MLBTR Podcast: The Braves Say They Won’t Sell, Jeimer Candelario DFA’d, And Injured D-Backs
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…
- MLBTR’s new Trade Deadline Outlook series for Front Office subscribers having kicked off with the Pirates, Phillies and Marlins (2:00)
- Alex Anthopoulos says the Braves won’t sell but now Chris Sale is injured (8:55)
- The Reds designating Jeimer Candelario for assignment and calling up Chase Burns (12:40)
- The Diamondbacks’ situation exacerbated by injuries to A.J. Puk, Gabriel Moreno and Corbin Carroll (19:50)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Matthew Boyd has already surpassed his highest innings total since 2019. How far do the Cubs push him over the remainder of the season? (32:05)
- The Padres and Royals have pitching they could trade but should they? (38:20)
- The Reds don’t have long-term answers at first base, third base, left field, right field or designated hitter. Is there a path to bring in players from outside the organization? (45:40)
Check out our past episodes!
- Reacting To The Devers Trade And Aaron Civale – listen here
- White Sox Ownership, Roman Anthony, And The Diamondbacks’ Rotation – listen here
- Jarren Duran Rumors, Caglianone And Young Promoted, And Pitching Injuries – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images
Whit Merrifield Announces Retirement
Longtime infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield has announced his retirement, via his agency at Warner Sports Management.
“Hey guys,” Merrifield says, “You all should know that I decided a while back to retire. When it came down to it, it was an easy decision. Many factors played a role in my decision, but the main one was a 6 pound 6 ounce gift from God my wife and I were blessed with in March of 2024. I was never talented enough to just show up and play. Baseball required my full focus and energy for me to compete at the level I wanted to, and I realize I can no longer give that effort. At this point in life, I’d much rather chase around a toddler than chase sliders.” He goes on to thank the various clubs he played for and their fans while acknowledging those who believed in him along the way.
As Merrifield alluded to in his statement, he had a reputation for being a scrappy grinder, as opposed to the most naturally gifted athlete. But he nonetheless was able to carve out an impressive career in the big leagues as a late bloomer.
A ninth-round pick of the Royals in 2010, Merrifield was never really on the radars of prospect evaluators as a minor leaguer. Regardless, he climbed the ladder, impressing the Royals in various ways. He could bounce all over the diamond on defense. Offensively, he didn’t have a ton of power or draw many walks, but he didn’t strike out much and could steal plenty of bases once he got on.
He got called up to the majors in May of 2016 at the age of 27, significantly older than when most players make their debuts. At the time, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweeted that many people within the organization viewed Merrifield as the ideal guy to have the final spot on the roster. In other words, a utility guy.
His usage in that 2016 season reflected that. He was optioned to the minors and recalled a few times, eventually getting into 81 big league games and taking 332 plate appearances. He only hit two home runs and didn’t walk much but produced a .283/.323/.392 batting line and 91 wRC+. He stole eight bases and played the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners.
In 2017, he showed he was capable of being more than just a utility guy. He broke out at the plate that year by hitting 19 home runs, helping him produce a .288/.324/.460 line and 105 wRC+. He also swiped 34 bags and effectively took over as the club’s everyday second baseman, while still occasionally moving to other spots.
He had arguably the best season of his career in 2018. His home run total dropped to 12 but his walk rate almost doubled compared to the year prior, jumping from 4.6% to 8.6%. A .352 batting average on balls in play also helped him out, leading to a .304/.367/.438 line and 119 wRC+, with another 45 stolen bases to boot. FanGraphs credited him with 5.0 wins above replacement that year, the best tally of his career.
Going into 2019, the Royals and Merrifield agreed to an extension. The deal guaranteed him $16.25MM over four years with a club option for a fifth year. That total looks fairly modest to compared to some more recent deals but it was a product of his late-bloomer status. Since he didn’t debut until his age-27 season, he wasn’t going to qualify for arbitration until after he turned 30 and wasn’t slated for free agency until after his age-33 season. That deal may have sacrificed a bit of future upside but it allowed him to guarantee himself some life-changing money ahead of schedule.
His performance held pretty steady for the next couple of years. Over 2019 and the shortened 2020 season, he slashed .297/.342/.456 for a 109 wRC+ while stealing another 32 bases, while the emergence of Nicky Lopez bumped him to spending more time in the outfield and less at second base. He was selected to the All-Star team for the first time in that 2019 campaign, the first of three honors he would eventually earn.
His offense dipped a bit in 2021, as his .277/.317/.395 line translated to an 89 wRC+, though he still stole 40 bases. Going into 2022, it felt like maybe the end of his time as a Royal was drawing close. It was the final guaranteed year of that extension. He was also going into his age-33 season. The Royals were rebuilding during this whole era and had rebuffed plenty of trade calls, but given his age and contract status, the window appeared to be closing.
He stuck with the Royals into the start of the 2022 season. He and the club agreed to a reworked contract, with the club preemptively triggering his 2023 club option and shifting some of the salary commitments to the ongoing 2022 campaign. The Royals were still mired in their rebuild and would eventually finish the year with a record of 65-97, so trade talk picked up that summer.
Merrifield was eventually dealt to the Blue Jays for minor leaguers Max Castillo and Samad Taylor. It was a bit of a surprising landing spot at the time. With travel restrictions still in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, ten Royals players were unable to cross the border to play in Toronto earlier that summer due to not being vaccinated. Merrifield was one of them, which led to the question of how he would be able to play for the Jays down the stretch, but he eventually agreed to receive the jab.
Though his production was a bit lackluster at the time of the trade, he caught fire down the stretch, hitting .281/.323/.446 for a 120 wRC+. He helped the Blue Jays earn a Wild Card spot, which allowed him to appear in the postseason for the first time in his career. However, the Jays were swept out of the Wild Card round, falling 2-0 to the Mariners. He stuck with the Jays in 2023, stealing another 23 bases with offense just a bit below league average. The Jays grabbed another Wild Card spot but were swept out again, this time by the Twins.
He finally reached free agency for the first time in his career, ahead of his age-35 season, and landed an $8MM guarantee from the Phillies on a one-year deal. That didn’t really pan out, as he hit .199/.277/.295 and was released in July. “Philly, I liked you way more than you liked me,” he said in his statement today. “Sorry I stunk for you.”
He then signed with Atlanta, which was a personal thrill for him. In his statement today, he described them as his “childhood team,” having grown up in the Carolinas. He had a solid .248/.348/.336 showing in 42 games for Atlanta and made the club’s Wild Card roster but didn’t appear in a game as the club was swept by the Padres.
Merrifield was a free agent this winter and didn’t appear in any rumors. In hindsight, it seems that was because he had no intention of playing this year. He hangs up his spikes having played in 1,147 games with 4,866 plate appearances. He knocked 1,249 hits, scored 632 runs, drove in 485 and stole 218 bases. FanGraphs credits him with 19.8 wins above replacement for his career, with Baseball Reference giving him 17.9. BR also pegs his career earnings justs over $35MM. And he managed to do all of that despite not making it to the majors until well after his 27th birthday.
We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Merrifield on a fine career and wish him the best in whatever comes next.
Photos courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Wendell Cruz and Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
Braves Sign John Brebbia To Minor League Deal
The Braves have signed right-hander John Brebbia to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett and will give Atlanta some veteran non-roster depth.
Brebbia, 35, was just released by the Tigers last week. Detroit had signed him in the offseason to a one-year deal with a $2.75MM guarantee. Around an injured list stint for a triceps strain, he gave them 18 2/3 innings with a 7.71 earned run average. There was some bad luck in there, with his .339 batting average on balls in play and 56.6% strand rate both to the unfortunate side, but he also had a subpar 11.8% walk rate and middling 21.5% strikeout rate.
That performance prompted Detroit to move on but Atlanta has snatched him up, as they did almost a year ago. Brebbia was released by the White Sox in August of last year, after posting a 6.29 ERA for that club, and wound up on Atlanta’s roster for most of September. He had a solid enough 2.70 ERA, though in a small sample of 6 2/3 innings. He hit free agency after that and signed his aforementioned deal with the Tigers.
Though the past two seasons have been challenging, Brebbia has a lengthy track record of being an effective big league reliever. From 2017 to 2023, he logged 299 2/3 innings for the Cardinals and Giants with a 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. He earned two saves and 47 holds in that time. Even with his ERA spike last year, he still had strong strikeout and walk rates of 27.7% and 7.9%.
Atlanta’s bullpen has been middling this year. The relief corps as a whole has a 3.70 ERA, which puts them 14th in the majors. Joe Jiménez and Daysbel Hernández are each currently on the injured list. There’s no real risk on a minor league deal so signing Brebbia is a sensible addition.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Sign James McCann
The Diamondbacks have signed James McCann to a Major League contract, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. McCann’s MLB.com profile page indicated earlier today (hat tip to the Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka) that the catcher had been released from his minor league deal with the Braves in order to facilitate the move to Arizona. McCann is represented by the Ballengee Group.
As Rosenthal reported earlier this month, McCann’s Atlanta contract contained a rolling opt-out clause that would trigger if another team offered the catcher a guaranteed deal. The Braves could then either keep McCann by selecting his contract to their active roster, or release him to his next opportunity. Since Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin are both receiving regular playing time as Atlanta’s catching combo and both Sandy Leon and Jason Delay are providing further depth at Triple-A, it didn’t seem like McCann was going to get much of a shot in Atlanta, despite a .297/.331/.493 slash line in 160 plate appearances in Gwinnett.
However, Gabriel Moreno‘s recent finger fracture suddenly left the D’Backs with a need for experienced catching help. Moreno is expected to be on the injured list for “weeks, not days” in the words of manager Torey Lovullo, leaving Jose Herrera, Aramis Garcia and Triple-A depth options Adrian Del Castillo and Rene Pinto as the makeshift catching corps. This group combined has far less MLB experience than McCann’s 11 seasons and 917 games in the Show, and the 35-year-old McCann will now slide right into at least a part-time role in the Diamondbacks lineup.
McCann’s big league career was highlighted by two big seasons with the White Sox in 2019-20, which included an All-Star selection in 2019. His overall career slash line is a modest .241/.293/.380 over 3307 plate appearances, as McCann has only shown brief flashes of the offensive form he showed in Chicago. McCann spent the last two seasons as Adley Rutschman‘s backup with the Orioles, helping out as a veteran mentor for the up-and-coming star and with the Baltimore pitching staff. The advanced metrics haven’t thought much of McCann’s blocking and framing work, though he is well-regarded for his ability to work with pitchers.
The signing is a fairly low-risk move for a D’Backs team that is hanging in with a 39-38 record, despite a swath of injuries and under-performance from the Arizona pitchers. The Diamondbacks’ impressive offense is helping keep the team afloat, and McCann’s veteran presence might help coax some slightly more respectable results out of an increasingly makeshift rotation and bullpen.
Braves Outright Jose Ruiz
June 22: Ruiz has been assigned outright to Triple-A, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic.
June 19: The Braves are designating reliever José Ruiz for assignment, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. That’ll open both the active and 40-man roster spots necessary to promote Didier Fuentes. Atlanta will call up the 20-year-old righty to start tomorrow’s series opener against the Marlins.
Ruiz had a brief stint on the Braves’ roster. Atlanta claimed him off waivers from the Phillies on June 7. He carried an 8.16 earned run average at the time. He worked around a walk to toss a scoreless inning during his team debut. He had a much tougher second appearance, giving up three runs on two hits and walks apiece in one inning during Sunday’s blowout loss to the Rockies. The Braves didn’t use him during their sweep of the Mets.
The 30-year-old Ruiz now owns an 8.82 ERA across 16 1/3 innings for the season. He was a reasonably effective middle reliever for Philadelphia a year ago, turning in a 3.71 ERA with a 24% strikeout rate in 52 appearances. Ruiz’s chase and whiff rates have each taken a step back this year, while his walks have climbed from roughly 8% to an 11.4% clip. He also missed a couple weeks in May due to neck spasms.
Atlanta will likely place him on waivers this weekend. Ruiz is out of options, so another team would need to plug him into the MLB bullpen if they were to place a claim. He’s playing on a $1.225MM arbitration salary. Ruiz crossed the five-year service threshold earlier this season, so he could elect free agency and retain that salary if he goes unclaimed on waivers.
Braves Place Chris Sale On 15-Day IL With Ribcage Fracture
The Braves announced this afternoon that they’ve placed southpaw Chris Sale on the 15-day injured list with what the club has termed a fractured left ribcage. The club recalled left-hander Austin Cox in a corresponding move. As noted by David O’Brien of The Athletic, Sale was injured on Wednesday night when he made a diving play to stop a grounder off the bat of Juan Soto.
It’s a brutal blow for Atlanta to be dealt, particularly following a banner week that saw them sweep the then-division leading Mets and get within five games of an NL Wild Card spot. They’ve won seven of their last ten games, but if they’re going to keep that momentum going in a bid to get back over .500 and more firmly return to playoff contention they’ll now need to do so without Sale for the time being. The reigning NL Cy Young award winner, Sale has built on his brilliant 2024 season with a 2025 campaign that’s been nearly as good. Across 15 starts this year, the 36-year-old has pitched to a brilliant 2.52 ERA with a 2.65 FIP across 89 1/3 innings of work.
He’s struck out a phenomenal 30.8% of his opponents while walking just 7.0%. Those excellent peripherals have left him with a 2.96 SIERA, making him one of just seven qualified starters in baseball this year with a figure under three. Only Logan Webb and Paul Skenes are having better seasons by measure of ERA, and Sale is doing all of that despite terrible batted ball luck: his .329 BABIP allowed is the fourth-highest figure among qualified starters in the majors this year. It’s been another banner year for the southpaw, who has looked rejuvenated in Atlanta after injury-marred seasons with the Red Sox from 2019 to 2023.
Unfortunately, that resurgence is now put on hold by another significant injury. Sale’s timetable for a return to action is not yet known at this point, but it’s worth noting that a stress fracture in Sale’s right ribs cost him the first half of the 2022 season. After being sidelined in mid-March by the injury, Sale did not return to the mound until early July. A similar timeline would put the remainder of the southpaw’s 2025 campaign in danger, but it’s important to note that it’s unclear if Sale’s current rib cage fracture is as severe as the rib issue he dealt with in 2022.
However long the ace’s absence ultimately ends up being, it leaves Atlanta with a rotation mix that’s stretched very thin. The team is already without Reynaldo Lopez for the foreseeable future after he underwent shoulder surgery earlier this year, and AJ Smith-Shawver is done for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider will attempt to hold things down at the front of the rotation in Sale’s absence, while Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder will look to handle mid-rotation duties. Rookie Didier Fuentes currently holds the fifth starter job after making a spot start against the Marlins yesterday, but another starer like Hurston Waldrep, Davis Daniel, or even Ian Anderson could also be called upon to help round out the rotation mix.
Braves To Select Didier Fuentes
The Braves are going to promote right-handed pitching prospect Didier Fuentes, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The youngster will start tomorrow’s game against the Marlins. Corresponding moves will be required to add him to both the 40-man and active rosters.
It’s an extremely aggressive promotion, as Fuentes only just celebrated his 20th birthday two days ago. A fairly unheralded international signing out of Colombia, Fuentes has raised his stock as he has climbed the minor league ladder. Last year, he tossed 75 2/3 innings at the Single-A level with a 2.74 earned run average. He struck out 32.1% of batters faced while only giving out walks at a 6.9% pace.
That got him some prospect love ahead of 2025, with Baseball America giving him the #7 spot in Atlanta’s system coming into the year. They mentioned his mid-90s fastball and slider, while noting he was still working on a splitter to neutralize lefties.
Here in 2025, he has seemingly raised his stock even farther. He has gone from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, tossing a combined 39 1/3 innings. The 4.81 ERA might not jump off the page but he has a 28.9% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. He’s been hurt by a 58.4% strand rate, which is why his 2.81 FIP suggests he has deserved better this year.
Coming into the year, FanGraphs listed Fuentes as the #11 prospect in the Atlanta system but they now list him as third in the system and #82 in the entire league. Both FanGraphs and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN use Bryan Woo of the Mariners as a comp for Fuentes.
The Atlanta rotation has taken a few hits this year. AJ Smith-Shawver required Tommy John surgery and Reynaldo López has been sidelined by arthroscopic shoulder surgery. At the moment, the starting group consists of Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes. It’s possible that Fuentes will just be making a spot start. The club just began a stretch of playing 13 games in a row, so he can give all the other starters an extra day of rest in the midst of that, while getting his first taste of the majors.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
Anthopoulos On Trading Chris Sale: “Will Not Happen”
The Braves enter play tonight seven games below .500. They’re 12 back of the Mets in the division and 6.5 out in the Wild Card race with five teams to jump. They’ve got their work cut out for them in getting to October for an eighth straight season, but that remains the focus for the front office.
President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos spoke with Nick Cellini and Chris Dimino of 680 The Fan this afternoon. The veteran executive made clear he’s operating with a buyer’s mentality six weeks before the trade deadline. He was even more forceful in pushing back against the idea that they’d consider trading away key players — at least barring a terrible stretch of play in July.
Anthopoulos interrupted a question about other clubs potentially attempting to pry defending Cy Young winner Chris Sale out of Atlanta. “No, zero. I’ve seen the speculation. It’s completely ridiculous to me. We are not selling, especially someone that has club control beyond the current year,” he said. “Will not happen. I never make definitive statements unless I’m going to stick to them. Once you make definitive statements and then you go back on them, you’re a liar and you’re done.
Will. Not. Happen. Bold, italicize it, caps. So much so that I’m trying to make a trade now — it’s very hard to make a trade in June — just to signal to everybody that we will not sell. (If) you get to the end of July and things are completely changed, I guess we would reevaluate, but you’d have to be extreme. We’re built to win. Our expectations are to win. Our expectations are to go for it the entire time.”
It’s not common for an executive to rule out trading a player that definitively. It’s even rarer for them to reverse course after making a public statement to that effect. Skeptics will point to Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo saying the team was “not trading Juan Soto” less than two months before they did exactly that, but the turn of events required Soto rejecting an intervening $440MM extension proposal. Anthopoulos left the door slightly open to selling if the team’s play over the next month and a half made a postseason run all but impossible. Even in that scenario, it’s not clear that they’d be willing to discuss players who are signed beyond this season.
MLBTR examined the Sale situation in a post for Front Office subscribers last week. He’s playing this year on a $22MM salary and is under control via an $18MM option for one more season. They’ll rubber stamp the option unless he suffers a significant injury in the second half. Sale would command upwards of $30MM annually (for at least two and possibly three years) if he were a free agent. After running into some tough batted ball luck in April, he’s been every bit as dominant as he was last season. Sale had not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his past 10 starts coming into tonight’s game against the Mets. He is through another six scoreless innings at the time of this writing.
Even if the Braves miss the postseason in 2025, they’ll certainly go into next year expecting to contend. Having Sale atop the rotation makes that much more reasonable. At the same time, they’d bypass an opportunity at a massive trade haul this summer. Teams would be willing to give up significant young talent for the ability to control Sale for two postseason runs. The Braves still expect to be in that position themselves. If they remain well below .500 on July 31, however, they’d arguably be leaving significant value on the table as an at best long shot contender for one of Sale’s two remaining control years.
Anthopoulos argued that the next few weeks represent a huge opportunity. They’re currently playing the second game of a three-game set against the Mets. They’ll head to Miami this weekend before squaring off against the Mets (for four) and Phillies (for three) next week. They rearranged their rotation to ensure that Sale is lined up for both New York series rather than starting last weekend against the Rockies and taking on the Marlins in a few days.
They’re far enough behind New York and Philly that it’s difficult to see them winning the NL East, but they could theoretically pull back into the race if they go on a tear over the next two weeks. They’ll also take on St. Louis, one of the teams above them in the Wild Card standings, in their final series before the All-Star Break. While those will be tough sets, they have softer matchups against a few teams toward the bottom of the American League standings (the Angels, Orioles and A’s) in the first two weeks of July.
In the meantime, they’re evidently searching for a short-term boost. In this morning’s radio interview (which Atlanta fans will want to give a full listen), Anthopoulos identified the offense as the team’s biggest disappointment to date. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote last week that they were pursuing outfield and shortstop help.
Nick Allen is a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop but isn’t going to provide anything offensively. Left field would be the obvious area to upgrade in the outfield. Neither Alex Verdugo nor Eli White have stepped up since Jurickson Profar’s performance-enhancing drug suspension. The Braves will get Profar back in early July, but he’s coming off a nearly three-month layoff and faces questions about the sustainability of last year’s breakout season. He’s also ineligible for postseason play this year, so the Braves probably want a contingency plan for that position regardless of how Profar performs next month.
Jose Azocar Elects Free Agency
Outfielder José Azocar elected free agency after being outrighted by the Braves, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Atlanta designated him for assignment on Monday when Stuart Fairchild returned from the injured list.
Azocar spent a few weeks as the last player off Brian Snitker’s bench. He only played twice, entering as a late-game substitute both times. It’s a similar role that the 29-year-old played for the Mets early in the season. Azocar is a plus runner who can handle all three outfield positions. It’s a light bat, though, and his playing time has dropped in each of the past four seasons. He’s also out of options, so teams cannot send him to Triple-A without running him through waivers — at which point he can refuse the assignment in favor of free agency.
Over parts of four seasons, Azocar is a career .244/.290/.319 hitter over 418 plate appearances. He’s hit a pair of homers while stealing 19 bases in 28 attempts. Most of his playing time came with the Padres between 2022-24. He landed with the Mets on a late-season waiver claim last year but has now cleared waivers on three occasions this season. He’s likely looking at minor league offers, where he owns a career .286/.322/.434 Triple-A batting line.
Braves Activate Stuart Fairchild, DFA Jose Azocar
The Braves announced this morning that they’ve activated outfielder Stuart Fairchild from the injured list. Outfielder Jose Azocar was designated for assignment to make room for Fairchild on the active roster. They also activated infielder Nacho Alvarez from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Azocar, 29, departs Atlanta after getting into just two games and making a single plate appearance during his time with the club. Azocar made his big league debut with the Padres back in 2022 and appeared in 214 games at the big league level over the 2022-24 seasons, slashing .243/.287/.322 (74 wRC+) in 397 plate appearances along the way. That lackluster offensive production wasn’t enough to earn him a regular role on the club even in spite of his strong work with the glove in center field, where he accumulated +5 Outs Above Average during his time in San Diego. He’s performed better at the Triple-A level with a career .286/.322/.434 line in parts of five seasons spent at the level, but the outfielder’s speed and defense first profile ultimately made him expendable when San Diego faced a roster crunch late last year.
He was designated for assignment in September, but found himself claimed off waivers by the Mets shortly thereafter. He managed to stick on New York’s 40-man roster all throughout the offseason, but failed to make the Opening Day roster out of Spring Training and was designated for assignment shortly before the season began. He was assigned outright to the minors after clearing waivers, and found himself selected back onto the roster in mid-April after the club lost Jose Siri to the injured list. Azocar stuck on the club’s roster for six weeks but received just 20 total plate appearances across 12 games while being utilized primarily as a defensive replacement.
He hit a respectable enough .278/.350/.278 (88 wRC+) in that limited playing time but was designated for assignment in late May to make room for Jared Young on New York’s active roster. He cleared waivers once again and elected free agency before being scooped up by Atlanta almost immediately. The Braves will now have one week to either work out a trade involving Azocar or attempt to pass him through waivers. Should he go unclaimed, he’ll be able to either accept an outright assignment to the minors or elect free agency.
Azocar’s departure makes room for the return of Fairchild, who was placed on the shelf with a dislocated pinkie finger the same day Atlanta signed Azocar. Fairchild bounced between the Diamondbacks, Mariners, and Giants for a few years before settling with the Reds in 2022. He spent parts of three seasons with Cincinnati and was traded to Atlanta after he didn’t make the cut for the Reds’ Opening Day roster. Fairchild hasn’t hit much for the Braves this year with a .182/.250/.273 line in 36 plate appearances but is a career .247/.345/.407 hitter against lefties, which should make him a solid platoon partner for Alex Verdugo in left field going forward.