hernández has a 2.25 ERA but has walked almost 20% of opponents. Atlanta acquired Tyler Kinley from Colorado last week. That suggests they’ll at least consider bringing him back on a $5MM team option, but he hasn’t managed particularly good numbers since 2022. The Braves will likely need two or three external bullpen pickups on top of a healthy return from Jiménez.
While the Braves haven’t officially ruled Jiménez out for the season, starter Grant Holmes is definitely done for the year. Atlanta almost immediately placed him on the 60-day injured list when he went down with an elbow injury before the trade deadline. The Braves later diagnosed the issue as a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. That has the potential to be a precursor to surgery, but Holmes told reporters (including David O’Brien of The Athletic) that he’ll attempt to rehab without going under the knife.
“If I can avoid the knife as long as possible, that’s the route I want to take,” the 29-year-old righty said. “I haven’t had any surgeries yet, thankfully, and I’m trying to keep it that way.” Holmes added that he’ll be on a no-throw program for at least six weeks and expressed his hope that he could resume throwing simulated games in November. He pointed out that undergoing Tommy John or internal brace surgery now would almost certainly cost him the entire 2026 season regardless. Holmes therefore felt he didn’t have much to lose in trying a non-surgical approach and evaluating how his elbow feels in a few months. If it doesn’t progress as hoped, he could undergo surgery early in the offseason and still set a goal of coming back at the start of the ’27 campaign.
Before the injury, Holmes was a bright spot in Atlanta’s nightmare season. He turned in a 3.99 ERA while striking out a quarter of opponents across 22 appearances. Holmes had impressed last season as a rookie but worked more often in long relief. He showed this season that he can be a capable mid-rotation starter as long as he’s healthy. Holmes is one of five Atlanta starters dealing with a long-term injury. They already lost AJ Smith-Shawver to Tommy John surgery, and it’d be a surprise if Spencer Schwellenbach returns from a broken elbow this year. Reynaldo López has been out almost all year after undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery.
Chris Sale, out since mid-June with a ribcage fracture, is the only one of that quintet who seems very likely to make it back this season. Sale is set to throw a live batting practice session on Thursday (via the MLB.com injury tracker). He’s not far off a minor league rehab assignment and could return from the 60-day IL before the end of the month. That’d allow the reigning NL Cy Young winner to make five or six starts to close the season. It won’t mean anything in the standings, but it’d give the Braves some confidence entering an offseason in which they’ll face questions about everyone in the rotation aside from Spencer Strider. Atlanta will retain Sale on an $18MM club option for what’ll be his age-37 season.
The 2025 Braves team is a Disastrophe!
Reynaldo Lopez likely goes back to the bullpen. Grant Holmes probably returns to the bullpen full time. Braves add 2 starters via free agency. No aces but good not great affordable starters. If Sale and Schwellenbach return to form after their injuries, then those 2 new starters (or one if Smith-Shaver can come back from his injury) plus Strider should make a decent rotation.Now if they can find the right closer and add a good shortstop and right fielder (I know they have Acuna but he likely starts the year at DH) they can compete again with the Phillies and Mets.
It’s amazing to see what the Braves have been through the past couple seasons. It just seems so out of character ter for them. They can’t seem to overcome adversity at all. This points at Snitker to a degree. I guess they are waiting for him to retire.
You’d think ATL would’ve rallied around Snitker for his final season, but they seemed lifeless from the start. Very bizarre non-year they’ve had. Any theories about what’s going on in that clubhouse?