Sept. 23: Atlanta placed Albies on the 10-day injured list this morning, formally ending his season. Infielder Brett Wisely, recently claimed off waivers from the Giants, was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to take his spot on the roster. The Braves also formally added fellow waiver claim Joel Payamps to their bullpen and optioned righty Nathan Wiles in his place.
Sept. 22: The Braves have been hit with yet another significant injury. Ozzie Albies was diagnosed with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand/wrist (relayed by Mark Bowman of MLB.com). The second baseman appeared to suffer the injury on a swinging strike in the third inning of tonight’s game. He took the next pitch before calling for a trainer and exiting.
Albies fractured the same wrist on a tag play last July. He was out of action for two months, only managing a late-season return before Atlanta’s brief playoff run. This will obviously cost him the final five games of a losing season. The far greater concern is that he has suffered similar significant injuries in consecutive years. It’ll presumably have some effect on at least the early stages of his offseason.
Hamate fractures typically cost position players around two months. If Albies requires a similar timeline, that would give him plenty of time to be ready for Spring Training. It’s not uncommon for a hitter’s power production to drop after a broken wrist, though, raising more questions about what Atlanta can expect from a player whose numbers have declined over the past two seasons.
Albies finishes the season with a career-worst .240/.306/.365 batting line. He picked up 16 homers and went 14-17 on stolen base attempts. Albies leads second basemen with 667 plate appearances. He had been very durable this season, but he wasn’t hitting the ball with much authority until the past few weeks. He hit .220/.290/.316 in the first half. Albies had a better showing down the stretch, batting .270/.328/.439 after the All-Star Break. He’ll look to avoid a similarly slow start as he comes back from another late-season injury.
The Braves hold successive $7MM club options on Albies for the next two years. The first of those comes with a $4MM buyout. That should still be a very easy call for the front office to exercise. The $3MM difference is on par with what utility/depth players like Kyle Farmer, Thairo Estrada, Josh Rojas and Kevin Newman commanded as free agents last offseason.
Albies’ injury adds to a handful of questions among the Atlanta infield. Ha-Seong Kim appears to be playing his way toward opting out of his $16MM contract. If he does, the Braves would need to find an upgrade over Nick Allen at shortstop. They’d presumably make an effort to bring Kim back on a multi-year deal in that scenario. Austin Riley will be coming back from core surgery. Nacho Alvarez Jr. hasn’t shown much consistency in his first real run as an everyday third baseman in Riley’s absence.
This stinks. He was driving the ball much better as his hand seemed to strengthen. Now, back to square one.
Blame it on Elphaba and Galinda.
I thought it was Elsa and Anna.
The cold never bothered me anyway.
A broken hamate will complicate assessing his current talent level as it wouldn’t be surprising if this zaps his power in 2026 just as the wrist injury seemed to do this year. Will the Braves ever see peak Albies again?
I don’t think he’ll be a 4-5 WAR player again. His power was already sapped before this injury which is the only thing that made his low OBP approach work. Maybe he can re-invent himself somehow, but I would say the odds are against him.
Very fun player at his peak, and a champion.
He’ll need to focus on getting it healed for next year. Unfortunately, that will affect the off-season preparation for him.
Unfortunately, the hamate is incredibly difficult and slow to heal. It’ll fuse in around 2 months with advanced medical care but full 100% recovery time for anybody older than a child/teenager is 2+ years. Bummer for dude.
he seemed to finally get past the injuries and get back to winning ways after 2 rough seasons… very nice 2nd half… and now again a fracture…
After a swing as opposed to a collision or HBP seems especially ominous for his recovery prospects.
And its the same wrist
How many times can you fracture it before permanent damage?
His HR output went from 33 to 10 & 16
Is he gonna be able to swing a bat at all now?
It happens once or twice a season with hitters, maybe more.
Nacho hasn’t shown much consistency …. but with “that name” he gets a spot on my team
Excellent timing!!!
There is no way in this world that Kim opts out of his deal. No one is offering him more then 6 mil per year
6M per year…that has to be a typo. Mediocre RP get that…and he’s the next best option to not paying 9-digits to Bichette (better SS option than Bichette). And there’s a lot of high numbers that don’t include 9-digits that is more than 6M AAV. Boras doesn’t need to be his vintage self to secure a higher deal than 16M guaranteed for 3+ years, possibly with opt-outs.
@Run: David O’Brien said earlier today that the starting point on Kim would be “3 years $65M.” Don’t believe that DOB has inside info, but that number does sound like a typical Boras ask. Might even be on the low side. Wouldn’t be shocked to see Kim get 4-5 years for $90M plus (not from the Braves though.)
@NashvilleJeff Its more likely that the Rockies make the playoffs next year then Kim getting 60 million, no chance
I saw that, but my numbers were more than likely on the low-end and not what he could get based on the market. It’s not that he’s that good, as much as there’s no SS starters available via FA. If he doesn’t get a deal to his liking, I could also see a larger (than 16M) pillow deal coming from somewhere.
Sixty million is not a high bar in a weak SS market- Kim would reach that easily if he opts out. Look at the dropoff in available talent after him, I’m just saying.
Wanna bet? Several teams could use a SS and Biggio is the only option this off season in FA, and no team will consider him a long term answer at the position. $10 MM per season is an easy get for him.
I’d argue that Cavan isn’t even a short term answer as a starting position player at this point
Not just SS needy teams. Consider SD needs a 1B / DH to offset Gavin Sheets.
Option: run it back with Kim at SS, Bog at 2b (or 1b) and Cro at the other.
Still will need a bench RH bat – maybe they finally give Campy another shot since they also need a backup C.
Yes, he opts out and yes, he gets a 4-5 deal with at least that 16 AAV. Longer years and opt outs could have some effect on AAV but he is getting paid.
Bring back Ozzie, give Kim whatever he wants to stay, go get a quality utility man like Willi Castro as both guys will likely miss time next year.
Rough season for Ozzie and the Braves. He and the team will be on a mission next year. Scary as a fan of an NL East rival.