The Braves announced that Dominic Smith and Kyle Farmer have been signed to Major League split contracts for the 2026 season. The two veterans were already in camp on minor league deals, but as Article XX(B) free agents, Smith and Farmer had the ability to opt out of their contracts five days before Opening Day if they weren’t added to the Braves’ 40-man roster.
These new deals mean that Smith and Farmer will be breaking camp with the club. The Braves have two open spots on their 40-man roster, so they can easily accommodate officially selecting Smith and Farmer closer to the team’s first game. Both players are out of minor league options and the Braves would have to designate either for assignment and then sweat out any waiver claims before sending either to the minors, plus Smith and Farmer have enough MLB service time to just reject a minor league assignment anyway.
It seemed like the two veterans were both somewhat long shots to make Atlanta’s roster, yet some opportunity was created when Jurickson Profar was issued a season-long PED suspension, and Ha-Seong Kim suffered a torn finger tendon that will keep him out until at least the start of May. The door may now be open for Smith to earn some at-bats as a left-handed hitting option for the DH spot, even if his usual first base spot is obviously filled by Matt Olson on an everyday basis. Smith has played in just one Major League game as an outfielder over the last four seasons, but he could get some occasional backup work if Ronald Acuna Jr. or Mike Yastrzemski needs a rest day.
For Farmer, Mauricio Dubon taking over the shortstop role in Kim’s absence means the Braves are short some versatile infield depth. Jorge Mateo and Brett Wisely are also competing for bench jobs and Eli White is expected to be the primary backup outfielder, and both Wisely and White are also out of minor league options.
Martin Perez is another minor league signing in Atlanta’s camp, and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that Perez has been told he isn’t making the team. However, the veteran southpaw will forego his first Article XX(B) opt-out clause and remain in the organization as a Triple-A depth farm.
😬
Produce and you stay and if not you go down.
So every minor leaguer of all time?
Im just happy to have actual usable players for depth. Biggest difference I’ve seen between Snitker and Weiss so far. You don’t want either of these two to get 500 ABs but Farmer hits lefties well and Smith has been decent or better almost his whole career.
I’m just happy for Smith. As a Met, I felt he was underwhelming as a player but he won me over during his short time with the Red Sox.
What does snit/weiss have to do with depth signings? Thats AA. And we cant tell much from usage yet. Its spring. I hope im wrong, but I think Weiss is just gona roll out Yaz everyday until HSK or Murphy returns.
Some things stay the same. AA still shopping on the clearance rack. This will be another wasted year. Neither them are major league level players. AA needs to use the 15 million on someone that can help you win games. These two do not.
Season hasnt started yet and you already know this is a wasted season? AA did more than shop on clearance. Yaz and Suarez plus resigning Iglesias greatly improved this club. Farmer and Smith would be better bench bats than Luke Williams. The Braves have a very light schedule to begin the season. They will be better than last season. That 15 million is best to hold until the deadline.
By the deadline, it might not matter if they are out of it.
AA spent money. We have a top payroll. And when that 15 (18) million came back (officially only a few days ago)… what options are even left? Some people cant think of anything to say besides the same tired lines “AA clearance rack blah blah blah”
Tap in for Monday Night Raw to see Dirty Dom “Mysterio” Smith and Rowdy Rowdy Tellez duke it out, live from The Battery Atlanta…
Finally, something exciting to look forward to
Rowdy’s gonna jump off the top rope!
As an avid and lifelong Braves fan, I am hoping we have a great season and close to what a lot of places on the markets have between 86 and 89 wins. I do feel that those market predictions are off in that they see the green flags with the roster in terms of the high end talent, but don’t see our red flags which is lack of depth that can’t really cover the lack of injuries we have. Yes, Profar’s $15 Million may come into play at some point to help address that, but other than the master stroke in 2021 in which everything came together with additions such as Soler, Rosario, and Pederson, but the roster builds these days are looking like Frank Wren era Braves although in a different way. The Braves do promote prospects better under Anthopolous than under Wren, and Anthopolous’ process of signing young core players at below market deals were the right process, but we have wound up in the same spot as the Frank Wren Braves (who made foolish big FA signings.) A top heavy roster that if a few players do not play or play well then the season is sunk because of the afore mentioned lack of depth, and pretty barren farm system. I want things to go well, but this is a year that will act as a compass on how the future of The Braves will be.
Stars and scrubs
@Dale
I agree with your assessment on AA’s tenure and the rosy projections for number of wins this season.
Even if the key players stay healthy, which is certainly not likely, I don’t see them finishing above 3rd place in the east. And the Marlins finished ahead of them in the standings last year. There could very well be a repeat of that 4th place finish this season.
Reynaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes can be really good when healthy. I think it’s asking a lot to not have one or both to be sidelined at some point.
I don’t trust Lopez’s shoulder and the issue with Grant’s elbow seems like a Tommy John surgery just waiting to happen.
That means possibly having to count on Bryce Elder to make starts. He can have flashes of pitching well but he has not been able to do so in a fashion that inspires much confidence that he can be counted on consistently.
As a Braves fan I hope I’m wrong.
Glad for Dom Smith. He really helped the Giants last season
With Eldridge sent down to AAA much rather have Smith backing up Devers than Encarnacion
Red: Agree with you. Dom Smith did a great job on offense and defense with the Giants last year and he was a good clubhouse guy. I’m hoping that when Devers needs a day to DH that most of the reps go to Schmitt. It’ll probably be Encarnacion though as you say. I actually think Devers will play often as the 1B though. Encarnacion is decent in the corners in the OF too. We’ll see how Vitello handles it all. Encarnacion’s bat has a lot of pop. Give Ramos a little more time off and that gets Encarnacion more at bats in LF. All that said, health is a factor with Jerar. Sorry Braves fans. Didn’t mean to hijack but with Yaz and Smith I’ll follow them too. GL to your Braves this year
Crazy how all these people on here have negative thoughts about the Braves and the season hasn’t even started. In this 3 team wild card era all have to make the playoffs. The Braves should be right there all year.
The worst record play off team that Atlanta has had recently was the one that won it all in 2021. All a team has to do is get hot.
Before all these negative thoughts we should give the Braves a while of regular season games to see how they finish.
Some people have a different perspective than yourself. There will always be negative opinions of every team. No reason to get bent out of shape and ask people to withhold their opinions. The beautiful thing about baseball is every season is a clean slate, regardless of which side you lean. Yay baseball!!