Braves Rumors

Pitching Notes: Greene, Ynoa, Braves, Twins, Kuhl

By Mark Polishuk | May 10, 2021 at 12:55pm CDT

Shane Greene’s long free agent wait ended yesterday when he re-signed with the Braves on a one-year deal worth a prorated $1.5MM. “It seemed early on that a return to the Braves was his preference,” SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson writes (Twitter link), as Wolfson notes that the Twins were willing to offer Greene more money. This focus on Atlanta could explain why it took until May for Greene to land a contract, as David O’Brien of The Athletic estimated back in mid-March that the Braves were only willing to spend in the neighborhood of $1MM on Greene — given the prorated nature of Greene’s contract, he’ll end up earning around $1.1 or $1.2MM.

More pitching-related items from around baseball…

Another Braves/Twins link is explored by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, regarding how Atlanta acquired breakout star Huascar Ynoa from Minnesota back in 2017. The Braves wanted to move Jaime Garcia at the trade deadline, and initially discussed a trade with the Yankees that would have sent Garcia to the Bronx for then-Yankees prospect Nick Solak. Once those talks fell through, Atlanta pivoted and sent Garcia to Minnesota, and the Braves “did not do as much diligence on Ynoa as they normally would on a prospect” since their top priority was just to dump the rest of Garcia’s salary. In fact, Ynoa wasn’t even Atlanta’s first ask from the Twins’ farm system, as Nick Burdi was initially part of the proposed trade. From being a rather anonymous rookie ball pitcher and an apparent “plan C” type of pickup for the Braves, Ynoa has become an unexpected stalwart of the Atlanta rotation in 2021. The righty has a 2.23 ERA/3.19 SIERA and an above-average 28.4% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate over 40 1/3 innings, plus Ynoa has augmented that pitching production with two home runs and a 1.267 OPS over 15 plate appearances.
Pirates right-hander Chad Kuhl threw a live batting practice on Saturday as he continues to recover from right shoulder discomfort. In a radio interview on 93.7 FM (hat tip to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Pittsburgh GM Ben Cherington said Kuhl will return “before too long” but will first require a minor league rehab assignment. Kuhl has struggled in his first four starts of the year, posting a 6.32 ERA with more walks (16) than strikeouts (14) over 15 2/3 innings.

Braves To Sign Tanner Roark To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | May 10, 2021 at 10:47am CDT

The Braves are signing right-hander Tanner Roark to a minor-league contract, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). The veteran righty was recently cut loose by the Blue Jays.

After an extended run as a generally productive starter with the Nationals, Athletics and Reds, Roark signed a two-year, $24MM deal with Toronto during the 2019-20 offseason. That proved to be a poor investment for the Jays, with whom Roark tossed 47 2/3 innings of 6.80 ERA/5.36 SIERA ball in 2020. In the process, Roark’s already-middling strikeout rate fell more than three percentage points to 18.6%, while his typically strong walk rate spiked to a lofty 10.5%.

On the heels of that dismal season, the Jays didn’t give Roark much of a leash in this season’s early going. They designated him for assignment after just three uninspiring appearances in 2021. Roark coughed up seven runs in as many innings (five earned), while serving up three homers and striking out just five. His 6.9% swinging strike rate over that small sample has been the worst mark of his career, so the Toronto front office clearly didn’t envision a future turnaround.

Despite the surprise emergence of Huascar Ynoa, Atlanta’s rotation has posted some unspectacular numbers as a whole. Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly (both signed to free agent deals last winter) have gotten off to slow starts and Max Fried has spent some time on the injured list. Bryse Wilson, Kyle Wright, and Sean Newcomb are the club’s top depth option, though Roark has far more experience than any of those younger hurlers. While Roark might need some time at Triple-A to get himself back on track, he does represent at least an innings-eating possibility for the back end of the Braves’ pitching staff.

Braves To Re-Sign Shane Greene

By Anthony Franco | May 9, 2021 at 11:08pm CDT

The Braves are in agreement on a contract with free agent reliever Shane Greene, confirms MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Talkin’ Jake of Jomboy Media was first to report the deal (via Twitter). It’s a one-year contract worth $1.5MM, which will wind up prorated in the $1.1MM – $1.2MM range given the amount of time in the season that has already passed, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (via Twitter). Greene will begin with Triple-A Gwinnett to build back up into game shape, per Rosenthal.

Greene will return to the team with which he’d spent the past year-plus. Atlanta acquired the veteran righty from the Tigers at the July 31 trade deadline in 2019, and he spent the next couple seasons in manager Brian Sntiker’s bullpen. Greene has logged 52 1/3 innings of 3.27 ERA/3.87 FIP ball since the deal, cementing himself as one of the team’s more reliable relievers.

The 32-year-old reached free agency at the end of last season, but his market moved incredibly slowly. He was linked to the Twins before Minnesota signed Alex Colomé, but there were no other clubs specifically tied to Greene in recent months. That lack of reported interest was a bit puzzling, considering Greene has been something of a bullpen workhorse over the years. After moving to relief in 2016, the former Yankee and Tiger eclipsed 60 innings in each season through 2019. Last year’s shortened campaign obviously brought an end to that streak, but Greene still appeared in 28 of Atlanta’s 60 contests.

Generally, Greene has paired that durability with quality production. He’s managed an ERA of 2.66 or lower in three of the past four years, with a 5.12 mark in 2018 standing as the exception. While he’s typically been adept at keeping runs off the board, Greene hasn’t racked up the gaudy strikeout totals of most high-end relievers. That was particularly true last season, when he punched out just 19.3% of opposing hitters, a far cry from the 24.1% league average for bullpen arms (and down from the 23-25% range in which he landed each of the four seasons before). Greene’s 7.5% swinging strike rate and 4.51 SIERA in 2020 were likewise below-average.

That discrepancy between Greene’s strong bottom line results and his downturn in whiffs could help explain why it took until May for he and a team to find a mutually agreeable term. It’s not especially surprising he’ll return to a place with which he’s obviously quite familiar and where he’s had plenty of success.

The Braves’ bullpen hasn’t been especially productive to this point in the season. Atlanta relievers currently sit 22nd in ERA (4.56), 19th in strikeout minus walk rate (12.9 percentage points) and 21st in SIERA (4.09). A.J. Minter, Will Smith and Tyler Matzek have each pitched fairly well, but Josh Tomlin, Grant Dayton, Jacob Webb and Sean Newcomb are off to tougher starts. Luke Jackson has a shiny 1.50 ERA but less inspiring peripherals.

Even with Greene re-signed and Chris Martin soon to return from the injured list, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Atlanta bolster the relief unit at the trade deadline. Despite an underwhelming 16-17 start, the Braves remain right in the thick of the National League East race. Even after factoring in Greene’s salary, Atlanta’s payroll commitments check in just shy of $133MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That’s about $25MM south of the mark the Braves were slated to spend last season (prior to prorating), so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Liberty Media ownership group gives GM Alex Anthopoulos and company some leeway to make further midseason additions.

Snitker: Ronald Acuna Jr. Could Return To Lineup Today After Hit-By-Pitch

By Mark Polishuk | May 9, 2021 at 8:22am CDT

MAY 9: Fortunately, it seems Acuna avoided any major injury. The Braves announced last night he was day-to-day with a left pinky contusion and that X-rays had come back negative. After the game, manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Mark Bowman of MLB.com) the team “dodged a bullet” and said Acuna could be back in the starting lineup as soon as this evening if he feels fine during pregame batting practice.

8:59PM: Ronald Acuna Jr. was removed from tonight’s game in the seventh inning after the Braves star was hit in the left hand by a pitch. Phillies reliever Sam Coonrod hit Acuna with a 97.8mph sinker, and Acuna almost immediately left the field (in visible pain) after a visit from the trainer.

More will be known post-game, though the worst-case scenario would be a serious hand injury that would sideline Acuna for several weeks or months. Such a loss would be a potential disaster for an Atlanta lineup that has been inconsistent despite Acuna’s MVP-level performance thus far in the season.

Through 137 plate appearances, Acuna is hitting .313/.409/.652 with 10 home runs. Entering Saturday’s action, Acuna was leading the NL in both slugging percentage and OPS, and was leading the majors in both homers and runs scored (29). With Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna, Dansby Swanson, and (the currently injured) Travis d’Arnaud all off to slow starts in 2021, it isn’t a huge exaggeration to say that Acuna has carried the Braves’ offense.

This isn’t Acuna’s first injury scare of the season, as he suffered a mild abdominal strain that forced him out of a game back on April 18. That issue ultimately didn’t require a visit to the injured list, however, and Acuna was back in action by April 23. It should be noted that Acuna has hit only .200/.328/.400 in the first 61 PA since that abdominal injury, though some regression was probably inevitable after Acuna’s red-hot start.

Braves Designate Carl Edwards Jr. For Assignment

By TC Zencka | May 8, 2021 at 12:26pm CDT

The Braves announced a number of roster moves today, recalling Jasseel De La Cruz and Victor Arano from Triple-A. To create the roster space, Sean Kazmar Jr. was optioned to Triple-A and Carl Edwards Jr. was designated for assignment.

Edwards Jr. didn’t much of an audition with the Braves. The former Cub, Padre, and Mariner made just one appearance in Atlanta, serving up three earned runs on three hits and a walk. The only out he recorded was a strikeout. On the bright side, the String Bean Slinger struck out the side in his only appearance in Triple-A. Kazmar Jr. has been called up a couple of times now, but he has just two plate appearances in three games.

As for the newcomers, the 23-year-old De La Cruz has yet to make his Major League debut. The right-hander finished 2019 in Double-A. Arano, meanwhile, made 73 appearances out of the Phillies’ bullpen from 2017 to 2019. He owns a 2.65 ERA across 74 2/3 innings. The Braves claimed him off waivers in January.

Braves Designate Nate Jones, Select Carl Edwards Jr.

By Steve Adams | May 7, 2021 at 12:53pm CDT

The Braves announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Nate Jones for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow righty reliever Carl Edwards Jr., whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also optioned right-hander Edgar Santana to Gwinnett.

Jones, 35, inked a minor league deal with the Braves over the winter and parlayed a dominant Spring Training effort into an Opening Day spot in the Atlanta ’pen. Unfortunately, the regular season didn’t bring about the same results as Jones enjoyed in Grapefruit League play. Through 10 1/3 innings this season, Jones has walked 10 batters, hit another and allowed eight hits (three homers). He’s limited the damage to six runs (four earned), but that lack of control ultimately cost him his roster spot.

The oft-injured Jones has scuffled in recent seasons but at one point was a lights-out setup man for the White Sox. He spent parts of eight seasons with the South Siders, pitching to a 3.12 ERA over the life of 291 1/3 innings out of the Chicago bullpen. Whether he can ever reclaim that form remains to be seen, but Jones came out of the gates in 2021 with a still-very-healthy 95.8 mph average velocity on his heater. The Braves will have a week to trade him, pass him through outright waivers or release him. He has more than enough service time to refuse an outright assignment if he clears waivers.

Edwards, 29, will be looking to bounce back from what has been a relatively swift decline in recent years. From 2016-18, he was one of the Cubs’ primary bullpen arms and was quite impressive along the way, compiling a 3.03 ERA while striking out nearly 35 percent of his opponents. Control was an issue (13.5 percent walk rate), but Edwards looked the part of a high-quality, late-inning arm.

However, Edwards began to unravel in Sept. 2018, when he walked 12 of the final 38 batters he faced in a total of just seven innings pitched. He began the 2019 campaign in similarly shaky fashion, pitching to a 5.87 ERA with nine walks, a hit batter and eight hits (three homers) allowed in 15 1/3 frames. The Cubs somewhat surprisingly moved on, and he’s been unable to find his stride again since that time. He looked sharp in a brief stint with the Mariners in 2020 but ended up missing the bulk of the season due to a forearm strain.

If Edwards is able to recapture his peak form, he’ll give the Braves a high-octane strikeout artist who can be controlled for another season via arbitration. Walks will likely to continue to be an issue even if he does find some success, however, which isn’t ideal for a club whose bullpen already has the fifth-highest walk rate in the Majors (12.2 percent).

Whether Edwards rebounds or not, Atlanta could eventually turn to the trade market to augment a bullpen that currently ranks 23rd in the Majors in ERA (4.58), 21st in FIP (4.41) and 25th in SIERA (4.23).

Braves Sign Tyler Flowers To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | May 6, 2021 at 2:40pm CDT

2:40pm: Flowers will earn a prorated $1.5MM base salary upon reaching the big leagues, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.

12:22pm: The Braves have re-signed veteran catcher Tyler Flowers to a minor league contract, reports David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). The O’Connell Sports client will head to Triple-A Gwinnett for the time being.

O’Brien reported last month that Flowers had taken a non-playing role in the Braves organization, helping to blend data from the team’s analytics department with game preparation. The door for a potential return was seemingly left open, and the recent injuries to Travis d’Arnaud and Alex Jackson have brought about a more acute need. The Braves recently selected the contract of light-hitting but defensively sound veteran Jeff Mathis, and for now he’s being paired with prospect William Contreras behind the dish.

Flowers, 35, hit just .217/.325/.348 in a tiny sample of 80 plate appearances with the Braves last year. He racked up 1300 plate appearances from 2016-19, however, hitting at a .254/.350/.412 clip along the way. Flowers was one of the early focuses of the game’s increasing interest in pitch framing, as he’s long rated among the game’s best at getting borderline pitches called for his staff.

It’s not clear at this time whether the Braves will get d’Arnaud back in 2021. He’s slated to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in the thumb on his catching hand, and while the Braves are hopeful he’ll be available late in the year, no official timeline has been provided.

Braves Activate Max Fried

By Connor Byrne | May 5, 2021 at 5:28pm CDT

Max Fried will make his return to Atlanta’s rotation Wednesday with a start against Washington, the team announced. The Braves optioned left-hander Sean Newcomb to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Fried hurt his right hamstring while running the bases on April 13, adding injury to insult in what was an awful outing. The 27-year-old yielded eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits and two walks in that game prior to his departure. It was the second poor start out of three to begin 2021 for Fried, who has put up an atrocious 11.45 ERA in 11 innings. Along the way, Fried has allowed 23 hits, including three home runs.

The issues that haunted Fried before his IL placement didn’t rear their head during the 2020 season, when he came in fifth in National League Cy Young voting. Last year’s version of Fried logged a marvelous 2.25 ERA over 56 innings, totaled 50 strikeouts against 19 walks, and gave up only two home runs. He also registered a 53.0 percent groundball rate, which has fallen to 41.5 this season.

Fried hasn’t been the only letdown in the Braves’ rotation this year, as newcomers Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly have joined him in preventing runs at a below-average clip. And the team has received zero contributions from Mike Soroka, who hasn’t pitched because of shoulder troubles. Thanks in part to the adversity their starting staff has faced, the Braves are just 13-16. However, the back-to-back-to-back National League East champions are still only 1 1/2 games back of the top spot in their division.

NL East Notes: Soto, Fried, Guillorme

By Mark Polishuk and TC Zencka | May 2, 2021 at 6:12pm CDT

Juan Soto was placed on the injured list on April 20, so the Nationals have already been without their superstar hitter beyond the 10-day minimum as Soto works his way back from a strained left shoulder. However, manager Davey Martinez updated reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com) about Soto’s progress today, noting that Soto has started throwing from 120-foot distances. The next step is for Soto to throw to particular bases, and Zuckerman suggests that if Soto goes through this drill on Monday’s off-day, the outfielder could potentially be activated in time for Tuesday’s game with the Braves.

Throwing is the only real roadblock to Soto’s return, as Martinez said the slugger doesn’t feel any discomfort while swinging. As a result, Soto has been staying sharp at the plate by “hitting off that velo machine, we’ve got machines that throw breaking balls,” Martinez said. Soto was in the process of another big season (.300/.410/.460) in his first 61 plate appearances before heading to the injured list.

Braves Place Travis d’Arnaud On 60-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | May 2, 2021 at 3:40pm CDT

May 2: The Braves moved d’Arnaud to the 60-day injured list after it was revealed that he has a torn thumb ligament which will require surgery, tweets the Athletic’s David O’Brien. The Braves hope to get d’Arnaud back late in the season, but that’s far from a guarantee, especially with the injury on his catching hand.

May 1: Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud is headed to the injured list after suffering a left thumb injury in tonight’s game with the Blue Jays, manager Brian Snitker told David O’Brien of The Athletic and other reporters. More will be known about d’Arnaud’s injury after he undergoes tests, though Snitker bluntly described the situation as “not good.” D’Arnaud isn’t staying with the team on the road, as he is heading back to Atlanta to visit team doctors on Sunday.

D’Arnaud suffered the injury on a play at the plate in the sixth inning. The catcher tagged out Randal Grichuk on Grichuk’s attempt to score from first on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. double, but d’Arnaud immediately indicated he was hurt, and was replaced in the game by Alex Jackson.

William Contreras will be called up prior to tomorrow’s game to take d’Arnaud’s spot on the active roster. Contreras made his MLB debut with four games for Atlanta last season, and it is perhaps little surprising that the Braves are going with the inexperienced Contreras over 14-year veteran Jeff Mathis, who signed a minor league deal just prior to Opening Day.

Atlanta does have a full 40-man roster, however, and would have to open up a spot in order to officially select Mathis’ contract. Contreras is also a noteworthy prospect (ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Braves’ sixth-best minor leaguer), and it could be that the team wants to give Contreras some seasoning in advance of a potentially larger role for 2022 and beyond.

D’Arnaud was off to a slow start this season, hitting .220/.253/.341 through his first 87 PA. Though d’Arnaud has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, he was able to stay mostly healthy in 2019-20 and was very productive, including a .321/.386/.533 performance over 184 PA in 2020 that won him a Silver Slugger Award. It was a strong early return on the two-year, $16MM free agent deal the Braves made with d’Arnaud in the 2019-20 offseason.

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