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Braves, Jesse Chavez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have agreed to a minor league deal with free-agent righty Jesse Chavez, as first noted on the transactions log on at Braves.com. Presumably, he’ll head to their alternate site once he clears intake testing.

Chavez, 37, spent Spring Training with the Angels, who cut him loose late in Spring Training rather than pay him a $100K retention bonus (as would’ve been his right as a six-year veteran who qualified as an Article XXB free agent). Chavez struggled through 4 1/3 innings with the Halos during Cactus League play, yielding seven runs on nine hits and three walks with just a pair of strikeouts (25 batters faced).

Chavez had a solid run with the Rangers and Cubs from 2018-19, pitching to a combined 3.58 ERA with a 23 percent strikeout rate and an excellent 5.5 percent walk rate through 173 1/3 innings (101 relief appearances, nine starts). But the wheels came off for the veteran righty last summer in the second season of a two-year deal with Texas, as he was clobbered for a 6.88 ERA in 17 innings of work.

This will be the second stint with the Braves for Chavez, who tossed 36 2/3 innings for Atlanta more than a decade ago in 2010. The results weren’t pretty at the time, but Chavez broke out not long after and solidified himself as a solid swingman over a seven-year stretch during which he pitched for six different teams. All told, he carries a career 4.52 ERA, a 20.8 percent strikeout rate, a 7.4 percent walk rate and a 41.6 percent ground-ball rate through 933 innings spread across 13 seasons and nine different big league clubs.

The Braves currently have five pitchers — Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Drew Smyly, Touki Toussaint and Sean Newcomb — on the injured list. Bringing Chavez into the mix afford them some veteran depth both in the bullpen and the rotation, though it’s been more than three weeks since the Angels cut him loose, so he may need some time to ramp up before he’s even considered for a look with the big league club.

Ronald Acuna Jr. Day-To-Day After Suffering Mild Abdominal Strain

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TODAY: Acuna is day-to-day after an MRI “revealed a mild abdominal strain,” the Braves announced via Twitter.

APRIL 18: 9:50PM: Acuna has an abdominal strain, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (Twitter link).  A decision about an injured list placement will come tomorrow.

7:48PM: Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. left tonight’s game against the Cubs in the fourth inning “due to pain in his lower abdominal muscles,” the team announced.

Acuna drew a walk to begin the fourth inning, and then “appeared to tweak something” (as per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian) while diving back to the bag on a pickoff attempt.  After advancing to second base on a Freddie Freeman walk, Acuna was visited by the Braves trainer but remained in the game, and later had to dive across the plate to score on a Travis d’Arnaud fly ball.  For the bottom of the fourth, Ehire Adrianza took Acuna’s spot in right field and Johan Camargo entered the game to take over for Adrianza at second base.

More will be known about Acuna’s status after he undergoes tests, but needless to say, both Atlanta fans and the entire baseball world at large are holding their breath that the injury is a minor one.  After establishing himself as one of the sport’s best players in his first three MLB seasons, Acuna is already drawing NL MVP buzz after hitting an extraordinary .419/.486/.887 with seven home runs over his first 72 plate appearances.

Should Acuna have to miss any time, he’ll join fellow outfielders Cristian Pache and Ender Inciarte on the injured list.  The shorthanded Braves still have Marcell Ozuna in left field, but might have to rely on some combination of Guillermo Heredia, Adrianza, Camargo, or Austin Riley to handle the other two outfield positions in the interim.  Atlanta does have several experienced options at its alternate training site (including Phil Ervin, Abraham Almonte, and Terrance Gore), as well as top prospect Drew Waters.

Latest On Tyler Flowers, Braves

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There was very little reported interest in free agent Tyler Flowers over the winter. The Mets were linked to the veteran backstop last month, but his market has otherwise been quiet.

David O’Brien of the Athletic sheds some light on the situation, reporting that the 35-year-old has taken a non-playing position with the Braves, integrating analytics into in-game preparation. Flowers, however, has not retired as a player and continues to work out independently in case he decides to return to the field at some point, either in 2021 or in future seasons, O’Brien adds. It’s unclear if the Roswell, Georgia native remains open to all potential playing opportunities, or if his return to an MLB diamond would be contingent on doing so with the Braves. Given that Flowers lives with his wife and kids near the Braves stadium, this feels like a unique opportunity to keep a contingency plan in place for both Flowers and the Braves.

Alex Jackson is the current backup to Travis d’Arnaud, with William Contreras also on the 40-man roster. Veteran defensive specialist Jeff Mathis is also in the organization on the Triple-A roster. Both d’Arnaud and Jackson are off to relatively slow starts at the plate. As recently as last season Flowers made 80 trips to the dish across 22 games, slashing .217/.325/.348 in his fifth season in Atlanta. Flowers is a 12-year veteran who split his career between the Braves and White Sox. He owns a .237/.319/.391 line over 2,776 plate appearances for his career.

Braves Make Series Of Roster Moves

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The Braves announced a series of roster moves in advance of this afternoon’s game against the Cubs. Atlanta selected the contracts of infielder Sean Kazmar Jr. and left-hander Jesse Biddle, recalled righty Bryse Wilson and placed outfielder Ender Inciarte and southpaw Sean Newcomb on the injured list. Righty Kyle Wright was optioned to the alternate training site last night. (ESPN’s Jeff Passan had previously reported Kazmar’s impending call-up).

Kazmar’s return to the big leagues is nothing short of remarkable. A 36-year-old infielder, his entire MLB experience to date consists of 19 games with the 2008 Padres. Kazmar has since bounced between the San Diego, Seattle, Mets and Atlanta farm systems. He has spent the past eight years in the high minors with the Braves, and his determination to return to the big leagues will now pay off. Andrew Simon of MLB.com provided the starting lineups (via Twitter) of the last MLB game in which Kazmar appeared.

Biddle signed a minor-league deal with Atlanta earlier this month. The 29-year-old southpaw has pitched in the big leagues in each of the past three years, with the bulk of that time coming in 2018 with Atlanta. The former top prospect has a 4.68 ERA with subpar strikeout and walk rates (22.3% and 12.8%, respectively) over 92.1 innings at the highest level. He’ll replace Newcomb, who was placed on the injured list for undisclosed reasons.

Inciarte, meanwhile, went on the 10-day IL as expected. He strained a hamstring in last night’s game. With both Inciarte and Cristian Pache now on the shelf, Atlanta will turn to Guillermo Heredia in center field this afternoon.

Ender Inciarte Could Require 10-Day IL Stint

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  • Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte appears ticketed for a trip to the 10-day IL after suffering a strained hamstring Friday, David O’Brien of The Athletic writes. Inciarte would be the second Braves center fielder to hit the IL this week, joining starter Cristian Pache. Behind Inciarte, Guillermo Heredia has the most center field experience of anyone on Atlanta’s roster. Superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. played 100 games there in 2019 and spent the majority of last season there, but the Braves are reluctant to move him out of right field, per O’Brien, who names Phil Ervin and Abraham Almonte as call-up possibilities. Ervin and Almonte aren’t on the Braves’ 40-man roster, which does have an open spot at the moment.

Braves Place Drew Smyly On Injured List

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The Braves announced Friday morning that lefty Drew Smyly is headed to the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his left forearm. They’ve recalled right-hander Kyle Wright from their alternate training site to take his place on the roster and start today’s game. Atlanta also recalled Johan Camargo as a corresponding move after optioning lefty Tucker Davidson following last night’s game.

Manager Brian Snitker tells reporters that the hope is Smyly will only need to miss one start (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz), though his status will obviously be monitored in the coming days. Smyly becomes the second Braves starter this week to land on the injured list, joining fellow southpaw Max Fried, who is currently hobbled by a hamstring strain. Wright will get the first crack at stepping into the rotation, and the Braves have another young righty, Bryse Wilson, at their alternate site and ready to step up once Fried’s rotation spot next comes up.

Atlanta inked the veteran Smyly to a one-year deal worth $11MM over the winter, based largely on a terrific five-start showing in San Francisco last year. It was a sizable bet in a huge jump in the oft-injured Smyly’s swinging-strike rate and his overall strikeout rate, which saw respective jumps from 10.7 percent and 23.3 percent in 2019 to 14.9 percent and 37.8 percent in 2020. Injuries are part of the package with Smyly, who has reached 100 innings just thrice since making his big league debut in 2012 and missed the 2017-18 seasons entirely.

For the time being, the Braves certainly have the depth to withstand some short-term injuries in the rotation. But with Fried and Smyly sidelined in addition to a recent setback for Mike Soroka, the injury situations that bear monitoring are beginning to mount.

Offseason In Review: Atlanta Braves

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After winning their third straight NL East title and falling one victory shy of a World Series berth in 2020, the Braves made a few notable moves in free agency.

Major League Signings

  • Marcell Ozuna, OF: Four years, $65MM (includes $16MM option or $1MM buyout for 2025)
  • Charlie Morton, RHP: One year, $15MM
  • Drew Smyly, LHP: One year, $11MM
  • Josh Tomlin, RHP: One year, $1.25MMM
  • Jake Lamb, 3B: One year, $1MM (non-guaranteed MLB deal; Lamb was later released)
  • Total spend: $92.25MM

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

One of the main questions the Braves faced entering the offseason was whether they would re-sign outfielder Marcell Ozuna – who had a monster year in 2020 – or replace him with another big bat via free agency or the trade market. Liberty Media, the publicly traded company that owns the Braves, experienced a significant drop in revenue during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. The Braves could have used that as an excuse (albeit not a very sympathetic one for fans) to avoid going big-game hunting in the winter. Nevertheless, rumors connected the Braves to a slew of noteworthy offensive pieces, including J.T. Realmuto, DJ LeMahieu and Justin Turner on the open market and Nolan Arenado in a potential trade.

Ultimately, even though it hasn’t been general manager Alex Anthopoulos’ M.O. to hand out long-term paydays in free agency, Ozuna stuck around on a four-year, $65MM guarantee. Ozuna wasn’t eligible for a qualifying offer, so he would have walked for no compensation had the Braves let him go. And though Ozuna spent most of last season at designated hitter, the Braves knew they’d have to send him back to left field on a full-time basis this year had the majors done away with the universal DH. As it turned out, the league did just that, though the DH could return to the NL in 2022 if MLB and the union sign off on it in collective bargaining agreement negotiations next winter.

Ozuna was the lone major addition the Braves made on offense, but they didn’t need much with a Ronald Acuna Jr.-, Freddie Freeman– and Ozuna-led lineup that finished second in the NL in runs and third in wRC+ last year. That said, third base was a liability for the Braves, which explains why they at least had some interest in LeMahieu, Turner and Arenado. Having struck out with that group, the Braves took an inexpensive shot at Jake Lamb – a former All-Star who enjoyed a strong stretch run – only to release him before the season.

Failure to bring in a clear solution left the Braves with last year’s starter, Austin Riley, as their No. 1 option at the hot corner. Riley was a high-end prospect in his minor league days, and he’s still just 24 years old, but the results simply haven’t been there since he debuted in 2019. He’s off to another poor start this season, and if he doesn’t make significant improvements, it would behoove the Braves to pursue an in-season upgrade; that is, if they’re in contention.

While the Braves’ offense was marvelous last season, the same wasn’t true of their rotation. Mike Soroka and Cole Hamels were supposed to play integral roles, but those plans went up in smoke because of injuries. Soroka made just three starts before suffering a torn right Achilles tendon, while Hamels totaled only one appearance because of shoulder troubles. Fortunately for Atlanta, Max Fried and Ian Anderson more than pulled their weight across a combined 17 starts. Unfortunately, no one else provided much.

Fried and Anderson exited last season as shoo-ins to start for the Braves at the outset this year, while the hope was that Soroka would be back for the opener or at least shortly after that. Still, despite those three and the presences of other young starters such as Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright, the Braves needed to add to their rotation in the offseason. There were rumored possibilities in Blake Snell and Adam Wainwright, but the Braves ended up signing righty Charlie Morton and lefty Drew Smyly instead. Anthopoulos brought in the pair on one-year deals, which has been fairly typical of how he has handled free agency.

Even though they didn’t require long-term commitments, there was certainly some risk in inking Morton ($15MM) and Smyly ($11MM). Morton, who began his career with the Braves in 2008, finally broke out in 2017 with Houston and was superb with the Astros and then the Rays through 2019. His numbers took some steps backward in Tampa Bay last year, though, and he’s now in his age-37 season. Morton’s 4.76 ERA early this season just about matches the 4.74 mark he recorded a year ago, but to be fair, his strong peripherals suggest a turnaround is coming in the run prevention department.

Although Smyly, 31, is younger and cheaper than Morton, he was an even riskier pick. After a promising start to his career, Smyly missed all of 2017 and ’18 because of Tommy John surgery, and he returned in 2019 to post unsightly numbers. Smyly, however, enjoyed a highly encouraging rebound in seven appearances (five starts) with the Giants last season. That convinced Anthopoulos to take a somewhat costly chance on Smyly, and though he has allowed nine earned runs in just 11 innings as a Brave, he has struck out 11 while issuing just one walk.

Of course, the fact that Morton and Smyly haven’t kept runs off the board at a solid clip isn’t the only problem the Braves’ rotation has faced. Like last year, they’re again battling multiple important injuries. As mentioned before, Soroka looked on track to return by early April. However, the Braves had to shut him down April 7 because of a new issue – shoulder inflammation – and there isn’t a timeline for his return at the moment. Meanwhile, Fried – a Cy Young contender in 2020 – got off to a brutal start this year in allowing 14 earned runs on 23 hits and five walks in 11 innings before landing on the IL this week with a strained hamstring. The hope is that he won’t be out for too long, but it’s certainly a discouraging development for the Braves that they’re facing attrition in their rotation for the second consecutive season.

The Braves’ bullpen helped pick up the slack last year, when Mark Melancon, Shane Greene and Darren O’Day each played key roles. All three are now gone, though Greene is oddly still available in free agency. Melancon took a more-than-reasonable $3MM guarantee with the Padres and has been his usual effective self this year. It was surprising to see the Braves decline an affordable $3.5MM option for O’Day in favor of a $500K buyout when the offseason began, and he’s off to a nice start as a Yankee this year.

The Braves didn’t do much to replace Melancon, Greene and O’Day. They did show interest in the No. 1 available reliever, Liam Hendriks, but he chose the White Sox’s four-year, $54MM offer. In the end, the Braves’ “big” bullpen move was to re-sign Josh Tomlin for $1.25MM, and they also took minor league flyers on some veteran relievers. One of those minors pickups, Nate Jones, is now in their bullpen. He hasn’t pitched all that well in the early going, though the bullpen as a whole actually has held up despite the lack of offseason upgrades. It’s currently top 10 in the majors in FIP, ERA and K-BB percentage.

Atlanta went into the offseason as a final four team looking to get over the hump and build a World Series-winning squad for the first time since 1996. The results haven’t been great thus far, as the Braves have lost eight of their first 13 games. Nevertheless, the talent is there for the Braves to at least push for another NL East title, if not more.

How would you grade the Braves’ offseason? (Poll link for app users)

Latest On Mike Soroka, Chris Martin

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The Braves don’t have a timetable yet for injured right-handers Mike Soroka and Chris Martin to return, per David O’Brien of The Athletic. Soroka missed almost all of last season with a torn right Achilles, and as he was working his way back, the Braves had to shut him down because of shoulder inflammation. Martin went on the IL with the same issue on April 10 (retroactive to April 7). Between their injuries and Max Fried’s placement on the IL because of a hamstring strain, the Braves are without three of their most important pitchers.

Braves Place Max Fried, Cristian Pache On 10-Day Injured List

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April 14: Both Fried and Pache have been placed on the 10-day IL, the Braves announced. Fried has been diagnosed with a hamstring strain, while Pache has a groin strain. Atlanta recalled outfielder Heredia and lefty Tucker Davidson from the alternate site to fill the roster vacancies. Davidson will head to the ’pen for now, though it seems quite likely that the Braves will make a move to bring up another starter (e.g. Bryse Wilson, Kyle Wright) when Fried’s spot is up next in the rotation.

April 13: The Braves received some troubling injury news Tuesday: Left-hander Max Fried will undergo an MRI on his right hamstring, while center fielder Cristian Pache is headed to the 10-day injured list with a left groin issue (Twitter links via Mark Bowman of MLB.com).

Tuesday was a nightmare evening for Fried, who suffered the injury on the base paths and posted a disastrous performance on the mound. The 27-year-old lasted just four innings in a 14-8 loss to the Marlins, who pummeled Fried for eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits, three strikeouts and two walks. It was the second straight subpar start for Fried, owner of a hideous 11.45 ERA in 11 innings. Fried hasn’t been able to follow up on his resounding success in 2020, when he tied for eighth in ERA (2.25) among those who totaled at least 50 frames and wound up fifth in NL Cy Young voting.

Pache, 22, as joined Fried in recording awful production early on, having picked up just three hits in 31 plate appearances with 11 strikeouts against one walk. The Braves are likely to recall outfielder Guillermo Heredia to take Pache’s roster spot, per Bowman. Ender Inciarte seems like the favorite to get the lion’s share of playing time in center, though.

Quick Hits: Twins, Braves, Dodgers

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Josh Donaldson ran the bases well enough progress to the next portion of his rehab, suggesting a return to the Twins as early as Monday or Tuesday, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (via Twitter). When Donaldson does return, he’ll put his perfect season on the line. He doubled in his only plate appearance of the season before straining his hamstring. Luis Arraez, however, has maintained the potency of the hot corner while Donaldson’s been away. Arraez has slashed .381/.462/.571 while starting six of the seven games since the injury. Willians Astudillo started on Arraez’s day off, going 0-2 while driving in a run with a sac fly. Elsewhere…

  • Braves setup man Chris Martin will be eligible to come off the injured list on April 17th, but manager Brian Snitker doesn’t think it will be that simple, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com (via Twitter). Martin’s shoulder only recently became an area of concern. Still, Martin is looking at a longer-than-minimal stay on the injured list. In the meantime, Sean Newcomb and Jacob Webb will have the opportunity to raise their stock in the Atlanta pen, per the Athletic’s David O’Brien (via Twitter). Webb from the right side and Newcomb from the left will try to soak up some of Martin’s setup duties.
  • Brusdar Graterol is readying to make his season debut. Per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter), Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “Everything looked good, so we’re trying to figure out the next step. We’re hoping to get him back soon. Just hesitant to put a day on it.” Graterol got a late start in preparing for the season, leaving Blake Treinen, Corey Knebel, and Kenley Jansen as the late-game righties available to Roberts. The Dodgers have high hopes that the 22-year-old Graterol can be weaponized either as a traditional setup man or as a multi-inning option out of the pen.
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