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Braves Acquire Pierce Johnson

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The Braves announced that they have acquired right-hander Pierce Johnson from the Rockies, sending pitching prospects Victor Vodnik and Tanner Gordon the other way. Left-hander Lucas Luetge was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Johnson.

Johnson, 32, signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the Rockies in the offseason. He was coming off a strong three-year stretch with the Padres wherein he made 102 appearances with a 3.39 earned run average and 32.2% strikeout rate. His 11.3% walk rate was on the high side but it was a good performance overall.

When Daniel Bard opened this year on the injured list, that opened the door for Johnson to take the closer’s role in Denver. Unfortunately, he didn’t have ideal results in that role. He had an ERA of 7.50 in early June when the club removed him from the closer position. He’s fared much better since that time, posting a 3.60 ERA in 15 innings, striking out 36.2% of opponents.

Johnson’s ERA for the year is still high at 6.00 and he’s still issuing walks at a high rate. But he’s had improved results recently and has been able to work around those free passes in the past. Pitching for the Rockies might have played a role in his results as well, as his 16.7% rate of fly balls turning into home runs is far higher than any previous season in his career. Perhaps he’ll be able to put his rough patch from earlier this year behind him, something that the decision makers in Atlanta clearly believe is possible.

Atlanta doesn’t explicitly need bullpen upgrades, as their relievers have a collective 3.50 ERA that’s second only to the Yankees among big league clubs. But with a lead of 11.5 games in the National League East, they’re as close to a lock for the postseason as any club in the majors, making it sensible to seek any and all upgrades for the playoffs.

The right-hander signed with the Padres after a stint in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers. Players coming from overseas leagues generally get language in their contracts that allows them to circumvent the normal service time rules. That’s why Johnson was able to become a free agent this past offseason despite having between three and four years of service time. He’ll finish this year with between four and five years of service but will be ticketed for free agency again at season’s end.

The Rockies have generally been one of the most reluctant clubs when it comes to trading away established big league players at the deadline. In recent years, they’ve given extensions to players like Bard and C.J. Cron at times when outside observers expected them to be dealt. Neither Trevor Story nor Jon Gray were moved as impending free agents, leaving the club to settle for a compensatory draft pick after Story rejected a qualifying offer and signed with the Red Sox, while Gray’s departure left them completely empty-handed.

That seems to have been a symptom of the organization having a belief that their true talent has been stronger than the results, but their 39-60 record has them in last place in the National League this year. With the club now poised to finish below .500 for a fifth straight season, it seems they are opening up to do a bit more selling this time around, with manager Bud Black recently hinting as much. That means Johnson could be the first of many similar moves for the club, who could potentially move players like Cron, Randal Grichuk, Jurickson Profar, Brad Hand and others.

For now, they’ve already added a couple of young arms to their system. Vodnik, 23, was selected by Atlanta in the 14th round of the 2018 draft. He split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, posting a combined 2.34 ERA in 34 2/3 relief innings. He struck out 31.5% of batters but walked 12.8%. He’s been back in Double-A this year with a 3.10 ERA, 32.6% strikeout rate and 14.5% walk rate through 40 2/3 innings. He’s currently listed as Atlanta’s #17 prospect at Baseball America.

Gordon, 25, was a sixth-round pick in 2019. He’s been working as a starter in the minors, posting a 4.64 ERA last year, mostly in Double-A. He has a 5.86 ERA this year between Double-A and Triple-A, though a 51.9% strand rate is probably inflating that. He’s struck out 20.5% of opponents while walking just 6.8% and has a 4.25 FIP. Both of these young pitchers will be eligible for selection in the upcoming Rule 5 draft if not added to Colorado’s 40-man roster.

In addition to parting with those prospects, the club is bumping Luetge from the roster. This is the second time he’s been designated for assignment this year, but the first one resulted in the southpaw accepting an outright assignment and getting his contract selected again. He had an awful 10.24 ERA prior to his first DFA but threw two scoreless innings since getting added back to the roster. Nonetheless, he now finds himself in DFA limbo yet again.

Atlanta will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Since he has more than three years of service time, he could reject another outright assignment and elect free agency. But since he has less than five years of service time, doing so would mean forfeiting what remains of his $1.5MM salary for this year. It’s possible that the same sequence of events happens as after his last DFA, with Luetge clearing waivers and accepting an outright to Triple-A. But perhaps someone takes a chance on his past results, as he had an ERA under 2.75 in each of the two previous seasons with the Yankees.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links) reported the details before the official announcement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Braves Claim Yonny Chirinos

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5:14PM: The Braves announced the Chirinos claim, as well as two corresponding moves.  Soroka was optioned to Triple-A, implying that Chirinos will be taking Soroka’s spot in the rotation.  Atlanta also designated right-hander Seth Elledge for assignment, just a few days after Elledge’s contract was selected to the active roster.  Elledge didn’t see any game action during his brief time in the majors before he sent back down to Triple-A yesterday.

3:42PM: The Braves have claimed right-hander Yonny Chirinos off waivers from the Rays.  Chirinos was designated for assignment by Tampa Bay earlier this week.

After Tommy John surgery limited Chirinos to 18 1/3 total innings from 2020-22, he has seemed fully healthy in pitching 62 2/3 frames this year working in a variety of different capacities for the Rays.  Chirinos has started four games, worked as a bulk pitcher (behind an opener) on multiple occasions, and also had a couple of traditional relief outings as a long man and mop-up man.  He has a 4.02 ERA to show for his efforts, though his 5.34 SIERA is perhaps more reflective of Chirinos’ overall performance.  The righty has benefited from a .244 BABIP and he isn’t missing many bats, with only an 11.8% strikeout rate.

These unfavorable secondary metrics could be why the Rays chose to DFA Chirinos, though for a team with as many pitching injuries as Tampa Bay, it still counted as something of an eyebrow-raising move.  As MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald noted last Monday when Chirinos was put on waivers, service time could have been a factor, as Chirinos has surpassed five years of MLB service time and now cannot be optioned to the minors without his permission.  This might have been a breaking point for a Rays team that often shuffles pitchers back and forth from Triple-A Durham — in fact, Chirinos himself was twice optioned earlier this season before he hit the five-year threshold.

Chirinos’ ability to work in several different roles would’ve made him a good fit on many clubs, but Atlanta is a particularly fitting landing spot given the Braves’ own pitching depth issues.  The Braves could see Chirinos as something of a replacement for Kolby Allard, who sent on the 60-day IL earlier this week due to nerve inflammation in his left shoulder.

Allard is one of a whopping eight pitchers on Atlanta’s 60-day IL, including such prominent arms as Max Fried, Kyle Wright, Jesse Chavez, and Nick Anderson.  Manager Brian Snitker said today that Fried might be one more rehab start away from returning to the active roster, but with so many other pitchers still out, Chirinos give the Braves flexibility.  Atlanta could ease Fried or Wright back into action by teaming them with Chirinos in a piggyback capacity, or Chirinos might be paired with Michael Soroka to manage innings.

Overall, Chirinos is a pretty nice pickup for the Braves to make even before they delve into further moves prior to the trade deadline.  There isn’t much financial cost (roughly $515K in remaining salary), and Chirinos is still controlled through the 2024 season via arbitration.

Braves Select Daysbel Hernandez

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The Braves announced a series of roster moves this morning as they selected right-hander Daysbel Hernandez to the active roster. In a corresponding move, right-hander Jesse Chavez was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Allan Winans was optioned to Triple-A following last night’s game, so there was already space for Hernandez on the active roster.

Hernandez’s first appearance will be his big league debut. After playing in Cuba as a teenager, the right-hander began his affiliated career in 2018 as a reliever with a 4.50 ERA in 38 innings between Single-A and High-A with the Braves. He then returned to High-A in 2019 and dominated the level to the tune of a 1.71 ERA in 52 2/3 innings of work. In 2021, Hernandez reached the upper-minors with a strong performance at Double-A though he struggled badly in 9 2/3 innings at Triple-A to end the season, posting a 7.45 ERA. He missed the entire 2022 campaign due to injury but returned earlier this season and has posted 16 2/3 scoreless innings between the Double-A and Triple-A levels complete with a whopping 44% strikeout rate.

That phenomenal performance was enough for the club to add the 26-year-old hurler to a bullpen that sports an NL-best 3.53 ERA in 2023. While the club’s relief corps has certainly been impressive to this point, only five NL clubs have leaned on their bullpen more heavily to this point in the season than the Braves, who have gotten 352 innings out of their relievers so far. Between that workload and injuries to key players like Chavez, A.J. Minter, and Nick Anderson, it’s certainly feasible that Hernandez could provide a boost to the club’s bullpen going forward. Given his overpowering stuff and impressive numbers in the minors this year, there’s a chance he’ll factor into the club’s late inning mix alongside the likes of Kirby Yates and Collin McHugh ahead of closer Raisel Iglesias.

Making room for Hernandez on the 40-man roster is Chavez, who now won’t be eligible to return from the IL until mid-August. A veteran in his sixteenth big league season who will celebrate his 40th birthday next month, Chavez has managed to have a late-career renaissance out of the bullpen in recent years, with a 3.46 ERA that’s 33% better than league average by measure of ERA+ in 322 innings of work since the start of the 2018 season. He’s been particularly excellent with Atlanta over the past two seasons, with a sterling 2.30 ERA in 82 innings of work for the club.

As for Winans, the 27-year-old righty had a solid if uneven big league debut for the Braves last night. In 4 1/3 innings of work, Winans allowed two runs on five hits but struck out five while walking just one. Winans could be in the mix for a spot start alongside the likes of Dylan Dodd, Jared Shuster, and AJ Smith-Shawver the next time the club requires one, though with two off-days this week and left-hander Max Fried on a rehab assignment at Triple-A, the club may not need to deep into their rotation depth for some time.

Braves Release Eli White

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The Braves announced that outfielder Eli White has been released.  The move creates a 40-man roster spot for right-hander Allan Winans, whose contract was officially selected two days after reports surfaced that the Braves were planning to start Winans in today’s game with the Brewers.  In another corresponding move, Atlanta optioned right-hander Seth Elledge to Triple-A Gwinnett.

The 29-year-old White joined the Braves via a trade from the Rangers back in December, and he appeared in six games for Atlanta back in April.  White was basically used as outfield depth when Michael Harris II was on the injured list, and White’s demotion to Triple-A corresponded with Harris’ return to the active roster.  Over 201 plate appearances in Gwinnett, White has a solid .254/.363/.450 slash line with nine homers and 14 stolen bases (in 15 chances).

Unfortunately, his season came to an impromptu end on July 6, as Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that White suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder.  A specific recovery timeline isn’t known, but in a best-case scenario, White will be ready for Spring Training, though his rehab is likely going to impact his ability to catch on with a new team on a minor league deal.  The labrum tear continues White’s terrible run of injury luck, as this marks his third consecutive season-ending surgery, following an elbow procedure in 2021 and a wrist surgery in 2022.

A veteran of four MLB seasons, White was an 11th-round pick for the A’s in the 2016 draft who was dealt to the Rangers as part of the three-team deal that sent Jurickson Profar to Oakland and Emilio Pagan to the Rays.  White’s strong defense and baserunning made him a useful part-timer over 130 games with Texas from 2020-22, but he has hit only .181/.259/.288 over 406 PA in the majors.

Braves To Select Allan Winans

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The Braves are turning to right-hander Allan Winans to start Saturday’s game in Milwaukee, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). He’s not on the 40-man roster, so Atlanta will need to formally select his contract within the next 48 hours.

Winans entered the professional ranks as a 17th-round senior sign by the Mets five years ago. He topped out at Double-A in the New York farm system in 2021. After that season, Atlanta nabbed him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Winans spent the bulk of last year with Double-A Mississippi and has played at Triple-A Gwinnett for all of 2023.

The Campbell product has worked 102 2/3 innings over 18 appearances for the Stripers. He’s carrying a 2.81 ERA with decent underlying marks. Winans’ 22.3% strikeout percentage is nearly average, while he’s inducing grounders at a strong 49.6% clip and pounding the strike zone. His 6.3% walk rate is fifth-lowest among the 38 International League pitchers with 60+ innings.

At the start of the season, Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin of FanGraphs noted that Winans relies on a sinking fastball and an above-average changeup. As a near 28-year-old rookie, he’s certainly not a top prospect, but his strong upper level performance was enough to overcome the very modest draft profile and get to the big leagues. Now that he’s securing a 40-man roster spot, he’s in the mix as a depth starter.

Atlanta’s 40-man roster is full. Unless the Braves anticipate Jesse Chavez missing another month, they don’t have an obvious candidate for a 60-day injured list transfer. They’ll likely have to designate someone for assignment when they bring Winans up.

Braves Select Seth Elledge, Release Danny Young

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The Braves announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Seth Elledge from Triple-A Gwinnett. In a pair of corresponding roster moves, Atlanta placed outfielder Sam Hilliard on the 10-day injured list with a right heel contusion and released left-hander Danny Young (thereby opening a spot on the 40-man roster). Young recently sustained a yet-unspecified injury that’ll end his season. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, so the Braves’ choices with him were to call him up and place him on the Major League 60-day IL or release him.

Elledge, 27, opened the season on Atlanta’s 40-man roster but was designated for assignment in early April and bounced to the Mets and Tigers via the DFA circuit. Detroit designated him for assignment late last month, and the right-hander rejected an outright assignment after clearing waivers. He later returned to the Braves on a minor league deal.

While Elledge was hit hard with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate this season, he posted solid numbers in Detroit’s system and has been excellent in Gwinnett for the Braves: 9 2/3 innings, 1.86 ERA, 34.4% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate. He’ll get his first big league look since posting a 4.63 ERA in 23 1/3 innings with the Cardinals from 2020-21.

Young, 29, appeared in eight games with the Braves and pitched to a sterling 1.08 ERA with a 31.4% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate in 8 1/3 innings. He’s been hit hard in 15 2/3 Triple-A frames, however, yielding a 6.32 ERA and walking 13.8% of his opponents.

It’s common in situations like this one for the player to ultimately re-sign with the organization on a minor league deal, though that’s certainly not a given. Young will have the opportunity to talk to the other 29 teams, perhaps latching on somewhere with a two-year minor league pact that’ll cover his current injury rehab and give that team — be it the Braves or someone else — control over his rights into the 2024 season.

Braves Extend Travis d’Arnaud

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The Braves announced they’ve signed catcher Travis d’Arnaud to a one-year, $8MM deal covering the 2024 season. The contract also contains an $8MM club option for the ’25 season with no buyout. d’Arnaud is represented by Wasserman.

Atlanta controlled d’Arnaud on an $8MM team option for 2024. They’ll preemptively trigger that provision. In exchange, the veteran backstop gives the team a matching option for the following year. It’s familiar territory for an Atlanta organization that has been very aggressive about signing players to extensions.

It is also a comfortable spot for d’Arnaud himself. He’s now signed a trio of contracts with the Braves over the past half-decade. He first agreed on a two-year, $16MM deal in free agency over the 2019-20 offseason. Midway through the ’21 season, he re-upped on a matching $16MM contract that contained the ’24 option. He’s now locked in for a fifth campaign at Truist Park.

Now 34, d’Arnaud has been an effective backstop throughout his time in the organization. He hit .266/.324/.462 over his first three seasons as a Brave. Catching wasn’t a need last winter, but the Atlanta front office seized on the opportunity to add a star catcher on the trade market. Atlanta acquired and promptly extended Sean Murphy, pushing d’Arnaud into a reserve role.

While he’s overqualified for a #2 catching position, the former All-Star has taken his new role in stride. d’Arnaud carries a .265/.338/.478 line with eight home runs through 151 trips to the plate on the season. He’s walking at a personal-high 9.3% clip and has maintained his previous contact and power production on a rate basis. d’Arnaud has gotten 27 starts behind the plate compared to Murphy’s 60 nods.

Despite the diminished role, he’s clearly happy in Atlanta. He’ll reprise his role as Murphy’s backup for at least one more season and potentially an additional year beyond that. d’Arnaud will soon surpass the 10-year MLB service threshold. The ’24 campaign will be his fifth in Atlanta. If the Braves keep him around for 2025, he’d have automatic no-trade rights that season as a 10-and-5 player (10 years of service, the past five of which have come for the same team) under the collective bargaining agreement.

That’s a possible longer-term consideration. For now, the move solidifies the catching position with a high-quality backup for a second year. Atlanta’s 2024 payroll commitments now sit around $138MM, as estimated by Roster Resource. Their projected luxury tax number is a bit under $159MM. The Braves opened this season with a franchise-record payroll estimated by Cot’s Baseball Contracts around $203MM.

With d’Arnaud officially off the board, the upcoming free agent catching class takes another hit. Unlike last year, where Willson Contreras was a clear candidate for a long-term deal, next winter’s group mostly consists of veteran depth types. Tom Murphy, Yasmani Grandal, Austin Hedges and Víctor Caratini are among the top names available. The Cubs hold a $6MM club option on Yan Gomes as well.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Braves Place Kolby Allard On 60-Day IL, Select Forrest Wall

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The Braves announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Forrest Wall. In a corresponding move, left-hander Kolby Allard has been placed on the 60-day injured list, retroactive to July 17, with left shoulder nerve inflammation.

Allard, 25, came over to Atlanta in an offseason trade with the Rangers, with Jake Odorizzi going the other way. Allard suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain during Spring Training and began the regular season on the injured list. He was reinstated three weeks ago and has made four appearances for the club since then, but departed his most recent start with shoulder tightness.

The club hasn’t provided a specific timeline but it appears the issue is serious enough that they don’t expect him back in the next two months, given his immediate placement on the 60-day version of the injured list. That means he won’t be eligible to return until mid-September at the earliest, perhaps indicating his season is in jeopardy. It seems the trade won’t work out well for either side, since Odorizzi suffered his own shoulder injury during the spring and will miss all of 2023. It’s possible Atlanta could still come out ahead in the long run, as Allard has three more seasons of control beyond this one. Though given his injury and 6.10 career ERA, he could be a non-tender candidate this winter.

Allard wasn’t the most important player on the Atlanta roster but this is nonetheless the latest in a string of serious injuries for their rotation. He’s now the fourth starter the club has on its 60-day IL, alongside Huascar Ynoa, Max Fried and Kyle Wright. That leaves their current rotation mix as Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Bryce Elder and Michael Soroka. Strider and Morton give the club a strong duo at the front. Elder has been good overall this year but was rocked for seven earned runs in his most recent start. Soroka has a 5.40 ERA and might encounter workload limitations at some point after missing most of the past three years.

Fried is on a rehab assignment and could rejoin the rotation in the next few weeks with Wright potentially behind him, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see the club pursue some staring pitching in the weeks to come. In addition to the injuries to their regular starters, they’ve also seen depth pitchers like Allard and Ian Anderson drop out of the picture, the latter due to Tommy John surgery.  Dylan Dodd, Jared Shuster or AJ Smith-Shawver have had brief stints in the big leagues without seizing larger roles. Since the club has a strong lineup and bullpen, the rotation would be a sensible focus for them at the deadline.

As for Wall, the 27-year-old finally cracks a big league roster almost a decade after being drafted by the Rockies in 2014. He was traded to the Blue Jays in 2018 as part of the Seunghwan Oh deal but topped out at Triple-A in that organization. He signed a minor league deal with the Mariners last year but again didn’t get called to the show. Another minor league deal with Atlanta for 2023 has finally paid off with today’s promotion.

He’s now played in 290 Triple-A games across four different seasons, hitting a combined .259/.344/.373 in those. He doesn’t have much power, having never hit more than 11 home runs in a season, but he’s walking at a 13.5% clip this year. He’s also a proficient base stealer, getting over 35 in each of the past three seasons, including 52 last year and another 45 already this year. He’s capable of playing all three outfield slots.

Atlanta has a regular outfield of Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II and Eddie Rosario. Rosario has been dealing with some hamstring tightness of late, which could open up some extra playing time, though the club also has Sam Hilliard and Kevin Pillar on hand. Even if he doesn’t immediately carve out a regular role, Wall should be able to serve as a versatile bench piece who can pinch run or serve as a defensive replacement.

Nationals Claim Roddery Muñoz From Braves

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The Nationals announced that they have claimed right-hander Roddery Muñoz off waivers from the Braves and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester. Atlanta designated him for assignment last week. The Nationals already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster so no corresponding move will be required.

Muñoz, 23, was an international signing of Atlanta out of the Dominican Republic in 2018 and worked primarily as a starter in subsequent seasons. In 2022, he tossed 100 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A. His 4.66 earned run average in that time wasn’t especially eye-opening, but he struck out 26.9% of batters faced while walking 9.5%.

Atlanta evidently liked what they saw enough that they didn’t want Muñoz to get away in the Rule 5 draft and thus added him to their 40-man roster in November. He’s been transitioned into more of a relief role this year, tossing 39 1/3 innings over 22 appearances. He has a 3.89 ERA for the year across multiple levels, striking out 23.4% of opponents but walking 15.2% of them.

Those control issues seemingly led to Muñoz losing his roster spot in Atlanta, but he’s a sensible claim for the Nationals since they are rebuilding and can be patient with his development. He’s still young, has a full slate of options and has yet to reach the big leagues. If he can rein in his arsenal, he could be a long-term fit for the Nats. He was recently ranked Atlanta’s #22 prospect by Baseball America and #8 by FanGraphs.

Braves Place A.J. Minter On 15-Day Injured List

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The Braves announced that left-hander A.J. Minter has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left shoulder inflammation.  The placement is backdated to July 12, and right-hander Dereck Rodriguez was called up from Triple-A to take Minter’s spot on the active roster.

Minter left last Saturday’s game due to what was described by the team as left pectoral tightness, though the southpaw said he was feeling better just a day later.  It isn’t yet known if this shoulder problem was related to the pectoral tightness, or if this is a new injury altogether.  Regardless, the Braves will now be without one of their top bullpen arms for at least another 12 days.

The bottom-line numbers don’t really reflect Minter’s overall quality, as he has a 4.91 ERA over 40 1/3 innings this season.  Of his 22 earned runs allowed, 11 of them came over a disastrous stretch of 4 2/3 innings over five appearances in April.  Minter has a 3.04 ERA over 26 2/3 innings since that rough patch, and both his 2.88 SIERA and his largely above-average Statcast numbers indicate that he has been a lot more effective than his 4.91 ERA would suggest.

There isn’t yet any suggestion that Minter could miss a lot of time or that his shoulder problem is anything serious, though inflammation is something of a tricky injury to gauge.  Fellow Atlanta southpaw Dylan Lee has been out of action since mid-May with his own case of shoulder inflammation, and has been throwing some bullpen sessions as he works his way back from the 60-day injured list.

The league-leading Braves don’t have many overt weaknesses, but Minter’s absence could give the club something to address heading into the trade deadline.  With Lee sidelined, Minter and Lucas Luetge were the only left-handers in Atlanta’s bullpen, so southpaw depth was perhaps a need for the Braves even before Minter’s injury.  Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is typically aggressive at the deadline, and left-handed relief figures to be high on his list of targets as he looks to put the final touches on what looks like a World Series contender.

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