Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Braves Rumors

Braves Expect To Exercise Club Options On Ozuna, Bummer, d’Arnaud

By | at

The Braves are planning to exercise their 2025 club options on designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, left-hander Aaron Bummer and catcher Travis d’Arnaud, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos implied as much at today’s end-of-season press conference, saying each has “put himself in a good spot.” All three had strong seasons — Ozuna in particular — so none of the decisions should register as a major surprise. Ozuna’s option calls for a $16MM salary next season, while Bummer will be paid $7.25MM and d’Arnaud $8MM.

Ozuna, 34 next month, slugged 39 home runs this season — the second-highest mark of his career — and turned in a robust .302/.378/.546 slash on the season. That production clocked in at a weighty 54% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+ (154). That’s the second-best mark of Ozuna’s career and his best mark in a full, 162-game campaign; his career-high 178 mark came during the shortened 2020 season. Dating back to 2023, Ozuna has clobbered 79 home runs for the Braves and played in all but 18 of their games.

Atlanta’s deadline acquisition of Jorge Soler makes the 2025 roster a bit clunky with Ozuna also in the fold. Both are nominal corner outfielders who are best deployed primarily as a designated hitter. The Braves plugged Soler into their injury-plagued outfield mix after acquiring him this summer, in hopes of bolstering a lineup that was missing Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II at the time.

Soler did just that, hitting .243/.356/.493 and clubbing nine homers in 193 plate appearances in his return to Atlanta, but he also posted brutal defensive marks in a third of a season of left field work (-10 Defensive Runs Saved, -6 Outs Above Average). With Soler signed through 2026, Atlanta could try to live with his defense for a year and then turn Ozuna’s DH slot over to Soler in 2026, but there will surely be at least some degree of trade chatter surrounding Soler this winter as well.

As for the other two option calls, both seemed obvious. Bummer was acquired from the White Sox last offseason and had a nice first year in his new environs, rebounding from a down year to provide 55 1/3 innings of 3.58 ERA ball with even better underlying metrics. The 6’3″ southpaw punched out 28.3% of his opponents and issued walks at only a 7.4% clip — the second-lowest mark of his career. His 59.7% ground-ball rate, while lower than his mammoth 64.9% career mark, was still about 17 percentage points higher than the league average. Add in the fact that his option came with a $1.25MM buyout (effectively making it a net $6MM call) and that his contract also contains a $7.5MM club option for 2026, and there was never much doubt he’d be back in ’25.

Turning to the 35-year-old d’Arnaud (36 in February), he’ll be back for a sixth season at Truist Park after slashing .238/.302/.436 with 15 homers in 341 plate appearances. That’s only a bit better than league-average on a rate basis (103 wRC+), but it’s strong production relative to catchers throughout the league, who tend to be about 10% worse than average at the plate. It’s particularly stout production for a team’s No. 2 catcher, which is the role d’Arnaud will occupy with Sean Murphy still in the early stages of a six-year contract.

Injuries to Murphy expanded d’Arnaud’s workload this year, and he handled the increased usage reasonably well on both sides of the plate. His 19.1% caught-stealing rate was below par, but not by much, and his framing work was roughly average. Statcast credited him as slightly better than average when it comes to blocking balls in the dirt. As d’Arnaud enters his age-36 season, it’s always possible that his defensive skills could drop off sharply, but assuming better health from Murphy, d’Arnaud will probably also be asked to shoulder a smaller workload than 2024’s 706 innings.

The Braves hold a fourth club option as well — a $7MM option on right-hander Luke Jackson. Atlanta reacquired the longtime Brave alongside Soler in that deadline swap with the Giants. He pitched 18 innings with a 4.50 ERA and huge 31% strikeout rate … but also a 13.1% walk rate. Coupled with his time in San Francisco, he finished the season with a 5.09 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate in 53 innings.

Jackson’s option comes with a $2MM buyout, but even at a net $5MM price the Braves seem likely to move on. Atlanta has a deep (and expensive) bullpen featuring Raisel Iglesias, Joe Jimenez, Pierce Johnson and the aforementioned Bummer. That quartet alone will combine for $39.75MM in 2025 salary. The Braves will also see lefty Dylan Lee reach arbitration for the first time.

Latest On The Braves’ Rotation Plans

By | at

On the heels of the Braves’ abrupt elimination from the postseason after being swept out of the Wild Card Series in two games by the Padres, Atlanta will now turn its attention to the coming offseason.

The dominating narrative of the club’s winter figures to be the future of longtime starter Max Fried, who has been a stalwart of the club’s rotation for the past half decade but is slated to hit free agency in November. The 30-year-old southpaw figures to be one of the better starting pitching options on the free agent market this winter alongside former NL Cy Young award winners Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell. In 112 starts since the start of the 2020 season, Fried has pitched to a sterling 2.81 ERA (151 ERA+) with a 3.11 FIP in 659 innings of work. That’s the sort of run prevention talent that’s sure to score a significant payday in free agency, even in spite of his relatively pedestrian 23.6% strikeout rate over that same window.

What’s unclear at this point, however, is how involved the Braves will be in the bidding process for his services in 2025 and beyond. Fried is a key part of the club’s nucleus of talent and was a major piece of their 2021 World Series championship, but the same could also be said of both Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson when the pair hit free agency. Both Freeman and Swanson ultimately signed hefty contracts elsewhere while the Braves managed to continue to contend without them. As noted by The Athletic’s David O’Brien, it would not be a surprise to see the club follow a similar path with Fried. After all, Atlanta figures to welcome Spencer Strider back into the rotation sometime early next year, and the immensely talented righty would form a frightening front-end duo with likely NL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale.

Such a fearsome pairing at the front of the rotation could make the Braves comfortable with losing Fried, and O’Brien suggests that the club’s offseason shopping list may only require adding a veteran depth starter who can help fill things out behind Strider, Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach. While such a pursuit “seems likely,” O’Brien does note that the club could also simply stick with its deep internal reservoir of optionable starting talent that includes Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Ian Anderson.

Both Elder and Anderson have enjoyed significant success in the majors previously, while the club trusted Smith-Shawver to take the ball in Game 1 against the Padres earlier this week and Waldrep entered 2024 as a consensus top-50 prospect int he sport. It’s certainly feasible that one or more of those arms could emerge as a quality piece of the rotation mix in Atlanta next year, the quartet posted a combined 7.23 ERA in 61 innings of work in the majors this year. What’s more, only Elder has significant recent big league experience among that group: Waldrep and Smith-Shawver have combined for just nine total big league appearances in their careers, while Anderson last pitched in the majors back in 2022.

With such uncertainty surrounding those young options, it seems like adding another proven starter to the rotation mix should be a priority for the club even if they don’t aggressively pursue a reunion with Fried. Should the Braves shy away from the top of the market this winter, a handful of interesting mid-rotation arms should be available such as Michael Wacha, Andrew Heaney, and Luis Severino. Even a back-end starter in the mold of Michael Lorenzen or Martin Perez could be a solid addition that would provide the club with some stability in the #5 spot of its rotation while still leaving the door open for one of that aforementioned group of internal arms to seize a rotation spot. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently previewed the upcoming class of free agent starters, many of whom could be plausible fits for the club’s needs this winter.

Even if the club does pursue an innings-eating veteran for the back of its rotation, O’Brien notes that the club re-signing Charlie Morton for that role is “unlikely.” He goes on to relay that the organization believes the soon to be 41-year-old veteran could opt to call it a career rather than continue pitching in 2025 despite his roughly league average 4.19 ERA in 30 starts with Atlanta this year. A Florida native, Morton has preferred to pitch close to home in recent years, having pitched two seasons with the Rays from 2019-20 before pitching for Atlanta in each of the past four seasons. Given that, it would hardly be a surprise if the veteran decided it was time to hang ’em up and spend more time at home with his family even as Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that Morton has so far said that he isn’t ready to make any announcements about his future one way or the other at this point.

Diamond Sports Group Planning To Cut Ties With 11 MLB Clubs

By | at

Diamond Sports Group said in court today that it plans to broadcast just one MLB club next year, the Braves, per reporting from Evan Drellich of The Athletic. The company, which owns the Bally Sports Networks, also had deals with the Reds, Tigers, Royals, Angels, Marlins, Cardinals, Rays but plans on walking away from those. As Drellich notes, as part of the company’s ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, they can accept and reject contracts though the measures have to be approved by the court. The Brewers, Guardians, Twins and Rangers had one-year deals with Diamond for 2024. Those 11 clubs will now have to renegotiate new deals with Diamond or find other broadcasting arrangements.

Drellich provides some more specifics on X, noting that it’s more complicated than Diamond simply abandoning these 11 clubs, but that seems to be the company’s goal regardless. Alden González of ESPN adds some more details, noting that a confirmation hearing has been set for November 14 and 15 in Houston. The Marlins and Diamond have mutual interest in working out a new deal, per a report from Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. The Angels are working on a new deal with Diamond, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

Per Drellich, league representatives said they were “sandbagged” by the news. “We have no information about what is being done,” said Jim Bromley, lawyer for MLB. “We’ve had no opportunity to review and now we’re in front of the court and being asked to make our comments.”

The ongoing financial situation of Diamond Sports Group has been a significant part of baseball’s economic landscape for a long time and this could prove to be a major development as part of that narrative. Largely due to cord cutting, the regional sports network model has been gradually collapsing in recent history. In the 2022-23 offseason, reports emerged that Diamond was in rough shape financially and the company filed for bankruptcy before the 2023 MLB season began.

They dropped their contracts with the Padres and Diamondbacks during that 2023 campaign. It threatened to do the same with the Guardians, Twins and Rangers for 2024 but ultimately renegotiated lower fees with those clubs and continued those broadcasts through this year. Now it seems like the company is continuing down this path but with an even more aggressive severing of their existing ties to Major League Baseball.

This is bound to have short-term effects on clubs and players. These contracts have been sources of significant revenue for clubs, as MLBTR covered earlier this year. The 11 teams that Diamond plans to cut ties with were previously receiving between $33MM (Brewers) and $125MM (Angels) on an annual basis. Per reporting in April, the Padres were set to receive about $60MM in 2023 before their deal with Diamond collapsed. The league reportedly covered about 80% of those fees last year but didn’t plan to do so in 2024 and beyond.

Uncertainty around broadcast revenue seemingly played a major role in the 2023-24 offseason, which was disappointing for players. Teams like the Padres, Rangers, Twins and others were either cutting payroll or not increasing it as much as had previously been expected, with the TV situation often being used as justification. This appeared to play a role in various free agents not finding markets as strong as they had anticipated and many of them lingered unsigned into the early months of 2024 and/or signed for deals well below projections. It seems fair to expect that similar narratives could emerge in the coming winter.

Per González, a company source says that Diamond is still hoping to sign new deals with the 11 clubs being cut out today. However, that would presumably involve reduce fee payments, such as those received by the Guardians, Twins and Rangers this year. As mentioned up top, the Marlins and Angels seem to expect to continue their relationship with Diamond/Bally in 2025, though negotiating new deals may take some time.

In the long-term picture, MLB might be happy to be further cutting ties with Diamond. They have continually expressed skepticism about the company’s plans to stay afloat. Diamond has tried various methods of refinancing, including signing a streaming deal with Amazon, but the league hasn’t seemed convinced that any of the company’s plans would lead to long-term stability.

As mentioned, the league has already started selling some games to fans in direct-to-customer fashion. Commissioner Rob Manfred has aspirations of marketing a digital streaming package consisting of several MLB teams, which fans could watch without blackout restrictions. MLB.TV already exists and allows fans to watch most games, but the RSN deals lead to certain teams being blacked out in the areas covered by those deals.

Having less commitment with Diamond going forward will increase the viability of that streaming plan over the years to come. However, as mentioned, less TV revenue figures to have a sizeable impact on the short-term economics of the game. This will lead to ripple effects throughout the upcoming offseason and will likely be worrisome for certain players hitting the open market in the coming weeks. New deals could be negotiated between now and the 2025 season, which could put some money back on the table, though likely less than in previous years.

There is also the matter of the fan experience, as there were times in 2024 where the Braves were not available on TV to some customers during a dispute between Bally’s and Comcast. For fans of these 11 clubs today, they will have to keep an eye on the proceedings to determine if their favorite club will still be accessed in the ways they are accustomed to or if they will have to switch to some new broadcast model.

Chris Sale Not On Braves’ Wild Card Roster

By | at

The Braves announced their roster for the Wild Card series today and it does not include left-hander Chris Sale. The club is going with an even split of 13 pitchers and position players, the latter group including two catchers, five infielders and six outfielders.

Sale had an excellent bounceback season in 2024 and could be awarded a Cy Young trophy in a few weeks, but the campaign ended on a frustrating note. He hasn’t taken the mound since September 19 against the Reds. In that outing, Sale’s velocity was down and he hasn’t pitched since. Up until yesterday, it seemed as though the club was just holding Sale to see if they would need him for a do-or-die game, otherwise hoping to hold him back for the first game of the Wild Card round.

Going into yesterday’s double-header, which was necessitated after two midweek games between the Mets and Atlanta were delayed by Hurricane Helene, both clubs needed a victory to secure a playoff spot. Spencer Schwellenbach started Game 1, which the Mets went on to win 8-7. It was expected that Sale would take the ball for the second contest but the club then announced that Sale had been scratched with back spasms. The issue had flared up during that start against the Reds and he kept hoping to be able to return to the mound but it didn’t improve and then worsened on Sunday night, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com (X links).

Based on Sale being left off the Wild Card roster, it can be assumed that the club doesn’t expect him to be game ready in the next few days. As mentioned, he is having a great season and undoubtedly would have been a part of their plans if he were healthy. He made 29 starts this year with a 2.38 earned run average, 32.1% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 44.8% ground ball rate.

Without Sale, the club will have to get creative to survive against the Padres. Due to the aforementioned double-header situation, they used a lot of arms yesterday. Schwellenbach started the first game and Grant Holmes the second. Neither of those pitchers are on the roster either, which makes sense since they probably wouldn’t be available for a few days anyway.

Max Fried and Reynaldo López will likely start game two and three respectively, as they would be on normal rest for those contests following their last regular season outings. Charlie Morton started on Sunday and might not be available early in the series, though he is on the roster.

For today, the club may be looking to get some innings out of Bryce Elder or AJ Smith-Shawver. Neither has been a huge part of the club’s performance of late but they may need to step up while the bullpen is taxed and the club can’t turn to Sale, Schwellenbach or Holmes. Elder posted a 6.52 ERA in the big leagues this year while frequently being optioned to the minors. He had a solid 3.73 ERA in Triple-A this year but hasn’t pitched for the big league club since August 6.

Smith-Shawver only pitched once in the majors this year, a spot start of 4 1/3 innings in May. He has a 4.85 ERA in Triple-A on the year, though he finished somewhat strong with a 3.68 ERA over his last seven starts.

In addition to Elder and Smith-Shawver, Atlanta’s playoff roster consists of Fried, Lopez, Morton, Aaron Bummer, Jesse Chavez, Daysbel Hernández, Raisel Iglesias, Luke Jackson, Joe Jiménez, Pierce Johnson and Dylan Lee. On the position player side, they have catchers Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud, infielders Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia, Whit Merrifield, Matt Olson and Gio Urshela, as well as outfielders Michael Harris II, Jarred Kelenic, Ramón Laureano, Marcell Ozuna, Jorge Soler and Eli White.

Braves Activate Reynaldo Lopez

By | at

TODAY: The Braves officially announced Lopez’s reinstatement from the 15-day IL.  Right-hander John Brebbia was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

SEPTEMBER 27: Reynaldo López will take the ball for the Braves tomorrow against the Royals, the team informed reporters (X link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). He’ll be reinstated from the 15-day injured list before the game. Atlanta will need to option a pitcher to open a spot on the MLB roster.

Atlanta has been without López for a couple weeks because of shoulder inflammation. That was the righty’s second IL stint in as many months. He also missed a couple weeks in August with a minor forearm issue. It’s not especially surprising that he’s battled some injuries down the stretch. López has taken on a significant workload jump in his return to the rotation. He has thrown 128 2/3 innings on the season, nearly doubling last year’s total of 66 frames while working out of the bullpen.

Aside from the injuries, the López signing couldn’t have worked out much better in year one. He has turned in a sparkling 2.03 earned run average. Among pitchers with 100+ innings, only rookie phenom Paul Skenes (1.99) has a lower ERA. While López’s peripherals aren’t quite that dominant, his 26.3% strikeout percentage and 8.1% walk rate are solid or better. If healthy, he’d slot behind likely NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale and Max Fried in a potential playoff rotation. Spencer Schwellenbach has had a fantastic rookie campaign and would be an excellent #4 option.

Of course, the Braves still have work to do if they’re to get into the postseason. They beat the Royals on Friday night to pull to 87-71. The Mets lost in Milwaukee, so the division rivals are tied with four games apiece to play. They have a doubleheader set for Monday. Splitting those would ensure the Braves have the tiebreaker. Both clubs are a half-game back of fifth seed Arizona pending the Diamondbacks’ result tonight.

Spencer Schwellenbach’s Emergence Is Huge For Atlanta

By | at

A lot has gone wrong for Atlanta this year. They came into the year as one of the best on-paper clubs. Prior to any regular season games being played, the Playoff Odds at FanGraphs gave them a 25.3% chance of winning the World Series and a 98.5% chance of making the postseason, both of those figures being the highest in the league.

It appears we may be living in one of the 1.5% of alternate universes where they don’t make the playoffs, as their season is currently on the brink. They are two games behind the Mets and 1.5 behind the Diamondbacks for the final two National League Wild Card spots with less than a week to play. They could still squeak in, especially as they’re hosting the Mets for three this week, but it’s going to be tight. That’s thanks to a combination of factors, as several players on the roster have either underperformed or missed significant time due to injury.

Things may have been even worse if not for a handful of positive developments. The Chris Sale pickup has worked out beautifully, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored in a piece for Front Office subscribers. Signing Reynaldo López and moving him back to a starting role has also worked out well. Marcell Ozuna is having his best season in years. But they’ve also gotten a huge performance from rookie Spencer Schwellenbach, which is a big development for the club both this year and in the future.

Schwellenbach came into the year with fairly limited experience. The righty was drafted in 2021 but had Tommy John surgery afterwards, which kept him from making his professional debut until 2023. Once he was able to retake the mound, the results were strong. He pitched 65 innings on the farm last year, split between Single-A and High-A, allowing 2.49 earned runs per nine. He struck out 21.6% of opponents and kept his walks down to a 6.3% rate.

Another eight starts in the minors to start 2024, between High-A and Double-A, led to him getting a quick push to the majors. Atlanta had already lost Spencer Strider to season-ending UCL surgery and needed help in the rotation.

Schwellenbach was added to the roster and made his major league debut on May 29, just two days before his 24th birthday. He now has 19 starts under his belt and looks the part of a legit big league starter. In 109 2/3 innings, he has a 3.61 ERA. He has struck out 26.3% of batters faced and limited walks to a 4.9% clip.

Despite his fairly short track record as a professional, he seems to have a diverse and polished arsenal. Per Statcast, he has thrown six different pitches this year: a four-seamer, a sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and splitter. He has thrown all six of those offerings at least 7.4% of the time, and all but the sinker have been thrown at a 13.6% clip or higher. He hasn’t leaned on any individual pitch more than the 28.4% rate of four-seamers, making him difficult to predict.

Perhaps there’s an argument for him using the splitter a bit more, as he has some noticeable platoon splits at the moment. He’s held righties to a dismal line of .203/.242/.355 but lefties have a potent .267/.321/.462 performance against him so far. He has thrown that splitter 23.3% of the time against lefty hitters and allowed only a .161 batting average. However, his four-seamer, curveball and and cutter have each allowed a .308 average or higher while being thrown at least 13.8% of the time.

His slider and sinker are being thrown less than 10% of the time against lefties with solid results. Opponents are hitting .222 against the slider and .214 against the sinker. Schwellenbach has a 33.9% whiff rate when throwing sliders to lefties. Perhaps he could find better results by altering his pitch mix or maybe things will even out with the curveball. Opposing lefties are hitting .308 against it but his xBA is just .239 and his whiff rate is 41.9%.

Given the diversity of his pitch mix and the fact that he’s only getting his feet wet at the big league level, it seems fair to expect that he’ll figure out a way to tamp down on the big splits going forward.

Regardless of how that plays out in the future, he’s already a useful pitcher in the present. Though Atlanta is currently on the outside of the playoff picture, they would undoubtedly be even further back if Schwellenbach hadn’t hit the ground running in the big leagues. Some missteps would have been understandable given that he had limited experience and skipped over Triple-A entirely, but he has more than held his own and helped keep the club in the race this year. Guys like Bryce Elder, Hurston Waldrep, Darius Vines and Allan Winans all struggled in their major league looks this year, so the staff likely would have been in much worse shape if Schwellenbach didn’t take the ball those 19 times.

It’s also a key development for the club in the long term. Max Fried and Charlie Morton are both set for free agency, leaving two holes in next year’s rotation. Fried seems likely to command a nine-figure deal that Atlanta hasn’t given to a free agent before. Morton is about to turn 41 years old and has hinted at thoughts of retirement in recent years.

Without Fried or Morton and with Strider set to miss the start of next year, Atlanta was slated to start 2025 with a rotation core of Sale and López. As mentioned, Sale is having a great year but he’s about to turn 36 and didn’t pitch much from 2020 to 2023. López is also having a strong season but is converting from the bullpen to the rotation and has perhaps hit a bit of a wall, as he’s gone on the IL twice in the second half, with the second stint currently ongoing.

Having Schwellenbach in that rotation picture makes it look much better and he’ll be a huge help from a financial perspective as well. Atlanta has a bunch of significant contracts on the books due to signing a number of extensions in recent years. That gives them a lot of continuity but also less financial wiggle room in the offseasons.

Since Schwellenbach was called up at the end of May, he won’t be able to get a full year of service time in 2024. Per Matt Eddy of Baseball America, Schwellenbach isn’t eligible for the prospect promotion incentive, which means he can’t get a full year of service via Rookie of the Year voting. That means he won’t be arbitration eligible until after 2026 at the earliest, if he earns Super Two status, and can be controlled for six more seasons after this one.

Per RosterResource, the club has a competitive balance tax number of $197MM for next year. They will likely trigger club options on Ozuna ($16MM), Travis d’Arnaud ($8MM) and Aaron Bummer ($7.25MM). Bummer’s option has a $1.25MM buyout and Ozuna’s buyout is $1MM, though d’Arnaud’s has none. That means those three would add $29MM. Arbitration raises will be needed if they want to keep Jarred Kelenic and Ramón Laureano.

The club will be near next year’s $241MM base CBT threshold at the beginning of the offseason. Trading one of Ozuna or Soler could give them some extra wiggle room but they will have some things on the offseason to-do list. Upgrading on Orlando Arcia at shortstop could be part of their plans, and same for Kelenic/Laureano in the outfield. The starting rotation will definitely be a target area this winter but Schwellenbach should give them one fewer slot to fill, which could allow them to be more aggressive in addressing their remaining needs.

Austin Riley Won’t Return In 2024

By | at

The Braves announced that third baseman Austin Riley won’t return this year, neither in the regular season nor the postseason. A recent CT scan of his fractured hand showed that it hasn’t healed enough to take off his cast. At this point, there’s not enough time for him to heal and return to the club. David O’Brien of The Athletic was among those to relay word from manager Brian Snitker on X.

Riley suffered the injury August 18 when he was hit by a pitch on his hand. The following day, the club announced the fracture and that his timeline to return would be about six to eight weeks. There were only about six weeks left in the regular season at that moment, but there was still some hope of Riley being able to return for the postseason if the club played deep into October.

Unfortunately, his hand and the calendar have conspired against him and he won’t be able to help the club out this year, regardless of how long they stay alive without him. It’s an unfortunate development for Atlanta, as Riley has been one of their best players in recent years. From 2021 to the present, he’s hit 127 home runs and slashed .280/.348/.513 for a wRC+ 132. He scuffled at times in 2024 but still managed to hit 19 homers and slash .256/.322/.461 for a 116 wRC+ before suffering his injury.

This is just the latest in a string of injuries that have hamstrung the club all year. Spencer Strider required UCL surgery in April. Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a torn ACL in June. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II missed significant time due to injuries as well, though both are back now.

Those injuries have played a key role in the club having a disappointing year. Coming into 2024, they were considered one of the top teams in the majors but they are currently fighting for their lives. At 85-71, they are 1.5 games back of the Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot in the National League, with the Mets also half a game ahead of the Snakes. Atlanta could still nab a spot, especially since they kick off a three-game set against the Mets tonight, but it’s not where they planned to be.

They will have to try to squeeze in to the playoffs without Riley and then proceed through the postseason without him as well. Gio Urshela was signed to cover for Riley at third and will presumably continue to do so. He has hit .270/.289/.423 for a wRC+ of 95 since joining the squad. Perhaps Whit Merrifield will factor in now that Albies is back at second, though Merrifield is playing through a left foot fracture.

Riley will still be a huge part of the club’s future, as he signed a ten-year, $212MM extension in August of 2022. That deal runs through 2032 and there’s a club option for 2033. Once his hand heals, he will presumably be in line for a fairly normal offseason in preparation for 2025.

Braves Activate Ozzie Albies

By | at

September 20: Atlanta has officially announced the reinstatement of Albies. Infielder Cavan Biggio was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett in a corresponding move. Biggio has more than five years of major league service time and therefore can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent, so he presumably has agreed to be sent down.

September 19: The Braves will welcome Ozzie Albies back tomorrow. Manager Brian Snitker confirmed after today’s 15-3 drubbing of the Reds that Atlanta will activate Albies from the 10-day injured list (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). They’ve been without their star second baseman for almost two months because of a left wrist fracture. The Braves will need to create an active roster spot tomorrow.

Albies still feels discomfort when he hits from the left side. He’ll limit himself to the right-handed batter’s box as a result. That’s his far stronger side in general. Albies is a career .339/.364/.568 hitter against left-handed pitching. He has a roughly average .247/.309/.437 slash versus righties. His task as a right-handed batter will be more difficult without always having the platoon advantage (to say nothing of the challenge of jumping back to action after an eight-week absence). Still, if Albies had to choose a side of the plate, he’d certainly pick this one.

It’s crunch time for Atlanta. The Braves are 1.5 games behind the Diamondbacks and Mets for the final playoff spot in the National League (pending Arizona’s and New York’s results tonight). Atlanta holds the tiebreaker over Arizona. They’ve split the season series with the Mets and will decide that tiebreaker with a three-game set at home early next week. That looks as if it’ll be the biggest regular season series of the year for any team.

Atlanta is headed to Miami for a three-game weekend set. They’re off on Monday before closing their season with the Mets and three games against the Royals (who might be fighting for their own playoff lives) at home. The Mets are hosting the Phillies for four this weekend before closing their season with road sets in Atlanta and Milwaukee. Arizona has a four-game series in Milwaukee and will play host to the Giants and Padres for three apiece next week.

The Braves have had a middle-of-the-pack offense for the past couple months. They’re 13th in scoring since the Albies injury, with similarly middling showings in on-base percentage (16th) and slugging (12th). Atlanta second basemen are hitting .220/.319/.296 across 216 plate appearances in that stretch. That’s weighed down by dreadful small-sample performances from Luke Williams and prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. The Braves have given most of the second base reps to Whit Merrifield, who has reached base at a strong .344 clip but hasn’t provided any kind of power since signing with Atlanta.

Merrifield has plenty of experience bouncing around the diamond. If Snitker wanted to keep him in the lineup, he’d probably kick him to third base and bench Gio Urshela. The veteran corner infielder is hitting .234/.258/.340 over 26 games as a Brave. Urshela signed a big league deal in the wake of Austin Riley’s injury, not long after Urshela was released by the Tigers.

Charlie Culberson Announces Retirement

By | at

Long-time utility player Charlie Culberson announced his retirement in an Instagram post today. He gave his thanks to his fans, coaches, teammates, agent, friends and family members for all the contributions they made to his journey. He also spoke to Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his career and what might be next. He has considered coaching and broadcasting but thinks the latter is more likely.

Now 35, Culberson was drafted by the Giants in 2007 out of high school at the age of 18, going 51st overall. He developed into a notable prospect, getting attention for his ability to contribute in multiple facets of the game and at many positions. He made it to the majors with that club in cup-of-coffee fashion. He got into six games during the 2012 season and hit a meager .136/.136/.136 in his 23 plate appearances.

He was sent to the Rockies in the July 2012 trade that sent Marco Scutaro and cash considerations the other way. With Colorado, Culberson was able to get a bit more playing time, serving as a light-hitting utility guy. Over the 2013 and 2014 seasons, he got into 142 games for the Rockies, hitting .227/.273/.327 while playing all four infield positions and the outfield corners.

2015 was mostly a lost season for Culberson. He had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back and didn’t play in the majors. He tells Toscano that he started thinking about his post-playing days at that time, as he didn’t know if any club would want him after the long layoff.

However, his best days as a player were still ahead. He had lost his roster spot with the Rockies and became a free agent, signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers going into 2016. His role with that club was fairly similar to his time in Colorado. He got into 49 games for the Dodgers over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, slashing .263/.289/.350 while bouncing between the outfield corners and the three infield positions to the left of first base. Perhaps the most memorable moment of his time in Los Angeles saw him hit a walk-off, 10th inning home run to clinch the West division for the club that year (YouTube clip from MLB). He also hit an extra-inning home run in Game Two of the 2017 World Series to pull the Dodgers within 7-6, though the Astros would keep the score there and win that game (YouTube clip from MLB).

In December of 2017, Culberson went to Atlanta in five-play swap largely motivated by financial considerations. Matt Kemp was sent to the Dodgers while Culberson, Adrián González, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy went the other way. This kicked off what was arguably the best part of Culberson’s career. A Georgia native, he became a fan favorite in Atlanta after hitting a couple of pinch-hit walk-off homers, earning the nickname “Charlie Clutch” (YouTube clips of those walk-offs from MLB).

Over the 2018 and 2019 campaigns, Culberson got into 221 contests for Atlanta and produced a league-average batting line of .267/.316/.457. As usual, he bounced all around the diamond, playing all four infield spots, the outfield corners, and even taking the mound for mop-up duty a few times. He was non-tendered after that 2019 season and re-signed with Atlanta for 2020 on a minors deal, eventually getting into 10 games in the shortened season.

He spent 2021 and 2022 with the Rangers, doing his usual utility thing. He hit .246/.292/.373 in 161 games over those two campaigns while playing every position except for center field and catcher. He was back in Atlanta for 2023 but bounced on and off the roster and only got one plate appearance. It was reported in January of this year that he was going to attempt to move to the mound and signed another minors deal with Atlanta, but he was released in March. He tells Toscano that he knew he was done at that time.

Culberson wasn’t a star player but clearly endeared himself to many fans by his still of play and penchant for coming through when it counted most. He got into 590 big league games and stepped to the plate 1,312 times. He collected 300 hits, including 30 home runs. He scored 140 runs, drove in 145 and stole 21 bases. Per Baseball Reference, he earned a bit over $5MM as a big leaguer. MLBTR salutes him on a fine career and wishes him luck for whatever is over the horizon.

MLBTR Podcast: The Chapman Negotiations, Dodgers’ Pitching Injuries, And Strengths And Weaknesses Of Playoff Contenders

By | at

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • For each of the teams currently in postseason position, what is their biggest strength? What could power them through a postseason run? And what would you consider to be their biggest weakness? What might prove to be their ultimate downfall? (26:30)
  • What should the Braves do in the offseason? (44:55)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top