Luke Jackson Diagnosed With Damaged UCL
The Braves received disheartening news regarding the health of reliever Luke Jackson, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (via Twitter). The team announced MRI results that revealed damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, an injury that often results in Tommy John surgery.
Jackson will explore all the options before making a decision, but Tommy John surgery is certainly within the realm of possibility. In that case, Jackson would not be likely to return until sometime during the 2023 season.
The 30-year-old right-hander is coming off a breakout year for the World Champion Braves. Jackson made 71 appearances, logging 63 2/3 innings, and posted a sparkling 1.98 ERA during the regular season. There may have been some bounces in Jackson’s favor, as fielding independent pitching marked his performance at 3.66 runs per nine innings. Regardless, he recorded a career-high 31 holds in 2021.
The Braves invested heavily in their bullpen this offseason, however, and ought to be able to weather the loss of Jackson. Kenley Jansen, Kirby Yates, and Collin McHugh were all added to the bullpen this winter to balance lefties Will Smith, Tyler Matzek, and A.J. Minter as late game options for Atlanta.
Braves Sign Preston Tucker To Minor League Deal
The Braves have signed Preston Tucker to a minor league contract, according to an announcement from Double-A broadcaster Chris Harris (on Twitter). It’ll be the second stint in the organization for the now 31-year-old outfielder, who appeared in 80 games with the Braves back in 2018.
That stint marked Tucker’s most recent as a major leaguer. He preceded his younger brother Kyle Tucker in the Astros outfield, breaking in with Houston in 2015. The elder Tucker hit a serviceable .243/.297/.437 as a rookie, but he mustered only a .164/.222/.328 mark in 48 games the following season. After spending the entire 2017 campaign in Triple-A, Tucker split the 2018 season between the Reds and Braves.
Over parts of three MLB seasons, the left-handed hitter owns a .222/.281/.403 line. In 2019, he made the jump to the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization, kicking off a productive three-year run there. Tucker was one of the better players in the KBO during each of his first two seasons, following up a .311/.381/.479 debut showing with an even better .306/.398/.557 line in 2020.
Tucker’s production fell during his final season with the Gwangju-based Tigers. He managed just nine homers and a .113 isolated power (slugging minus batting average) in 539 plate appearances last season. His strikeout and walk numbers remained impressive, but Tucker’s results on batted balls evaporated en route to a .237/.334/.350 line. Nevertheless, Tucker still had a quality .284/.372/.466 mark in three KBO seasons.
He’ll now make the return to affiliated ball in hopes of getting back to the majors for the first time in four years. He’s strictly a corner outfield option, and the Braves already have Adam Duvall, Marcell Ozuna, Eddie Rosario and Alex Dickerson likely to receive playing time there. Travis Demeritte and the center field-capable Guillermo Heredia and Drew Waters are also on the 40-man roster (as, of course, is star Ronald Acuña Jr.). Tucker likely slots behind that group on the organizational depth chart, but he’ll have an opportunity to try to his play his way onto the radar with a productive high minors showing.
Brock Holt Granted Release From Braves
The Braves announced this morning that veteran utilityman Brock Holt requested and was granted his release. He’d been in camp on a minor league deal in hopes of winning a roster spot in Atlanta but will now return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.
It’s common for veteran players to exercise out clauses and/or request their release in this manner late in Spring Training. Manager Brian Snitker tells reporters that Holt had been informed he would not make the team (Twitter link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and the club honored his request to explore other options. Veterans Phil Gosselin and Pat Valaika are still vying for a utility spot, Toscano adds.
Holt, 33, spent the 2021 season with the Rangers and appeared in 77 games, batting .209/.281/.298 in 260 trips to the plate. That rough season continued a downturn at the plate that began in 2020, but Holt still isn’t too far removed from a productive 2018-19 stretch in Boston that saw him slash .286/.366/.407 in a larger sample of 662 plate appearances.
A left-handed hitter known for his defensive versatility, Holt’s jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none skill set has found him consistent opportunities at the big league level dating back to 2014. He’s played every position on the diamond with the exception of catcher, including 2 1/3 innings on the mound. Holt’s work in center field is limited to just 75 innings, but beyond that he’s played at least 224 innings in both outfield corners and at all four infield slots.
With rosters expanding to 28 players for the early portion of the season, a versatile veteran with Holt’s overall track record at the plate — he’s a .262/.332/.362 hitter in 2661 MLB plate appearances — ought to have interest from other clubs. For what it’s worth, he went 3-for-9 with a home run, a double and a walk in his limited time with the Braves this spring.
Braves Notes: Rotation, Jackson, Freeman
During last year’s World Series run, the Braves found themselves mixing and matching at the back of the rotation behind Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson. Atlanta hasn’t done much to solidify that group this winter, leaving themselves to again count on a handful of less-proven arms at the back end.
Manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) over the weekend that righties Kyle Wright and Huascar Ynoa look like the favorites for the fourth and fifth spots. Ynoa always seemed to have a leg up after posting a 4.05 ERA/3.62 SIERA in 18 appearances last season. Wright, on the other hand, made just two regular season starts in the majors. The 26-year-0ld had a nice showing at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he worked 137 frames of 3.02 ERA ball. A former top five pick and highly-regarded prospect, Wright hasn’t yet had a ton of MLB success, but his minor league production and the quality of his arsenal still offer reason for Atlanta brass to believe in him as a long-term option.
The Braves are scheduled to play every day from their April 7 opener through April 20. With that heavy workload to start the year, Toscano writes the club could lean on a six-man starting staff early on. If that bears out, rookie Spencer Strider — who climbed four minor league levels last season to reach the majors in September — could assume the final spot, Toscano writes, with lefties Tucker Davidson and Kyle Muller also in that mix.
All those pitchers outside the Braves top three starters have minor league option years remaining, so any of that group could be sent back to Gwinnett throughout the season. They could also spill over into a multi-inning role out of the bullpen. Atlanta has one of the league’s strongest relief units on paper, but a key member has yet to pitch this spring.
Luke Jackson has been dealing with some forearm tightness, the team told reporters (including David O’Brien of the Athletic). The 30-year-old has been throwing on the side, so the Braves clearly aren’t concerned he’s facing a significant absence, but it’s not known whether he’ll have time to get into regular season game shape by next week. Jackson has been in the Atlanta bullpen for the past five years, but he had a particularly successful showing in 2021, pitching to a 1.98 ERA/3.75 SIERA in 63 2/3 frames.
While the Braves rotation looks much the same as it did last season, their position player shakeup was one of the stories of the offseason. Atlanta acquired Matt Olson and let Freddie Freeman walk in free agency. General manager Alex Anthopoulos and the front office were no doubt aware that decision would be a divisive one among the fanbase, and Freeman himself suggested in the immediate aftermath he was taken aback by the Olson trade. At his introductory press conference with the Dodgers, Freeman suggested Braves brass wasn’t as communicative as he’d expected they’d be throughout his stint on the open market. He also seemed to dismiss Anthopoulos’ assertion the Olson trade was the most difficult move of his executive career.
Chatting with the Journal-Constitution’s Gabriel Burns over the weekend, Freeman walked back those comments and took a brighter tone. The five-time All-Star said he chatted with the Braves baseball ops head last week and apologized for the comments he’d made at his introductory presser. “It helped to hear his side of things,” Freeman told Burns. “I won’t divulge what we talked about. But you can imagine what we talked about in three hours. It was good for us to now be good again. Now, when we see each other, we can just hug. I asked him to come to LA (for the series in April). I don’t think he was going to come to the LA series when they came out. I said, ‘Please, I want to see you and give you a hug because we did so many good things together.’”
Regardless of whether the fences are mended, the Braves and Dodgers figure to have plenty of memorable clashes over the coming seasons. The pair met in last year’s NL Championship Series, and they again look to be two of the top teams in the Senior Circuit. FanGraphs’ projections indeed forecast Los Angeles and Atlanta as the NL’s top two clubs heading into the year.
Braves Sign Seth Elledge To Minor League Deal
The Cardinals announced this morning that right-hander Seth Elledge has been granted his unconditional release, and he’s quickly latched on with a new club. Elledge updated his social media profiles to reflect that he’s with the Braves organization (hat tip: Katie Woo of The Athletic), and MLBTR has confirmed that the righty indeed signed a minor league deal there.
Elledge, 25, was a fourth-round pick by the Mariners back in 2017 and found himself in the Cardinals organization by way of a 2019 trade that sent reliever Sam Tuivailala from St. Louis to Seattle. Elledge made his big league debut with the Cards in 2020 and wound up pitching exactly 11 2/3 innings for St. Louis with an identical 4.63 ERA in each of the past two seasons. He’s fanned 24% of the 52 big leaguers he’s faced and averaged 93.9 mph on his heater, but Elledge also walked seven hitters (14.4% walk rate) and hit another in his brief MLB looks. The Cardinals outrighted Elledge off the 40-man roster following the 2021 season.
Above-average strikeout rates and sub-par walk rates have been a hallmark of Elledge’s time both in the big leagues and in the minors. He carries a 3.93 ERA, 30.6% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate in parts of four pro seasons, but he’s had some particularly pronounced struggles in Triple-A (5.66 ERA, 13% walk rate in 70 frames). Command issues notwithstanding, Elledge regularly ranked in the middle tiers of the Cardinals’ prospects. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen listed him 17th among St. Louis farmhands heading into 2021, praising Elledge’s mid-90s sinker and plus slider while noting that he has a tendency to lose command of the latter.
Elledge isn’t on the 40-man roster with the Braves, but he has a pair of minor league options remaining, so if he’s selected to the big league club at some point, he’ll provide Atlanta with some bullpen flexibility over the remainder of the season. He also doesn’t have a full year of MLB service time under his belt yet, so he’s technically controllable through 2027 — though a lot needs to go right before that’s even a factor to consider.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/26/22
The Marlins optioned Bryan De La Cruz, Nick Fortes, Alex Jackson, and Lewin Diaz to Triple-A, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter). Diaz’s demotion might raise an eyebrow or two, but Jesus Aguilar and Garrett Cooper have first base covered at the big league level. De La Cruz’s demotion is the more surprising of the bunch, as the 25-year-old was thought to be in contention for at-bats in center field after posting a 115 wRC+ in 219 plate appearances last year.
Of course, Miami’s well-advertised desire to add a center fielder might have been clue enough to suggest the organization did not expect De La Cruz to be “the guy” in center. Offseason additions Jorge Soler and Avisail Garcia have the outfield corners locked down, while Jesus Sanchez becomes the frontrunner to start opening day in center. Brian Anderson will see time in the outfield as well, while Jon Berti will backup center. Delino DeShields and Roman Quinn remain in competition for a roster spot, notes Joe Frisaro of Man On Second Baseball (via Twitter). In other roster moves…
- The Pirates have optioned top pitching prospect Roansy Contreras to Triple-A, one of a number of roster moves made in anticipation of opening day. Yerry De Los Santos, Enmanuel Mejia, Hunter Stratton, and southpaw Blake Weiman were also reassigned to minor league camp, per the team. Contreras, the former Yankees’ farmhand, is the prospect of particular note here, the Pirates’ fourth-ranked prospect, per Baseball America. The 22-year-old made his Major League debut in 2021 in a scoreless, 3-inning outing, but he was not expected to make the opening day rotation. After all, though he made his debut, he also made just one start in Triple-A last season, spending most of the year in Double-A, pitching to a 2.65 ERA/2.74 FIP across 54 1/3 innings spanning 12 starts.
- The Braves reassigned Brad Brach and Michael Harris II to minor league camp, the team announced. Brach posted a 3.05 ERA over 415 appearances from 2012 to 2018 with the Padres, Orioles, and Braves. In the three years since, however, Brach has struggled to a 5.77 ERA with the Mets, Cubs, and Reds. In Cincinnati last season, Brach logged a 6.30 ERA/5.04 FIP in 30 innings over 35 appearances. Harris, 21, slashed .294/.362/.436 in 420 plate appearances in High-A last season.
Braves Sign R.J. Alaniz, Brandon Brennan To Minor League Deals
The Braves have signed relievers R.J. Alaniz and Brandon Brennan to minor league contracts, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Both right-handers picked up brief MLB action last season.
Alaniz made three appearances with the Reds during the final couple weeks of the year. That marked his first action at the highest level since 2019, when he combined for 12 appearances between Seattle and Cincinnati. Alaniz has allowed 18 runs in 18 1/3 career innings, but he’s coming off a nice season in Triple-A.
The 30-year-old made 33 appearances with the Reds’ top affiliate in Louisville. He tossed 39 innings of 3.46 ERA ball, punching out an impressive 26.9% of opposing hitters. He issued walks at a slightly elevated 10.2% clip, but he missed enough bats in the minors to get a late-season cameo in Cincinnati. The Reds outrighted him off their roster at the end of the year, at which point he elected minor league free agency.
Brennan, 30, was briefly a teammate of Alaniz with the Mariners in 2019. Seattle selected him out of the White Sox’s farm system in the Rule 5 draft the year prior, and he stuck on the active roster all year for a rebuilding M’s club. Brennan made 44 appearances, pitching to a 4.56 ERA with a decent 24% strikeout percentage but a 12.2% walk rate. Carrying him on the roster all season entitled the Mariners to his long-term contractual rights, but an oblique strain limited him to five appearances in 2020.
Seattle designated Brennan for assignment last April, and he landed with the Red Sox via waivers. He only made one appearance in Boston, tossing three scoreless innings but getting DFA the next day as the Sox needed fresh arms for the bullpen. He cleared outright waivers but was released in September after posting just a 5.97 ERA in 37 2/3 frames with Triple-A Worcester.
The Braves have quite a bit of their season-opening bullpen already locked in. They’ve added Kenley Jansen, Collin McHugh and Tyler Thornburg to a unit that already included Will Smith, Luke Jackson, Tyler Matzek and A.J. Minter, with Sean Newcomb and Dylan Lee perhaps factoring into the mix. There’s unlikely to be room for either Alaniz or Brennan in the early going, but they both figure to serve as experienced depth options with Triple-A Gwinnett.
31 Players On Track For Arbitration Hearings
201 arbitration eligible players have reached agreements with their teams on a 2022 salary, most of which occurred just prior to Tuesday’s filing deadline.
According to Jake Seiner of The Associated Press, 31 arbitration eligible players remain unsigned and are on track for hearings. Due to the lockout, the hearings are expected to take place during the season if agreements are not reached. The full list of unsigned players, which includes Aaron Judge, Willson Contreras, and Dansby Swanson, can be found in our tracker. Judge, having submitted a $21MM figure against the Yankees’ $17MM submission, represents the largest gap at $4MM.
All the other gaps are less than $2MM, and the smallest is the $200K separating Lucas Giolito and the White Sox. Yesterday, Giolito told reporters that the sides were only $50K apart prior to filing, which the righty described as “very unfortunate, disheartening.”
The Braves have five of the 31 cases, with Swanson, Adam Duvall, Luke Jackson, Max Fried, and Austin Riley. Six of the 31 players were traded this offseason: Jesse Winker, Adam Frazier, Gary Sanchez, Chris Bassitt, and Jacob Stallings.
A look at the number of hearings by year in the last decade:
- 2021: 8
- 2020: 12
- 2019: 10
- 2018: 22
2017: 15 - 2016: 4
- 2015: 14
- 2014: 3
- 2013: 0
- 2012: 7
Multiyear deals are always an option, and we record those in our extension tracker.
Free Agent Notes: Correa, Braves, Story, Tigers, Cueto
The Braves were somewhat surprisingly connected to Carlos Correa prior to the lockout, and the two sides did re-engage to some extent before Correa signed with the Twins, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Atlanta didn’t make Correa an offer. It was actually agent Scott Boras who reached out to the Braves as he was gauging the market for his client, and Rosenthal writes that Boras “floated” the same three-year, $105.3MM deal with two opt-outs that Correa eventually signed with Minnesota.
While nothing came of these negotiations, Rosenthal does wonder if Correa (assuming he opts out) might be a target for the Braves next winter, as incumbent shortstop Dansby Swanson will be a free agent. Signing Correa to a long-term deal would surely require Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos to make his biggest expenditure yet, though the Braves will have quite a bit of money coming off the books in the form of Swanson, Kenley Jansen, and depending on club options, Charlie Morton and Will Smith.
More from around the league…
- The Giants and Astros were the other finalists for Trevor Story‘s services, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link). Expanding on San Francisco’s interest, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic writes that the Giants “did recruit him quite a bit,” even if “a few of their people always felt [Story] was headed for Boston.” Among other suitors, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes writes that the Twins discussed multiple contract scenarios with Story but the team’s preference seemed to be a pricey but shorter-term contract, like Minnesota’s eventual three-year, $105.3MM deal with Carlos Correa.
- The Tigers were known to be looking at all of the “big six” free agent shortstops, and signed Javier Baez to a six-year, $140MM deal prior to the lockout. There wasn’t much known about the Tigers’ negotiations with Story, though Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press reports that “Story wasn’t interested in the Tigers’ proposed contract structure.” This is an interesting wrinkle considering that Story also got six years and $140MM from the Red Sox, though Baez’s salary is a bit backloaded and he can opt out of the deal following the 2023 season. Story’s deal also has an opt-out decision but not until after the 2025 season, plus the Sox can overwrite Story’s opt-out by exercising a club option for a seventh year.
- In other Tigers news, GM Al Avila told Petzold and other reporters that the club is “done” their major offseason shopping after signing Michael Pineda for the back of the rotation. Detroit had one of the more aggressive and active winters of any club, and Avila and his front office also explored many other options besides the players they did acquire via trades and free agent deals. In regards to the Pineda contract, for instance, the Tigers looked at several other available veterans who ended up signing elsewhere, and Petzold adds that Detroit also considered Johnny Cueto. Last month, MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored Cueto’s free agent case, arguing that the 36-year-old was still a pretty decent option for teams looking for relatively inexpensive rotation depth.
Braves Discussed Craig Kimbrel Trade With White Sox
The Atlanta Braves recently discussed a Craig Kimbrel trade with the White Sox, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, before the Braves signed Kenley Jansen. That one-year, $16MM deal for Jansen is an exact match for the one-year and $16MM remaining on Kimbrel’s contract, which perhaps suggests that Atlanta’s pursuit of Kimbrel is no longer in the cards.
Even before last year’s playoffs were finished, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Kimbrel and the White Sox. Reports at that time stated that the club’s plan was to pick up Kimbrel’s $16MM option and then trade him in the winter. With Liam Hendriks already present as an elite closer, Kimbrel was seen as surplus to requirements. Prior to the lockout, the club further bolstered their bullpen with the signing of Kendall Graveman, seemingly only increasing the odds of a Kimbrel trade. During the lockout, MLBTR listed him as one of the players most likely to be dealt in the post-lockout period.
However, after ten days of post-lockout frenzy and with Opening Day just over two weeks away, Kimbrel is still on the roster. The club also added yet another hard-throwing reliever recently, signing Joe Kelly to a two-year, $17MM deal.
Although the clock is ticking, there are still reasons to think Kimbrel could eventually be moved. The White Sox are currently projected for a payroll of $194MM, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s miles beyond the club’s record for an Opening Day number, which was last year’s $129MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Between Hendriks, Kimbrel, Graveman and Kelly, they have over $44MM devoted to four relievers this year. While they could just roll into the season trying to have a super bullpen, it still seems more likely that they look to subtract Kimbrel’s salary from the ledger. The Blue Jays were recently reported to have checked in on Kenley Jansen. With Jansen now signed to the Braves, perhaps the Jays and any unknown Jansen suitors could now pivot to a Kimbrel deal instead.