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Braves Select Matt Adams, Outright Yonder Alonso

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The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran first baseman Matt Adams and outrighted fellow veteran Yonder Alonso off the 40-man roster. Alonso has the service time to reject that outright assignment, though it’s not yet clear he’ll do so. Atlanta also included southpaw Tyler Matzek on its Opening Day roster, which means his contract has been selected to the 40-man roster as well.

Atlanta only just added Alonso to the 40-man roster this past weekend, though they hadn’t yet worked out a deal to bring Adams into the organization at that point. With Adams now on board, the club clearly views him as a better option to back up Freddie Freeman. Freeman has previously missed time due to Covid-19 but was cleared to return and included on the Braves’ Opening Day roster. The 31-year-old Adams hit .226/.276/.465 with 20 homers in 333 plate appearances for the division-rival Nationals a year ago, but also had a productive run with the Braves in 2017.

Matzek, 29, represents a fairly remarkable comeback story. The southpaw was the No. 11 overall pick by the Rockies back in 2009 and for a few years was considered to be one of the game’s premier pitching prospects. Injuries and poor performances caused him to fade from the radar, and he was out of baseball entirely in 2017 before latching on with the Texas AirHogs of the independent American Assocation in 2018-19. He parlayed that into a look with the Braves and struggled in 15 minor league innings, but his summer showing helped him to land a spot on an MLB roster for the first time since 2015.

Injury Notes: Rendon, Altuve, Hamels, Cubs, Orioles

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The Angels aren’t sure whether third baseman and top winter acquisition Anthony Rendon will be ready when they open their season Friday, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com relays. Rendon, a former Nationals star whom the Angels signed to a seven-year, $245MM contract in free agency, has been dealing with oblique soreness since last week. If he’s not able to take the field in a few days, the Angels are expected to use David Fletcher and Matt Thaiss at the hot corner, per Bollinger. The Angels’ infield could also be missing Luis Rengifo, who Bollinger writes stands a “strong chance” of sitting out the opener on account of hamstring soreness.

  • Astros second baseman Jose Altuve left the team’s preseason game against the Royals on Tuesday with a left leg contusion, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports. There’s now some question as to whether the former MVP will be healthy enough to go when the Astros’ season starts. “We’re hopeful he’ll be ready on Friday,” manager Dusty Baker said. “We’ll analyze him tomorrow and see where he is in the morning. Usually the day after that, you’re pretty sore.”
  • “It’s going to be a while” before left-hander Cole Hamels debuts in 2020, Braves manager Brian Snitker said Tuesday (via Mark Bowman of MLB.com). Hamels dealt with shoulder inflammation during spring training and has recently battled triceps tendinitis, thereby preventing him from facing live hitters over the past several months. Considering how short this season will be, the Braves may have trouble getting much bang for their buck out of Hamels. They inked the longtime workhorse to a one-year, $18MM contract over the winter. That guarantee turned into approximately a prorated $7MM when the season went from 162 games to 60.
  • Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who has been fighting rib and back issues, seems to be progressing. Manager David Ross said Tuesday (via Jordan Bastian of MLB.com) that it “looks like all thumbs up from today” in regards to Rizzo. He’s slated to start the team’s exhibition game against Minnesota on Wednesday. Meanwhile, southpaw  Jose Quintana – who underwent surgery on his left thumb three weeks ago – issued an encouraging update on his status (per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune), saying he’s not feeling any pain. It remains unclear when he’ll be able to take the mound this season, though.
  • Orioles left-hander John Means will miss Opening Day because of arm fatigue, Joe Trezza of MLB.com tweets. As a result, offseason minor league signing and fellow southpaw Tommy Milone will start the Orioles’ opener against Boston on Friday. It’s not known when Means will be able to debut in 2020, but the Orioles are surely hoping it will be sooner than later. The 27-year-old Means was one of the few bright spots on Baltimore’s talent-deprived roster last season, after all, as he logged a 3.60 ERA/4.41 FIP with 7.03 K/9 and 2.21 BB/9 across 155 innings.

Braves Sign Jhoulys Chacin

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The Braves announced that they’ve signed right-hander Jhoulys Chacin to a one-year, Major League contract. The 32-year-old Chacin, who was cut loose by the Twins recently, also spent part of the 2016 season with Atlanta. Chacin is represented by Rep 1 Baseball.

Chacin stumbled through the worst season of his career in 2019, recording a 6.01 ERA and serving up an average of 2.2 homers per nine innings pitched. The long ball has never been an Achilles heel for Chacin, though, and he’s only a year removed from a strong showing in Milwaukee (3.50 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 in 192 2/3 innings). In fact, from 2013-18, Chacin notched a 3.96 ERA/4.02 FIP in 804 1/3 innings.

In recent weeks, the Braves have seen veteran Felix Hernandez opt out of the 2020 season, while it’s become increasingly clear that Cole Hamels won’t be ready for the season opener. Hamels has been plagued by shoulder and triceps issues since the original Spring Training, and while he’s on a throwing program, he’s also likely to begin the year on the injured list.

Youngsters Mike Soroka and Max Fried project to lead the Atlanta rotation, with inconsistent-but-clearly-talented names like Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb to follow. Kyle Wright might’ve been the favorite for the fifth spot, but Chacin gives the Braves a viable alternative with a good bit of big league success if they’d prefer to add some experience to the starting staff. If not, he can join Josh Tomlin as another multi-inning relief option on which manager Brian Snitker can lean.

Braves Select Charlie Culberson

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The Braves announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Charlie Culberson. Atlanta non-tendered the 31-year-old this past offseason but quickly re-signed him to a minor league pact. He’ll now play a third straight season in Atlanta.

Culberson provided some big hits for the Braves in 2018, shaking off a terrible start to the season and emerging as a fan favorite after a career-best .270/.326/.466 batting line in 322 plate appearances that season. Things didn’t go as well for Culberson in 2019, as his line dipped to .259/.294/.437 in 144 plate appearances. Culberson has played every position except catcher and center field in the Majors — including three innings on the mound. He’ll give the Braves some versatility off the bench with rosters expanded to 30 players to begin the year. Culberson’s minor league deal included a $1MM base salary upon making the roster, and the prorated portion of that checks in just over $370K.

Braves Place Jacob Webb, Phil Pfeifer On 45-Day Injured List

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The Braves have placed a pair of young hurlers on the 45-day injured list, as David O’Brien of The Athletic covers on Twitter. Righty Jacob Webb is dealing with a shoulder strain, while southpaw Phil Pfeifer has been diagnosed with a bone contusion in his pitching elbow.

This news makes it rather unlikely we’ll see either of these pitchers in the 2020 regular season, though it doesn’t formally rule out the possibility. The typical 60-day injured list has been shortened to a 45-day minimum for the 2020 season. While these injuries dent the Braves’ pitching depth, the procedural moves open up 40-man roster space to bring in new arms.

Webb, who’ll soon turn 27, turned in a sparkling 1.39 ERA in his first 32 1/3 MLB innings last year. While the peripherals — 7.8 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9, 38.2% groundball rate — didn’t support the results, it’d be hard to deny him a pen slot. Unfortunately, Webb dealt with elbow woes late in 2019 and has now come down with further arm troubles despite the lengthy layoff.

It’s also unfortunate to see Pfeifer go down when he was so close to making his major-league debut. The 28-year-old had seven strong appearances this spring after earning his way onto the 40-man roster with an excellent 2019 effort. Pitching at three levels last year — as a starter in High-A and then increasingly as a reliever as he moved into the upper minors — Pfeifer ran a 2.97 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 over 133 1/3 frames.

Braves Sign Matt Adams

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The Braves announced today that they have signed first baseman Matt Adams. It’s a minor-league arrangement.

Adams had recently opted out of his deal with the division-rival Mets. Though there just wasn’t room for him on the New York roster, it seems the left-handed hitter showed enough to earn a spot in the Atlanta 60-man player pool.

This isn’t the first go-round for Adams with the Braves. He had a productive part-season stint with the team in 2017 — so much so that Freddie Freeman lined up at third base to keep Adams in the lineup. While he was also effective at the plate in 2018, Adams limped to a .226/.276/.465 slash line in 333 plate appearances last year with the Nationals.

Cole Hamels To Miss Start Of Season

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TODAY: Snitker confirmed that Hamels will miss the beginning of the season and will likely be placed on the 10-day injured list.  (Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was among those to report the news.)

JULY 16: The Braves will likely open the season without left-hander Cole Hamels, manager Brian Snitker said Thursday (via Mark Bowman of MLB.com).

Hamels signed a one-year, $18MM contract with the Braves in the offseason, but the former Phillie, Ranger and Cub has since endured an injury-laden few months. He didn’t pitch at all in spring training because of inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The 36-year-old Hamels looked like a lock to miss the start of the season then, but the game’s months-long shutdown seemed to make it likely he’d be ready for the abbreviated campaign. Instead, though, Hamels has battled another problem – triceps tendinitis – that has slowed him in Summer Camp.

The good news is that Hamels was able to throw a side session Thursday without experiencing any pain, according to Bowman. However, it remains unclear how much time the long-effective innings eater will miss. If and when he’s able to take the mound in 2020, Bowman notes the Braves will be cautious with him, at least at first, with three- to four-inning appearances.

As for how the Braves will proceed without Hamels, Bowman lists touted young righty Kyle Wright, veteran RHP Josh Tomlin and lefty prospect Tucker Davidson as candidates for the last spot in their rotation. Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb are slated to occupy the top four spots for the back-to-back NL East champions.

COVID News & Notes: Freeman, Paredes, Cardinals

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COVID-19 has taken its toll on the baseball world, with Freddie Freeman being one of the most prominent names to test positive for the virus.  Now recovered and back at the Braves’ camp, Freeman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Gabriel Burns and other reporters about his experience, which included a week of symptoms that even left Freeman fearful for his life on the evening of July 3 when he ran a fever of 104.5 degrees.  “I said a little prayer that night.  I’ve never been that hot before.  My body was really, really hot,” Freeman explained.  “So I said, ’Please don’t take me.’  I wasn’t ready.  It got a little worrisome that night for me.”

Fortunately, Freeman’s decreased to 101 degrees the following morning, and three days of fever gave way to four days where “it almost felt like I had a sinus problem.  I’d stand up, get dizzy and I’d have to sit back down.”  After that, however, Freeman went nine days without any other symptoms.  After getting word yesterday that he had tested negative on two consecutive coronavirus tests, Freeman received full clearance at a local hospital and was at training camp that same afternoon.  While “we’re going to take it day by day” in terms of getting into game shape, Freeman will try to pack as much work as possible over what remains of training camp: “That’s the whole goal, for me to be ready Opening Day.”

Some more on other pending and cleared COVID-19 cases from around baseball…

  • A positive coronavirus test delayed Isaac Paredes’ arrival at the Tigers’ camp until yesterday, but the prospect is now feeling healthy, he told MLB.com’s Jason Beck.  Paredes wasn’t asymptomatic, though he was feeling better even before traveling to the United States from his home in Mexico.  One of the top prospects in Detroit’s farm system, Paredes is only 21 years old and has yet to play any Triple-A ball, though he could have potentially been a candidate for the Tigers’ Opening Day roster had he been healthy.  Instead, Paredes will be assigned to the taxi squad and is “ready and willing to do whatever the staff and the manager want me to do.  I’m ready to play whatever position they want me to.“
  • The Cardinals provided updates on some of their COVID-positive players (MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold were among those to report the news.)  Left-handers Genesis Cabrera and Ricardo Sanchez were both cleared to participate in training, and Cabrera was at Busch Stadium today to play catch while Sanchez will join the Cards’ taxi squad at their minor league training site.  Alex Reyes, meanwhile, confirmed that his delayed arrival to training camp was indeed due to the coronavirus, though Reyes was asymptomatic.  Once one of baseball’s top pitching prospects, Reyes has been limited to only seven MLB innings over the last three seasons due to various injuries, so the Cardinals weren’t likely to rush him to the Opening Day roster even had he been healthy.  It isn’t out of the question that Reyes will emerge at some point in the 2020 season as a hard-throwing relief option.

Braves Add Josh Tomlin, Yonder Alonso To 40-Man Roster

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The Atlanta Braves added Josh Tomlin and Yonder Alonso to the 40-man roster today, per David O’Brien of The Athletic.

Tomlin, 35, spent last season in the Braves bullpen. It was his first year away from the Cleveland Indians, where he spent the first nine years of his career as a sometimes-regular piece of the rotation. Pitching out of the Braves pen in 2019, Tomlin appeared 50 times (with 1 start as well), going 2-1 with a 3.74 ERA/4.49 FIP across 79 1/3 innings. He’ll continue to be a long man for the Braves in 2020.

Alonso has bounced around in recent seasons since his days as a regular first baseman with the Padres and A’s. After coming up with the Reds, he has also appeared in the bigs with the Mariners, Indians, White Sox, and Rockies.

The Braves’ roster construction has gone through a number of potential iterations since the restart was announced. Freddie Freeman’s debut was at risk after he tested positive for coronavirus, but their franchise first baseman is back and he plans to be ensconced in the middle of the lineup by Opening Day.

Still, Alonso provides the Braves with a safety net. He struggled mightily to start the year in 2019 while in Chicago (.178/.275/.301 across 251 plate appearances), but after joining the Rockies, Alonso stepped up his production to .260/.357/.479, albeit over a small sample of just 84 plate appearances. Alonso has experience in the DH role, and he’ll compete with Adam Duvall, Austin Riley, and Charlie Culberson to snag the extra ABs afforded by the universal DH. The 33-year-old is a career .259/.332/.404 batting line with 100 home runs over his 10 years in the bigs.

Yasiel Puig Tests Positive For Coronavirus; Deal With Braves Reportedly Off

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Outfielder Yasiel Puig will not be signing with the Braves after all, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. Puig reportedly agreed to a contract with the Braves earlier this week, but he announced Friday on Twitter that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. That was enough to scuttle the deal for Atlanta, which Rosenthal writes never actually reached an agreement with Puig.

Of course, this is a stunning turn of events for the Braves and Puig. First and foremost, though, is the 29-year-old’s health. Fortunately, he tweeted that he’s asymptomatic and feeling fine. Puig will need two negative tests before he’s eligible to return to action, which suddenly looks in jeopardy of happening at all in 2020 now that his pact with the Braves won’t go through. It’s unclear whether the Braves will circle back to the righty-swinging Puig in the near future. For now, they’re looking for a left-handed-hitting bench option to supplement their offense, according to Rosenthal.

Even before this development, Puig went through a surprisingly difficult few months. While he has been a solid contributor for most of his career, which began with the Dodgers in 2013, a down 2019 between Cincinnati and Cleveland led to a tepid market in free agency. The months-long COVID-19 shutdown that prevented teams from making transactions also didn’t help Puig’s cause. Once he regains his health, he’ll surely try yet again to land a contract with a major league team. Even if he does, he probably won’t be able to debut this season until at least sometime in August.

The Braves received great news Friday when first baseman and lineup linchpin Freddie Freeman was cleared to return to action, but their outfield depth has taken multiple hits of late. Before the failed Puig deal, veteran Nick Markakis opted out of the season over health concerns. They do currently have Ronald Acuna Jr., Marcell Ozuna and Ender Inciarte as starters in the grass, though, and their track records indicate they should make for a quality trio. Prospects Cristian Pache and Drew Waters may not be far off, but Pache is dealing with an ankle injury at the moment. Otherwise, Austin Riley, Adam Duvall and Charlie Culberson could be the team’s top reserves in the outfield.

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