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Braves Acquire Stuart Fairchild

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The Reds have traded outfielder Stuart Fairchild to the Braves for cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. The Reds had designated Fairchild for assignment last week. Atlanta transferred right-hander Joe Jiménez, who is recovering from knee surgery and might miss the entire season, to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move.

Fairchild, 29, is a speed-and-defense outfielder. He has appeared in 249 big league games over the past four big league seasons. In that time, he has a .224/.308/.389 batting line in 615 plate appearances. That production translates to a wRC+ of 88, indicating he’s been 12% below average at the plate overall.

He has also swiped 23 bags in 29 tries, getting double-digit steals in each of the past two seasons. He has 1,389 1/3 innings in the outfield, spending time at all three positions. In that time, he’s been credited with ten Defensive Runs Saved and nine Outs Above Average.

But he is out of options, meaning he needs to hold an active roster spot in order to stick on a 40-man roster. The Reds squeezed him off but Atlanta will find a spot for him. By moving Jiménez to the 60-day, they have made room for Fairchild on the 40-man but will have to make a corresponding active roster move whenever Fairchild reports to the team.

That could perhaps be Bryan De La Cruz getting optioned down to Triple-A. The club currently has Jurickson Profar, Michael Harris II and Jarred Kelenic getting the regular outfield playing time. De La Cruz and Eli White are on the bench but White is out of options, whereas De La Cruz is still optionable.

However the alignment shakes out for now, it’s likely to be temporary. Alex Verdugo was signed just over a week ago. He has agreed to be optioned to start the year so that he can effectively do a delayed spring training. Ronald Acuña Jr. is on the injured list, still recovering from last year’s ACL tear, but could be back with the club at some point in May.

As Verdugo and Acuña eventually join the active roster, guys like Fairchild, De La Cruz, White and perhaps even Kelenic could be squeezed out of playing time or bumped down the depth chart. For now, Fairchild gives Atlanta a nice fourth outfielder with a good glove and some speed. As mentioned, he is out of options but has less than three years of service time. That means he theoretically can be retained beyond this season if he carves at a comfortable role for himself. He’s also a righty bat with a .248/.346/.409 line and 107 wRC+ against lefties in his career, so perhaps he can carve out a platoon role with the lefty-swinging Kelenic.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Braves To Select Jesse Chavez, Designate Hector Neris For Assignment

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11:08am: Atlanta has opted to designate right-hander Hector Neris for assignment, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Chavez will take his spot on the 26-man and 40-man rosters.

11:03am: The Braves are selecting the contract of veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez from Triple-A Gwinnett, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Atlanta has a full 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will need to be made.

The 41-year-old Chavez and the Braves can’t seem to help finding their way back to one another. This is his fifth stint with Atlanta in five years, despite never pitching on more than a one-year deal with the Braves over that half-decade stretch. He’s signed minor league deals with the White Sox, Cubs, Rangers and Angels since 2021 but each time wound up landing back with the Braves.

Despite his age, Chavez has remained effective during that span. In 201 innings since 2021 — all but 16 1/3 coming with Atlanta — the well-traveled righty has compiled a 2.91 earned run average with a 24.5% strikeout rate and a 7.4% walk rate. He’s most frequently held a long relief/multi-inning role in the bullpen but has garnered 26 holds and a save along the way.

Neris, 35, appeared in only two games with the Braves but was still tagged for five runs in that small sample. He yielded three runs without recording an out in his Atlanta debut on Opening Day and was tagged for another two runs in one inning of work yesterday. The Braves could’ve optioned Daysbel Hernandez, moved Joe Jimenez to the 60-day injured list — he’s likely out for the season following late-October knee surgery — and preserved some depth, but Neris’ early struggles were enough for the club to move on entirely.

It’s a rough sequence for Neris, who didn’t even sign with Atlanta until March 3 and only pitched one official inning during spring training before being selected to the Opening Day roster. The extent to which the lack of a more traditional build impacted him is impossible to pin down, but Neris averaged just 91.9 mph on his four-seamer during his pair of Braves appearances; he averaged 93.6 mph on his four-seamer during his first appearance of the 2024 season.

That said, Neris isn’t exactly coming off a dominant 2024 campaign. He finished the year with a 4.10 ERA between the Cubs and Astros but also blew five of his 30 save opportunities, walked nearly 11% of his opponents and posted a 24.6% strikeout rate that was his lowest since his 2015 rookie campaign in Philadelphia. Neris struggled enough in Chicago that the Cubs released him in mid-August.

As recently as 2023, Neris turned in a pristine 1.71 ERA in 68 1/3 innings for Houston. That never looked sustainable, not with a .219 average on balls in play and bloated 91% strand rate, but he still logged a sharp 28.2% strikeout rate and logged 31 holds and a pair of saves. Even with some regression expected, metrics like FIP (3.83) and SIERA (3.89) felt that Neris was a perfectly solid option in the ’pen.

The Braves have the opportunity to explore trade scenarios for Neris, but the likelier outcome is that he’ll become a free agent — whether by way of release waivers or rejecting a minor league assignment after clearing outright waivers. Neris has a lengthy track record in the big leagues and has continued to pitch effectively into his 30s — 3.27 ERA in 267 1/3 innings from 2021-24 — so another club will likely take a look on a minor league deal and hope that a lengthier buildup in the minors will get him back on track.

Brian Snitker Non-Committal About Managing Beyond 2025 Season

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Brian Snitker is entering his tenth season as the Braves’ manager, and his 49th season overall as a member of Atlanta’s organization.  The skipper also turns 70 years old in October, and his most recent contract extension with the Braves (signed back in January 2023) was just a one-year pact that covered the 2025 campaign.

With all this in mind, Snitker seems to be at least considering ending his managerial career once this season is over.  He recently told the New York Post’s Jon Heyman that “I’ll let the year get underway and see what happens,” and told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that last year, Snitker did view 2025 as his last season, though he now isn’t ready to make a final call.

“I still feel really good, and the 50-number [50 years with the Braves] is something I think it’d be kind of cool.  But right now, I’m leaning towards getting through today,” Snitker told Nightengale.

It speaks to Snitker’s baseball-lifer status that stepping away from the manager’s chair wouldn’t mean he is retiring entirely, as “hopefully, I’ll just stay around here and be one of those advisor guys.  I’ll go to the minor-league parks, come to Spring Training a little bit and spend a lot of time watching my grandkids.”  So technically, such an advisory role could stretch Snitker’s Atlanta tenure into yet another decade, even if he would be free from the day-to-day grind of managing.

Bobby Cox and Frank Selee are the only managers in franchise history with more wins than Snitker, who is 735-585 over his nine-plus seasons.  That resume includes seven consecutive winning seasons, and a streak of six straight NL East titles that ended only with last season’s second-place finish.  Snitker’s run of success was highlighted by the Braves’ triumph in the 2021 World Series, as Atlanta overcame losing Ronald Acuna Jr. to a torn ACL that season and launched something of a Cinderella run to the championship.

Snitker’s minor league playing career consisted of four seasons in the Atlanta farm system, and he then immediately pivoted into a roving instructor position in 1980.  This was the stepping stone to becoming a minor league manager in 1982, with Snitker acting as the skipper for multiple teams at multiple rungs of the organizational ladder over the next three-plus decades.  These minor league managerial assignments came in between three different stints on the Braves’ big league coaching staff — Snitker was the bullpen coach in 1985 and then again from 1988-90, and he acted as the third base coach from 2007-13.

Snitker was the manager at Triple-A Gwinnett when he was named the Braves’ interim manager in May 2016, after Fredi Gonzalez was fired.  Though Snitker was only 59-65 over the remainder of that season, it was enough to earn him the full-time job, and Snitker then went 72-90 during the 2017 campaign.  As Nightengale notes, Snitker’s job security was on shaky ground before an even bigger shake-up happened within the organization, as GM John Coppolella resigned due to a league investigation into allegations that the Braves violated international signing rules.  Alex Anthopoulos was quickly brought on as the new general manager, and kept Snitker as manager in part to maintain some stability within an unusual situation for the team.

“I didn’t know anything about Brian Snitker but his name when I got here,’’ Anthopoulos told Nightengale.  “I didn’t know who he was.  I literally had no attachment, no history whatsoever. Now, I have the highest level of trust from a personal standpoint, a professional standpoint, which is critically important. I have so much trust in him in everything we do.”

It would appear that Anthopoulos would be more than happy to keep Snitker in the job beyond 2025, and if Snitker does decide to return, another one-year extension could be worked out in pretty quick fashion.  All of Snitker’s contracts as manager have been short-term deals of no longer than two guaranteed years, perhaps as a nod to Snitker’s age even though his teams kept delivering on the field.

Snitker’s future will be a major running subplot of what is expected to be another year of high expectations in Atlanta.  As much as flags fly forever, the Braves haven’t won a playoff series in the three years since that 2021 ring, and now face heavy competition just in the NL East, let alone the National League as a whole.  Still, the Braves overcame a lot of major injuries to still at least reach the postseason last year, and a healthier roster could help Snitker potentially go out on a high note if he does decide to end his managerial career.

NL Injury Notes: Realmuto, Turner, Suarez, Abbott, Murphy, Freeman

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X-rays were negative on J.T. Realmuto’s left foot after he fouled a ball off himself in Saturday’s 11-6 win over the Nationals.  The Phillies took Realmuto out of the game, and the catcher also didn’t play today “more a precaution than anything,” manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer).  Realmuto will likely be back in action tomorrow when the Phillies have their home opener, though Trea Turner could miss a third straight game as he recovers from back spasms.  Thomson said Turner was available off the bench today and might play Monday, though the Phils’ off-day on Tuesday would allow Turner to get a full four days of recovery time if he is held out of Monday’s lineup.

In other Phillies injury news, Ranger Suarez threw a 26-pitch bullpen session on Saturday, and an up-and-down bullpen is now slated for Tuesday.  If all goes well, Lauber writes that Suarez will make at least one minor league rehab start before being activated from the 15-day injured list.  Suarez was bothered by a bad back during Spring Training, and the Phils decided to put him on the IL to give him more time to heal up and them finish his spring preparations in advance of his 2025 debut.

More injury updates from around the National League…

  • Speaking of pitchers on the 15-day IL, the Reds told reporters (including Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that southpaw Andrew Abbott will throw his first rehab start with Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday.  Abbott is slated for another outing on April 6, and a decision will then be made about whether or not he might be activated onto the Reds’ roster.  A shoulder strain ended Abbott’s 2024 season in late August, and recovering from that strain set Abbott back in his usual offseason work, so the Reds opted to slowly ramp the left-hander up in Spring Training.  If all goes well, Abbott should line up to make his 2025 debut on April 11 or 12, depending on how Cincinnati sets up its pitching staff.
  • Braves catcher Sean Murphy will also probably be starting a minor league rehab assignment this week, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman writes that Murphy will likely take the field for the Braves’ A-level affiliate on Friday.  Murphy cracked a rib after he was hit by a pitch during a Spring Training game in early March, and we’ve already hit the lower end of the initial 4-6 week recovery timeline.  Still, Murphy appears to be making good enough progress that a return to Atlanta’s lineup should be feasible by mid-April.
  • Tyler Freeman left today’s game with a bruised left wrist after he was hit by a Taj Bradley pitch, but x-rays were negative, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding writes.  Freeman might be well enough to return to the Rockies’ lineup tomorrow, though since Colorado doesn’t play on Tuesday, this is another situation where a player with a minor injury might simply get an extra day to fully heal.

Jay Jackson To Retire

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After a professional career that spanned 17 years, veteran right-hander Jay Jackson is hanging up his glove. Robert Murray of FanSided reported this afternoon that Jackson is retiring from his playing career, adding that the 37-year-old hopes to have a second act in baseball, whether that comes by working for a team or in broadcasting.

Jackson was selected by the Cubs in the ninth-round of the 2008 MLB draft and made his pro debut later the summer at 20 years old. A fringe top-100 prospect entering the 2010 season after he pitched to a 2.98 ERA in 24 starts across three levels of the Chicago farm system, Jackson spent the next three seasons struggling at the Triple-A level without breaking into the majors. He was eventually released by the Cubs in early 2013 and bounced between the Marlins, Pirates, and Brewers before eventually landing with the Padres prior to the 2015 season. In San Diego, the right-hander moved to a full-time bullpen role and dominated the Double- and Triple-A levels, earning the opportunity to pitch in the majors for the first time in his career.

Jackson’s first big league cup of coffee did not go especially well, as he surrendered three runs in 4 1/3 innings across six appearances. Even so, the opportunity was enough to get the righty noticed by the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He pitched for the Carp for three seasons, from 2016 to 2018, and put together an impressive resume with a sterling 2.11 ERA and a 26.9% strikeout rate in 175 NPB innings. That work earned him his second big league opportunity, as he returned to the Brewers organization and pitched to a 4.45 ERA across 30 1/3 innings of work in 2019, but it was only after a second sojourn to Japan (this time as a member of the Chiba Lotte Marines) in 2020 that Jackson was able to stick in the majors.

After signing with the Giants in 2021 for his age-33 season, Jackson enjoyed a late-career stretch of success in the majors. Though he pitched just 52 2/3 innings at the big league level for San Francisco, Atlanta, and Toronto from 2021 to 2023, Jackson posted an excellent 2.73 ERA across those 50 appearances and struck out 26.5% of his opponents. That was enough to earn Jackson a look from the Twins last year in his age-36 season, though he struggled badly with a 7.52 ERA across 20 appearances before being released by Minnesota last year. Jackson initially signed with the Mexican League’s Bravos de Leon earlier this month in an effort to continue his playing career, but evidently has now decided to wrap up his days as a player instead.

Overall, Jackson pitched to a lifetime 4.43 ERA (97 ERA+) with a 4.47 FIP across 113 2/3 major league innings, with a 7-4 record and 136 strikeouts in 104 career games. That’s in addition to his excellent years in Japan, where he posted a 2.16 ERA and struck out 204 batters in 183 NPB innings. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Jackson on his nearly two decades of work in baseball and wish him all the best in whatever comes next.

Braves Sign Eddys Leonard To Minors Deal

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1:22PM: The Braves signed Leonard to a minor league contract, KPRC2’s Ari Alexander reports.

7:53AM: The Tigers released Eddys Leonard from the Triple-A Toledo roster, according to the infielder/outfielder’s MLB.com profile page.  Leonard has spent the parts of the last two seasons in Detroit’s organization and re-signed a new minor league deal last December after being non-tendered and removed from the club’s 40-man roster.

A veteran of six minor league seasons in the Dodgers’ and Tigers’ farm systems, Leonard has yet to crack the big leagues during his pro career.  His chances at a call-up in 2024 might’ve been marred by injuries, as an oblique strain and a hamstring strain limited Leonard to only 82 total games (67 in Toledo, and 15 on the Tigers’ A-level teams as part of rehab assignments).

When Leonard did play, he hit .263/.326/.455 with 10 homers over 282 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.  This performance came on the heels of a .302/.374/.530 slash line in 171 PA with Toledo in 2023, so Leonard may have increasingly little to prove in the upper minors.  However, he hit poorly in Spring Training this year, perhaps costing himself a prime opportunity to break camp with a Tigers team was looking to fill some roster holes due to injury.

The 24-year-old Leonard will now return to the open market, looking to land with a team in need of some versatile depth.  Shortstop is Leonard’s primary position, but he has also seen a lot of time at second and third base and in center field, plus a handful of games in the other two outfield positions.  In 2024, Leonard stuck almost exclusively to infield work, which may have been related to his injury concerns rather than a distinct shift towards becoming an infield-only player.

Rehab Assignments: Strider, Henderson, Gomber

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The Braves assigned Spencer Strider to Triple-A Gwinnett on a rehab stint this afternoon. The hard-throwing righty will pitch for the Stripers tomorrow in Charlotte. It’ll be his first regular season action at any level since he underwent an internal brace surgery to repair his UCL last April. Strider was able to make a pair of Spring Training appearances, where he combined for four innings. He struck out 10 of the 16 batters he faced.

Strider’s stuff is clearly sharp, but the Braves stuck to their plan to have him begin the season on the 15-day injured list. That’ll afford him a couple weeks to continue his build-up in the minors. Strider is first eligible to return on April 8. He’ll pitch at least twice in Gwinnett before the Braves decide whether to activate him. Grant Holmes and AJ Smith-Shawver are currently rounding out the rotation behind Chris Sale, Reynaldo López and Spencer Schwellenbach.

A couple other notable players are out on rehab stints of their own:

  • The Orioles assigned Gunnar Henderson to Triple-A Norfolk tonight. Last year’s fourth-place MVP finisher took three at-bats and played seven innings at shortstop during his first game action in a month. Henderson suffered a right intercostal strain early in Spring Training. He didn’t appear in a game after February 27 and only made three exhibition appearances overall. That Henderson was able to play in the first game of Norfolk’s season confirms it’s likely to be a short-term absence for Baltimore’s superstar. Jorge Mateo and Ramón Urías are picking up the extra infield work alongside Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle.
  • Rockies starter Austin Gomber was shelved by shoulder soreness to begin the season. Colorado sent him to Triple-A Albuquerque to start their season opener this evening. Gomber tossed four innings of two-run ball with five strikeouts. He built up to 66 pitches. The Rox are opening with a four-man rotation because of off days built into their schedule during the first two turns. Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Germán Márquez and Ryan Feltner could take every start until the second week of April — at which point there’s a good chance Gomber will be ready to rejoin the rotation.

Poll: Who Will Win The NL East?

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Opening Day has finally arrived, and teams all around the league are gearing up for another pennant chase in hopes of being crowned this year’s World Series champion. Of course, there’s still another seven months to go before someone raises the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. We’ll be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series already covered the NL West, where the Dodgers were viewed as an overwhelming favorite, and the NL Central, where the Cubs narrowly beat out the reigning division champs in Milwaukee. Now, the series continues with a look at the NL East. Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Philadelphia Phillies (95-67)

After the Phillies fell to their division-rival Mets during the NLDS, it appeared the club may consider making some considerable changes as they put Alec Bohm on the market and searched for outfield help rather than rely on internal options like Brandon Marsh and Josh Rojas. Ultimately, however, the club’s additions this winter were fairly modest. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski swung a trade for a big-name pitcher in need of a bounce-back in Jesus Luzardo. The signings of Jordan Romano and Max Kepler should help out as well but both are coming off down seasons due to injuries. With Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez departing, the bullpen is arguably weaker than last season.

The Phillies will mostly rely on the same core players they trotted out last year. Fortunately, that’s the same core that allowed them to sail into the postseason with a bye through the Wild Card series last year. Zack Wheeler remains one of the very best pitchers in the entire sport, and a rotation featuring Luzardo as the likely fifth starter behind Cristopher Sanchez, Aaron Nola, and Ranger Suarez when fully healthy is in the conversation for the sport’s best. In the lineup, meanwhile, Bryce Harper returns as one of the sport’s most talented hitters, and his supporting cast of battle-tested veterans like Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and J.T. Realmuto all figure to contribute with the same consistency they’ve offered in previous years. It was more than enough to win the division last year, but will the same be true in 2025?

Atlanta Braves (89-73)

This past offseason was a relatively quiet one in Atlanta, as the club’s winter was defined more by the departures of franchise stalwarts like Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Travis d’Arnaud than any major additions, even as Jurickson Profar profiles as a substantial upgrade over last year’s platoon of Jarred Kelenic and Adam Duvall in left field. Other relatively marginal additions like Alex Verdugo, Nick Allen, and Hector Neris should help out somewhat as well, but the main thing Atlanta has going for it in 2025 is hope for better health. The Braves’ core was ravaged by injuries last year, with Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider both missing virtually the entire season while Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy and Michael Harris II all also missed significant time.

While health is never guaranteed, the club is all but certain to get more out of its two superstars in Acuna and Strider this year, and is overall unlikely to run into the same rash of injuries on the positional side even as Murphy is already out for the start of the season due to a cracked rib. The team that led baseball in runs scored in 2023 has brought in even more talent on offense since then while also building an impressive bullpen anchored by Raisel Iglesias and Aaron Bummer. All of that is before even considering that the club will once again enjoy the services of reigning NL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale, as well as Reynaldo Lopez as he tries to follow up on a 1.99 ERA campaign in 2025. In some ways, 2024 looked like a floor for the Braves’ talented floor. Will a bounce back be enough to win a tough division in 2025?

New York Mets (89-73)

For as talented as the Phillies and Braves are, it was the Mets who made the deepest run into the 2024 postseason of the NL East, getting all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS before falling to the eventual World Series champion Dodgers. Steve Cohen and David Stearns weren’t content to rest on their laurels this winter and made the biggest splash of any team when they signed Juan Soto to a record-shattering $765MM deal that will land him in Queens for the next 15 years. None of the club’s other moves matched that level of flash, but the returns of Sean Manaea, Jesse Winker, and Pete Alonso as well as more modest additions like Clay Holmes and A.J. Minter leave the Mets looking like a stronger club overall than they were this time last year.

Impactful as pairing Soto with Francisco Lindor at the top of the lineup figures to be, however, that won’t necessarily make the club a clear division favorite with many of the issues that made the Mets such underdogs last season still lingering. A rotation that featured little certainty on paper entering Spring Training is already getting tested by a number of injuries, and the club will rely on Mark Vientos avoiding a sophomore slump in order to lengthen a lineup that looks softer at the bottom than its counterparts in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Still, a lineup featuring two MVP finalists, two other 30-homer sluggers, and Brandon Nimmo looks impressive on paper, and a late-inning mix of Edwin Diaz, Minter, and Jose Butto should be able to preserve late leads. Will that be enough to overtake their rivals?

Washington Nationals (71-91)

The Nationals showed some signs of development last year, but ultimately sold at the trade deadline and fell well short of playoff contention when all was said and done. Still, an emerging core of James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, Dylan Crews, and CJ Abrams inspired enough confidence for the Nationals to make some modest buy-side additions this winter. Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Bell should provide a notable upgrade over Joey Meneses and Joey Gallo at first base, while Paul DeJong and Amed Rosario offer the sort of depth on the infield that was sorely lacking last year.

With three juggernauts at the top of the division, the path to a division title in D.C. is a murky one. With that being said, every member of that aforementioned core is young, talented, and capable of breaking out before even considering the potential impact other young pieces like Brady House, Cade Cavalli, and Robert Hassell III could offer at some point in the year. The addition of Michael Soroka to a rotation that already featured solid youngsters like Gore and Jake Irvin should also offer plenty of upside. Steep as the climb to the summit of the NL East would be, it’s certainly not impossible to imagine the Nationals being the surprise of the NL this year.

Miami Marlins (62-100)

Things were bleak in Miami last year as they lost 100 games for the first time since 2019. And unfortunately for fans, there’s little reason for optimism about the potential for better days in 2025. The club made virtually no additions this winter, and moves to ship out solid pieces like Luzardo and Jake Burger figure to be far more notable than the additions of minor pieces like Matt Mervis and Cal Quantrill. The return of stalwart ace Sandy Alcantara from Tommy John surgery provides a nice story early in the year, and young phenom Eury Perez could return later this season as well. Even the club’s vaunted collection of arms seems unlikely to be enough to get them back to the playoffs given a lineup that will rely on players like Jesus Sanchez and Connor Norby to carry its run production this year, and it would likely take a miracle for them to actually come out on top in such a tough division.

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The Phillies, Braves, and Mets all have strong cases to be the NL East’s best team after making the postseason last year. Philadelphia stands as the reigning champion, while Atlanta featured the best team in all of baseball just two years ago. New York, meanwhile, made a deep run in the postseason just last year and added arguably the most talented pure hitter in baseball over the winter. Meanwhile, D.C. is continuing to quietly assemble a young core that could break out and compete in its own right. Even with Miami deep in the trenches of a rebuild, it figures to be a deeply competitive division in 2025. Who do you think will come out on top? Have your say in the poll below:

Braves Release Dany Jimenez

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The Braves have released right-handed reliever Dany Jimenez, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He was non-tendered by the A’s in November and signed a minor league deal with Atlanta back in mid-January.

The 31-year-old Jimenez appeared in three spring games for Atlanta but only totaled one inning. He faced ten batters, walked five of them and allowed a pair of runs to score. He was never a likely candidate to make the roster, but he’ll now look for new opportunities rather than head to Triple-A Gwinnett. The Braves selected Hector Neris and Enyel De Los Santos earlier this week, adding to a bullpen that was already anchored by several notable veterans (Raisel Iglesias, Pierce Johnson, Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee). Atlanta’s general bullpen depth didn’t leave a particularly strong path toward earning a big league look.

Jimenez posted a 3.43 ERA in 57 2/3 big league innings from 2022-23 despite a pedestrian 23% strikeout rate and bloated 13.4% walk rate. His strike-throwing woes intensified in 2024, when Jimenez walked more than 16% of his opponents en route to a 4.91 earned run average across 25 2/3 frames. His average fastball also fell off noticeably, per Statcast, falling from his career-high 93.9 mph in 2022 to 92.5 mph in 2024.

Given the down year in 2024 and the pronounced struggles when he got his few looks in big league camp with Atlanta, Jimenez will likely be limited to a minor league deal wherever he lands. He does have two option years and another four seasons of club control remaining, but he’d need to pitch his way onto a 40-man roster with a nice performance in Triple-A before those factors much of a consideration.

Braves, Angels Swap Ian Anderson, Jose Suarez

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The Braves are poised to acquire left-hander Jose Suarez from the Angels, according to a report from Ari Alexander of KPRC2. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, right-hander Ian Anderson is headed to Anaheim in exchange for Suarez.

Suarez, 27, signed with the Angels out of Venezuela and made his pro debut back in 2015. He’s spent his entire career in an Angels uniform to this point and first made it to the majors in 2019. The early days of his big league career weren’t exactly inspiring, as he carried a career 7.99 ERA in 83 1/3 innings through the end of the 2020 season with a 9.5% walk rate against a lackluster 18.6% strikeout rate.

Things turned around in a big way for the southpaw come 2021, however, and settled in to become a quality swing man for Anaheim. He pitched 98 1/3 innings that year in the majors split between 14 starts and nine relief appearances, and he was generally impressive by the results in those outings with a 3.75 ERA (119 ERA+) with a 4.12 FIP. That success carried over into the 2022 campaign, where Suarez was utilized as a more traditional back-of-the-rotation starter. He made 20 starts (and two relief appearances) for the Angels at the big league level that year, and pitched solidly enough with a roughly league average 3.96 ERA and a roughly matching 3.91 FIP. After posting successful seasons in back-to-back years, it seemed likely that the Angels would be relying on Suarez to serve as a back-end starter of swingman for years to come.

That’s not how things have transpired, however, as the lefty has been nothing short of disastrous over the past two seasons. In 86 innings of work since the start of the 2023 campaign, Suarez has struggled to a 6.91 ERA in 33 appearances, ten of which were starts. After striking out 21.5% of opponents and walking 7.9% from 2021 to ’22, the past two seasons have seen Suarez’s walk rate balloon to 11.6% while his strikeout rate has ticked down to 20.7%. He also began to give up increasingly dangerous contact, as his barrel rate ballooned from 7.4% in his successful years to 9.7% over the past two seasons. That’s led him to allow 17 homers in those 86 innings of work, more than he surrendered in either 2021 or ’22 despite pitching more innings in both of those seasons.

Suarez even found himself outrighted to the minors for much of last year, though he was added back to the club’s 40-man roster in September and remained there throughout the offseason. Now, however, he’ll head to Atlanta in hopes that a change of scenery can help get his career back on track. For the Angels, the move to part ways with Suarez comes on the heels of a mixed showing in camp where he struggled to a 6.55 ERA but struck out 25.5% of opponents while walking 9.8%. For Atlanta, he’ll offer another left-handed bullpen option who can be deployed in the middle innings, allowing Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer to be used more exclusively in high leverage situations.

Going the other way is Anderson, another reclamation project without options remaining. The right-hander, 27 in May, received NL Rookie of the Year votes in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons as he pitched to a combined 3.25 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout rate and 3.80 FIP in 30 starts during the regular season before adding an incredible 1.26 ERA in eight postseason starts to his resume over the course of those two years. That performance appeared likely to make Anderson a likely fixture of the Atlanta rotation going forward, but things took a turn for the worse in 2022 when he struggled to a 5.00 ERA (despite a 4.25 FIP) in 22 starts before he eventually went under the knife early in the 2023 campaign, undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Anderson missed the entire 2023 season while rehabbing and made 15 starts in the minor leagues last year as he got back up to speed, though his 3.44 ERA in 68 minor league innings did not lead to a return to the majors. The right-hander appeared likely to be part of the club’s rotation to start the season with Spencer Strider ticketed for the injured list entering camp, but despite a 2.65 ERA in 17 innings this spring Anderson’s camp raised concerns as he walked an eye-popping 18 opponents, or 24% of his total batters faced. With Anderson no longer in the fold, it seems likely the fifth starter job will instead go to AJ Smith-Shawver to open the season. Meanwhile, the Angels seem likely to utilize Anderson in a long relief role, though it’s at least possible he could get a look in the rotation if Reid Detmers begins the season at Triple-A.

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