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Braves Rumors

Max Fried Loses Arbitration Hearing Against Atlanta

By Simon Hampton | February 4, 2023 at 11:58am CDT

Atlanta’s Max Fried lost his arbitration hearing against the team, according to Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The CAA Sports client will be paid $13.5MM for the upcoming season, rather than the $15MM he’d filed for.

Fried’s been a quality starter for a number of years now, but put together his best season yet in 2022, tossing 185 1/3 innings of 2.48 ball. The left-handed Fried walked batters just 4.4% of the time – about half that of the league-average, while striking out batters at a 23.2% clip. That output was worth 5 fWAR, an All Star appearance and a runner-up finish in NL Cy Young voting. Fried also took home a Gold Glove for his defense.

The 29-year-old has been one of the sport’s best starters over the past few seasons. Since 2020, Fried owns a 2.68 ERA over 407 innings (69 starts). However, his brilliant season in 2022 evidently wasn’t enough to sway the case in his favor, and he’ll take home $1.5MM less than he’d argued for in his third season of arbitration eligibility (Fried is a Super Two player). It’s the second straight season Fried and Atlanta have gone to a hearing to determine his salary. Last season he took home a $6.85MM salary after winning his case against Atlanta, who had argued for a salary of $6.6MM – a $250K difference.

At times, the difference in salary can seem rather trivial given the salary being earned, and particularly in this case given Fried’s standing as one of the best pitchers in the game. So it’s worth taking a look at this article from MLBTR from 2015 for a deeper look inside the arbitration process, and why teams haggle over what can sometimes seem like rather insignificant sums of money.

This is Fried’s penultimate year of club control, and barring a long-term extension he’ll go through arbitration once more next winter before hitting free agency after the 2024 season. Of course, given Atlanta’s recent habit of tying up their stars to long-term contracts it certainly wouldn’t surprise to see them make a play at keeping Fried long term, although his output to date and dwindling years of club control would suggest it’d take a significant sum to get a deal done.

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Braves Sign Yolmer Sanchez To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | February 1, 2023 at 12:10pm CDT

The Braves announced their full slate of non-roster invitees to spring training Wednesday, noting within that they’ve signed veteran infielder Yolmer Sanchez to a minor league contract. The MVP Sports Group client will vie for a roster spot this spring. It’s his second stint with the Braves, having also spent the 2021 season with their Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett.

Sanchez, 30, has appeared in parts of eight big league seasons dating back to 2014. That includes a three-year run as the White Sox’ primary second baseman from 2017-19, which culminated in Sanchez winning a Gold Glove for his defensive prowess at the position.

While he had a roughly average year at the plate in 2017, when he batted .267/.319/.413 through 534 plate appearances, Sanchez’s overall offensive track record is lackluster. He’s a career .243/.299/.355 hitter, including just a .244/.316/.317 slash dating back to 2019. He totaled 44 trips to the plate between the Red Sox in 2022 but went just 4-for-37 at the plate in that stretch. He posted a heartier .246/.372/.394 slash in 396 plate appearances between the Triple-A affiliates for the Red Sox and Mets last year.

Sanchez has been primarily a second baseman in his career, but he has more than 2700 innings at third base and more than 2100 innings at shortstop under his belt as a professional as well. He’s posted plus defensive grades at second base (11 Defensive Runs Saved, 16.2 Ultimate Zone Rating, 6 Outs Above Average in 3581 innings) and at third base (12 DRS, 6.3 UZR, 9 OAA). He’s only logged 99 innings at shortstop in the big leagues, though, and the majority of his experience there came in the minors back in 2012-14.

The shortstop experience could still hold some appeal to a Braves club that let Dansby Swanson walk as a free agent and has opted to stay in-house to replace him. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has touted young Vaughn Grissom and veteran Orlando Arcia as the two primary options to replace Swanson. It’s doubtful Sanchez would be under consideration for a full-time look at short, even in the event of injuries/struggles from both Grissom and Arcia, but he could be an occasional option there if he snags a bench job. He joins fellow veterans Adeiny Hechavarria and Ehire Adrianza as non-roster players who’ll look to work their way into the infield mix in some capacity this spring.

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Atlanta Braves Transactions Yolmer Sanchez

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Braves Agree To Minor League Deals With Adeiny Hechavarria, Magneuris Sierra

By Anthony Franco | January 30, 2023 at 9:14pm CDT

The Braves recently agreed to minor league contracts with a number of players, according to an announcement from Double-A broadcaster Chris Harris (Twitter link). Among those joining the organization: infielder Adeiny Hechavarria, outfielders Magneuris Sierra and Forrest Wall, and reliever Brian Moran. All four players will get non-roster invitations to Spring Training. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN first reported Wall’s signing yesterday.

Hechavarria, 33, has the most MLB experience of the group. An everyday shortstop early in his career with the Marlins, he settled into a utility role after being traded to the Rays midway through the 2017 campaign. He played for five different clubs between 2018-20, including 51 games for Atlanta over the latter two seasons that marked his most recent big league action.

The Cuban-born infielder has decent bat-to-ball skills but has primarily been a bottom-of-the-lineup hitter due to modest power and below-average walk rates. He’s compiled a .253/.291/.351 line in just under 3300 big league plate appearances over parts of nine seasons. Hechavarria posted plus defensive grades at shortstop during his time with the Fish but saw those marks drop off by 2019, when he started to see increased work at second and third base.

Hechavarria signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball during the 2020-21 offseason. He limped to a .213/.238/.307 line in 473 combined plate appearances at Japan’s highest level over two seasons. He split his NPB defensive work between shortstop and third base and offers some additional infield depth in Braves’ camp.

Atlanta has Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley cemented at second and third base, respectively, while Vaughn Grissom and Orlando Arcia are set to battle for the shortstop job. Arcia would assume a utility role if Grissom wins that job as most outside observers anticipate, while Braden Shewmake is also on the 40-man roster as a depth option. Hoy Park, Ehire Adrianza and Joe Dunand also figure to get non-roster camp invites.

Sierra, 26, has appeared at the MLB level in each of the last six years. The lefty-swinging outfielder was a highly-regarded prospect thanks to his speed and defensive acumen and was part of the package the Marlins received from the Cardinals in the Marcell Ozuna trade. He played parts of four years with the Fish but never hit enough to cement himself as a regular. A complete lack of power has kept Sierra from making an offensive impact, as he still has yet to collect a big league home run in 636 plate appearances.

Last season, Sierra got into 45 contests for the Angels as a depth outfielder. He hit .165/.200/.242 through 96 trips to the dish but had posted a roughly league average .297/.358/.437 showing in 76 games with their Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake. Sierra’s just a .228/.273/.272 hitter as a big leaguer. He’s swiped 29 bases in 38 MLB attempts while playing above-average defense in center field.

Rookie of the Year Michael Harris II is obviously locked into center field on an everyday basis for Atlanta. Sierra joins fellow non-roster invitee Kevin Pillar in offering some upper level depth to compete for reps in Spring Training and potentially with Triple-A Gwinnett.

The 27-year-old Wall also steps into that mix, though he has yet to reach the highest level. Selected by the Rockies as a supplemental first-rounder in the 2014 draft, he drew some prospect attention for his contact skills and speed. Wall hit well through his first few minor league campaigns and was dealt to the Blue Jays in 2018 for reliever Seunghwan Oh. After a quality 2019 season in Double-A, the lefty-swinging outfielder saw his bat stall out at the top minor league level.

Wall played the 2022 season with the Mariners as a minor league free agent. He mustered just a .255/.333/.354 line with six home runs over 467 plate appearances in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. That wasn’t enough to earn him a big league look, although he continued to demonstrate the athleticism that had made him an interesting prospect. Wall led all Triple-A players with 52 stolen bases, though he was also thrown out 12 times (the third-highest total at the level). He played mostly center field last year but could be a better fit in left thanks to a below-average throwing arm.

Moran, a sidearming left-hander, joined Sierra in the Angel organization in 2022. Like Hechavarria and Sierra, he’s also a former Marlin. The 34-year-old has pitched in 18 big league games over parts of three seasons, allowing ten runs with 17 strikeouts but nine walks in 11 1/3 innings. He made one MLB outing for the Halos last April, surrendering a couple runs while recording one out against the Rangers.

He had a solid season for Salt Lake, logging 48 2/3 innings of 4.07 ERA ball in the PCL. Moran punched out 24.6% of batters faced against a tiny 6.6% walk percentage. The UNC product was surprisingly hit hard by left-handed batters but limited righties to a putrid .286 on-base percentage in Triple-A. He’ll add some depth behind A.J. Minter, Dylan Lee and Lucas Luetge.

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Atlanta Braves Transactions Adeiny Hechavarria Brian Moran Magneuris Sierra

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Darren O’Day Announces Retirement

By Drew Silva | January 30, 2023 at 1:13pm CDT

Right-hander Darren O’Day announced his retirement from baseball on his personal Twitter account on Monday morning.

“The mental, physical, and time demands have finally outweighed my love for the game,” wrote the 40-year-old submarine reliever. “When I started in 2006, I didn’t know if I was good enough to compete in MLB, but I was determined to keep going until someone told me otherwise. I hope anyone out there who does things a little different can find inspiration in my story.”

O’Day went undrafted after a solid NCAA tenure at the University of Florida, but he quickly latched on with the Angels and made his MLB debut with that organization in 2008. He wound up pitching for six total teams — Angels, Mets, Rangers, Orioles, Braves and Yankees — during his impressive 15-year major league career and will hang up his cleats having registered a collective 2.59 ERA with 637 strikeouts, 166 holds and 21 saves in 609 frames at baseball’s highest level. Baseball-Reference has his final career earnings wrapping up just shy of $50MM.

O’Day’s best year on the mound was 2015, when he earned his lone All-Star nod and delivered an overall 1.52 ERA and 82 strikeouts (with only 14 walks) in 65 1/3 innings for the O’s, who then signed him to a four-year, $31MM contract the following winter. The unconventional right-hander was obviously far more than just a one-hit-wonder given how long he lasted in the bigs and how many different clubs saw him as a fit for their respective bullpen mixes along the way. Between the 2009-2021 campaigns, he posted a 2.37 ERA in 586 appearances and collected 21 saves. He also logged 30 postseason appearances in that timeframe, including four in the World Series in 2010 with the Rangers.

O’Day signed a minor league contract with the Braves last winter and put up a 4.15 ERA and 26-to-10 K/BB ratio across 21 2/3 innings in the first half of the 2022 regular season. He suffered a calf injury just before the All-Star break and then a season-ending sprain of his right big toe in September. His last pitch as a major leaguer came on July 11 against the Mets.

MLBTR wishes O’Day well in the next chapter of his life.

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Atlanta Braves Baltimore Orioles Los Angeles Angels New York Mets New York Yankees Newsstand Texas Rangers Darren O'Day Retirement

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NL Notes: Schuerholz, Braves, Astros, Mets, Dodgers

By Mark Polishuk and Drew Silva | January 29, 2023 at 5:50pm CDT

Before the Astros hired Dana Brown as their new general manager, the team also interviewed one of Brown’s co-workers from the Braves front office in special assistant of scouting operations Jonathan Schuerholz, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports.  Schuerholz played six seasons in Atlanta’s minor league system (from 2002-07) before moving into a minor league instructor role for the next seven seasons, and then in front office since October 2014 in assistant director roles in the player development and scouting departments.

Houston’s search involved candidates with several differing levels of experience, ranging from at least one former MLB general manager in Bobby Evans to a former manager in Brad Ausmus, who has mostly worked in on-field roles apart from brief stints as a special assistant in the front office with the Angels and Padres.  (Brown was the Braves’ VP of scouting, a role that won’t be filled since Nightengale writes that the team specifically tailored the job to Brown himself.)  Schuerholz was one of the younger known candidates at age 42, though he comes from a noteworthy lineage — Schuerholz’s father John is a Hall-of-Fame executive known for his success in building World Series winners in Atlanta and Kansas City.  The younger Schuerholz could well be a name to watch in future years as teams look to fill GM/president of baseball operations vacancies.

More from around the National League…

  • With the Mets signing Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, and Jose Quintana to fill their rotation holes this winter, in-house names like David Peterson and Tylor Megill were pushed down the depth chart, and might not even be on New York’s active roster to begin the season.  “If those guys start the year in Triple-A, we have two guys that probably deserve to be in the big leagues just from their past performance and their stuff,” Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner told Mike Puma of the New York Post.  That said, Hefner noted the unlikelihood of the Mets’ top five starters getting through the season in perfect health, so the team will keep Peterson and Megill stretched out and “readily available” to step into the rotation if a need arises.  If they are on the big league roster, Peterson and Megill could work out of the bullpen in the interim, and Hefner said the Mets haven’t yet decided on whether Joey Lucchesi will also be used as a reliever or might be stretched out in the minors as starter depth.  Lucchesi underwent Tommy John surgery midway through the 2021 season and didn’t pitch at all last year as he continued to rehab.
  • The Dodgers’ multi-positional players give the club some flexibility, but president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in an interview today on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that he currently views the regular lineup with Max Muncy at third base, Gavin Lux at shortstop, Miguel Vargas at second base and Chris Taylor in the outfield.  Miguel Rojas, acquired via trade from the Marlins earlier this month, is being thought of as more of a utility option, offering sound defense in reserve.  Vargas made his MLB debut last season and didn’t actually see any action at second base over his first 18 big league games, plus he played far more third base than second base in the minors.  Still, the Dodgers clearly think highly of the top prospect’s potential, and Vargas’ .304/.404/.511 slash line in 520 plate appearances at Triple-A indicate that he is ready for a longer look in the Show.
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Atlanta Braves Houston Astros Los Angeles Dodgers New York Mets Notes David Peterson Joey Lucchesi Miguel Vargas Tylor Megill

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Braves Extend Manager Brian Snitker Through 2025

By Anthony Franco | January 27, 2023 at 4:52pm CDT

The Braves announced Friday they’ve signed manager Brian Snitker to an extension through the 2025 season. He’d been headed into the final guaranteed year of his contract, which also contained an option for 2024. Atlanta has preemptively triggered that option and tacked on an additional season for the Illinois native.

It’s familiar territory for Snitker, who has signed a handful of short-term extensions since taking over the dugout midway through the 2016 season. An organizational lifer who has spent more than four decades with the franchise, he stepped into almost immediate success as skipper. Snitker won the NL’s Manager of the Year award by his second full season at the helm after overseeing an 18-win improvement between 2017-18.

That 2018 campaign saw the Braves win 90 games and an NL East title. It kicked off a stretch of five years (and counting) atop the division, one which has seen the club play at a 90-plus win pace in four of those seasons (including the shortened 2020 schedule). The lone exception, an 88-73 showing in 2021 that looked like a relative “down” year, was more than salvaged in October. Despite carrying the worst regular season record of any playoff team, Atlanta knocked off the Brewers and Dodgers before winning a six-game World Series over the Astros.

It was the Braves’ first World Series win since 1995. The club rewarded Snitker by exercising a 2023 option on his contract a year early. They didn’t replicate their playoff success last season but had their best regular season showing in nearly two decades. Atlanta won 101 games, topping the triple-digit mark for the first time since 2003. An otherworldly second half was capped off with a late-season sweep of the Mets to all but clinch the division, erasing a deficit that had reached as high as 10 1/2 games at the beginning of June. Unfortunately for Braves’ fans, it was the third-place Phillies who made the deepest playoff run among NL East clubs, with Philadelphia eliminating Atlanta in four games during their Division Series.

While it obviously wasn’t the manner in which the Braves envisioned their season ending, there’s no question of the success they’ve had under Snitker. The club has gone 542-451 in parts of seven seasons with him at the helm, a 54.6% win percentage. Only the Dodgers, Astros and Yankees have a longer active postseason streak than Atlanta. No other club has won its division in five straight years.

The 67-year-old Snitker has certainly had the fortune of working with extremely talented rosters. No manager is exclusively or even primarily responsible for a club’s successes and failures, and the Braves’ strong run is primarily thanks to their core of young stars. Yet Snitker has helped keep the club remarkably consistent over the past half-decade, and the front office is clearly confident in his ability to continue doing so over the next few years.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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Astros Name Dana Brown General Manager

By Steve Adams | January 26, 2023 at 12:49pm CDT

The Astros have hired Braves vice president of scouting Dana Brown as their new general manager, the team announced Thursday. He’ll replace James Click, who held the position from 2020-22 but departed after the season.

“We are excited to have Dana join our organization,” Astros owner Jim Crane said in today’s press release. “He brings championship caliber experience to our team and is the right fit for us to continue to deliver a winning franchise on and off the field. We welcome Dana and his family to the Astros family.”

Brown has been the Braves’ vice president of scouting for the past four seasons, overseeing drafts that netted the Braves talent such as Spencer Strider, Michael Harris, Vaughn Grissom, Shea Langeliers and Bryce Elder. Prior to being hired by Atlanta in 2019, he was a special assistant in the Blue Jays’ front office for nine years — overlapping with current Braves president of baseball operations (and former Toronto GM) Alex Anthopoulos for a substantial portion of that tenure. Brown spent the nine preceding seasons as the director of scouting for the Expos/Nationals and was an area supervisor and crosschecker in the Pirates’ scouting department for eight years in the 90s.

Even six months ago, the notion of the Astros needing to hire a new general manager would’ve registered as a surprise. There were reports of growing friction between Crane and Click late in the 2022 season, but winning tends to cure all, and the Astros not only made a deep postseason run but took home their second World Series title in the past six seasons — Click’s first in just his third year on the job.

However, while 73-year-old skipper Dusty Baker was content to take a one-year extension despite having just secured a championship, Click understandably sought a multi-year offer with his original three-year contract drawing to a close. Crane put forth what was widely viewed as a token one-year extension offer — Click’s World Series counterpart Dave Dombrowski, for comparison, was extended through 2027 by the Phillies — which was swiftly rejected by Click. The Astros announced Click’s departure two days later and, on the same day, fired assistant GM Scott Powers, whom Click had hired away from the Dodgers back in Jan. 2022.

The Astros have operated without a general manager throughout the offseason. Crane has personally taken a large role in baseball operations, negotiating Rafael Montero’s three-year, $34.5MM deal to return to the club and Jose Abreu’s three-year, $58.5MM contract. Assistant GMs Bill Firkus, Andrew Ball and Charles Cook have all retained roles near the top of the hierarchy, and former Astros star and current front office advisor Jeff Bagwell has also reportedly influenced the team’s baseball operations decisions.

Brown will now step to the top of the Astros’ baseball operations department, ostensibly with full autonomy over the team’s roster decisions moving forward. Reports have indicated that Crane was more involved than most owners even prior to Click’s departure — he nixed a deadline trade that would’ve sent Jose Urquidy to the Cubs for Willson Contreras — and only time will tell whether he has a more hands-off approach with his newly minted general manager.

Brown’s appointment as general manager marks at least something of a philosophical shift from recent regimes. Former president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow, who was fired in the wake of the 2017 trashcan scandal, was among the foremost voices in bringing about the analytical revolution in modern baseball front offices. Click, meanwhile, came from a similarly data-driven Rays organization, where he’d served as vice president of baseball operations and, per the Rays (at the time of his hiring in Houston) had “a focus on baseball research and development” and “baseball systems,” among other responsibilities.

That’s not to say that neither Luhnow nor Click had any scouting acumen themselves, just as it’s not to say that Brown is unfamiliar with many of the data-oriented principles that guide modern front offices (to varying extents). Nonetheless, Brown’s background is rooted in more traditional types of player evaluation; the Astros, under Luhnow, moved away from in-person scouting to put a greater focus on video scouting. That had already begun to change under Click, who worked hard over his final year to replenish some of the scouting resources lost under the prior regime’s shift.

Just as we can’t yet know whether Crane’s more hands-on approach will change with Brown in the GM’s chair, it’s impossible to state whether the Astros will pivot to a more scouting-heavy focus — or at least a more balanced blend between data-based and scouting-based evaluations. Brown and Crane will surely speak on the matter in the near future; the Astros have called a 2:30pm press conference to formally introduce their new general manager.

Mark Berman of FOX 26 first reported that Brown would be Houston’s new GM (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of the Houston Astros.

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Alex Anthopoulos Discusses Braves’ Shortstop Situation

By Anthony Franco | January 23, 2023 at 11:50pm CDT

The Braves watched Dansby Swanson depart in free agency this winter. They’ll enter the season with something of a question mark at shortstop for the first time in six years as a result.

As things stand, shortstop looks like a two-man battle between young infielder Vaughn Grissom and utilityman Orlando Arcia. Grissom, 22, is seemingly the organization’s shortstop of the future. He has just 41 MLB games under his belt and comes with some questions about his ability to handle the position defensively, as many prospect evaluators have suggested he’d be a better fit for second base or left field. Arcia has a much longer MLB track record but owns a modest .243/.295/.369 line in just under 2200 career plate appearances.

Veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus remains unsigned and would seem a viable fit on paper for a win-now Atlanta team in a competitive division. There’s no indication the Braves have explored the possibility of adding a stopgap shortstop, though. Atlanta has placed a decent amount of trust in their highly-touted young players in recent seasons, and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos expressed optimism about the in-house candidates over the weekend.

Anthopoulos acknowledged that some have defensive concerns with Grissom but noted that well-respected infield coach Ron Washington has offered strong reviews on his offseason work. “I can see how the scouting community might have questions about Vaughn. I had questions about Vaughn when I first saw him,” Anthopoulos said (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “And I’ve been wrong plenty of times. The difference is we have a guy in Ron Washington who’s unbelievable with this stuff. He wouldn’t just say something to say it. … And, look, we don’t know how Vaughn’s going to hit. He’s got to earn the job. Orlando Arcia can do it, too. But Wash really believes in Vaughn. We believe in Vaughn, too, but we’re going to go with who we think the expert in that area is, and I don’t know anybody better in the game than Ron.”

Certainly, the Braves would love for Grissom to seize the position out of the gate. The right-handed hitter impressed during his first crack of major league action, hitting .291/.353/.440 with five home runs over 156 plate appearances. He showed an aggressive approach but quality bat-to-ball skills. Grissom played mostly second base with Ozzie Albies injured last season, with public defensive metrics painting him a couple runs below average in 347 innings of work.

Albies will be back at the keystone, while Austin Riley has third base secured. The only non-shortstop position in the lineup that’s unsettled is left field, where a hodgepodge of players led by Eddie Rosario look to be competing for reps. Skipper Brian Snitker stressed over the weekend that Grissom wouldn’t factor into the corner outfield during exhibition play, with the club viewing him solely as an infielder (via David O’Brien of the Athletic).

The 28-year-old Arcia is a lower-upside veteran fallback. He’s coming off the best offensive showing of his career in a part-time role, hitting .244/.316/.416 with nine homers through 234 trips to the plate. That was the first above-average slash line of his seven big league seasons. Arcia made hard contact at a career-high 42.5% clip to collect 18 extra-base hits over 68 games. It was a nice year for the 28-year-old to at least put himself in the mix for the shortstop position if Grissom falters, although his modest career track record at the plate raises questions about whether he could maintain his 2022 production over a full year of everyday shortstop reps.

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Atlanta Braves Orlando Arcia Vaughn Grissom

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Injury Notes: Acuña, Clevinger, Rockies

By Drew Silva | January 22, 2023 at 12:13pm CDT

Ronald Acuña Jr. had a relatively disappointing showing at the plate in 2022, coming off his season-ending right ACL tear in July 2021, but the dynamic three-time All-Star believes he will be back at full strength leading into 2023. “I’m feeling 100 percent and I’m ready to go back to normal, and I definitely don’t want to play DH anymore,” Acuña told Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday.

Acuña delivered a combined .925 OPS in his first 1,764 major league plate appearances between 2018-2021 before sinking to a .764 OPS in 533 plate appearances last year. He made 27 starts at DH for the Braves in 2022, after logging — or requiring? — only one total DH start across his entire four previous MLB seasons. In general, he’s averaged 38 home runs and 34 stolen bases for every 162 games played as a big leaguer. Last year: 15 homers, 29 steals in 119 games. As he moves further and further away from that knee injury, the reigning NL East champs should become all the more dangerous.

Acuña is going to DH in the Venezuelan Winter League finals, per Toscano, and he has also stated a desire to represent his native country in the Winter Baseball Classic. But the 25-year-old outfielder noted to David O’Brien of The Athletic that the Braves’ medical staff is unlikely to clear him to play in the upcoming WBC because it is more of a time and physical commitment than Winter League. Essentially, they just really want him to stay in camp.

  • Mike Clevinger signed a one-year, $12MM contract with the White Sox earlier this winter. Soon after, he received a platelet-rich plasma injection to aid in the healing of a knee injury that hampered him down the stretch with the Padres last season and led to a disappointing overall 4.33 ERA. With his knee on the mend, and his November 2020 Tommy John surgery fully in the rearview, the White Sox believe the 32-year-old right-hander can get back to being his old top-of-the-rotation self. “We broke down some biomechanics stuff after we signed him to kind of show him the differences,” pitching coach Ethan Katz told James Fegan of The Athletic. “Where he was different in all aspects of his delivery, which was probably in correlation to the knee … Now that he is healthy, he is working on it. His bullpens and the videos that I have seen, there’s been no kind of restrictions or anything that’s slowed him down from being able to be aggressive on that back leg.”
  • Ryan Rolison, the Rockies’ top selection in the 2018 MLB Draft and perhaps a big rotation piece for their future, is said to be 100 percent recovered from the left shoulder surgery that knocked his pro career off track last season. He did not pitch in MLB-affiliated ball at all in 2022 and ultimately went under the knife in June. “We are better than we were a year ago,” Rockies GM Bill Schmidt said to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post in a recent chat, making note of Rolison’s rebounded health. “We have created some competition for some guys,” Schmidt added. “And, overall, our organizational depth is better.” Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, and José Ureña would seem to be locked into the top three rotation spots for Colorado. Rolison could perhaps battle with Austin Gomber and Connor Seabold at the back end. Peter Lambert (elbow) is also expected to be healthy heading into camp and might get another look for MLB starts at some point in 2023.
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Braves, Kevin Pillar Agree To Minor League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | January 18, 2023 at 5:25pm CDT

The Braves and outfielder Kevin Pillar are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Pillar will make a $3MM salary if he cracks the club’s roster. He’s a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management.

Pillar, 34, was selected by the Blue Jays in the 32nd round of the 2011 draft. He worked his way up to the majors by 2013 and took over an everyday job in 2015, which he held with the Jays through 2018. Over those four seasons, Pillar got into 601 games and hit .263/.301/.401. That production was 12% below league average by measure of wRC+, but Pillar was able to provide value with his speed and defense. He stole 68 bases in that period while producing 57 Defensive Runs Saved and got a 29.4 grade from Ultimate Zone Rating.

The Jays went into a rebuild in the latter parts of that timeframe and they flipped Pillar to the Giants in April of 2019. That began the journeyman phase of Pillar’s career, as he’s suited up for the Giants, Red Sox, Rockies, Mets and Dodgers over the past few campaigns. He’s continued to hit at a similar rate but his work in the field has naturally slipped as he’s gotten deeper into his 30s.

The most significant variant for Pillar this year will likely be his health. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers last year and posted a huge .315/.412/.622 batting line in 36 Triple-A games. That production led to a 150 wRC+, indicating he was 50% above league average. He got selected to the big league team in May but was placed on the injured list after appearing in just four games due to a left shoulder fracture. That injury required surgery which was initially reported as “season-ending,” though Pillar did attempt a late-season comeback by starting a rehab assignment in September. There wasn’t quite enough runway for Pillar to return, however, and his season was limited to just those four contests.

For the Braves, two of their outfield jobs are spoken for by Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II. The left field position is less settled, with various in-house options. Eddie Rosario. Marcell Ozuna, Sam Hilliard, Eli White and Jordan Luplow will likely be battling each other for either full- or part-time work with the big league club. If Pillar is healthy and looks good in spring or as the season gets going, he could work his way into the mix if an opportunity presents itself.

Pillar’s $3MM salary is larger than most players on minor league deals normally secure, which is somewhat noteworthy for a club that’s slated to go into luxury tax territory for the first time. Roster Resource currently pegs their competitive balance tax figure at $241MM, beyond the $233MM base threshold. Assuming they don’t find a way to shed some salary and dip back beneath the line, they’re lined up to pay a 20% tax on all spending that goes over the boundary, which would include Pillar’s salary if he makes the team.

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