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Max Fried

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.

COVID Notes: 3/6/21

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The latest on how the coronavirus is affecting Major League Baseball:

  • Max Fried has been cleared to return to spring training, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. Fried had to go through additional protocols after being in close contact to a potential COVID-19 exposure. Having received the necessary number of negative tests, Fried can return to camp and get set to make his spring debut. As of right now, the expectation is that Fried will be ready for the start of the season. Fellow southpaw Sean Newcomb now faces a similar situation, however. He will step away from camp until being officially cleared, as was the case with Fried.

COVID Notes: 3/4/21

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The latest on how the coronavirus is affecting Major League Baseball:

  • Braves left-hander Max Fried will not make his previously scheduled start Friday because he may have been exposed to COVID-19, Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Fried has not tested positive, but manager Brian Snitker said (via David O’Brien of The Athletic) that he’ll “lay low” for a couple of days. At least for now, it doesn’t seem Fried will miss much time. As long as he recovers in short order, Fried could be the Opening Day starter for the Braves, having starred last season with a 2.25 ERA in 56 innings.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 1/15/21

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The deadline to exchange arbitration figures is today at 1pm ET. As of this morning, there were 125 arbitration-eligible players who’d yet to agree to terms on their contract for the upcoming 2021 season. Arbitration is muddier than ever before thanks to the shortened 2020 schedule, which most believe will lead to record number of arb hearings this winter. Be that as it may, it’s still reasonable to expect dozens of contractual agreements to filter in over the next couple of hours.

We’ll highlight some of the more high-profile cases in separate posts with more in-depth breakdowns, but the majority of today’s dealings will be smaller-scale increases that don’t radically alter a team’s payroll or a player’s trade candidacy. As such, we’ll just run through most of today’s agreements in this post.

I’ve embedded MLBTR’s 2021 Arbitration Tracker in the post (those in the mobile app or viewing on mobile web will want to turn their phones sideways). Our tracker can be sorted by team, by service time and/or by Super Two status, allowing users to check the status on whichever groups of players they like. You can also check out Matt Swartz’s projected arbitration salaries for this year’s class, and we’ll do a quick sentence on each player’s agreement at the bottom of this post as well, with the most recent agreements sitting atop the list.

Today’s Agreements (chronologically, newest to oldest)

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Gold Glove Nominees Announced

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The 2020 Rawlings Glove Glove Award finalists have been released, with the Cubs netting the most nominations with seven. The Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Brewers, Rays, and Red Sox were shut out.

The awards for defensive prowess will be handed out based on defensive metrics alone this year, since managers and coaches weren’t able to see players outside their regional bubble. Moving to a metrics-based system, even for a year, certainly make for interesting television, especially since these awards can make an impact on arbitration cases. Considering the uncertainty of a 60-game season, awards could carry greater weight than usual in those proceedings, thought that’s just speculation. Without further ado, here are this year’s nominees:

AL Pitcher

NL Pitcher

AL Catcher

NL Catcher

AL First Base

NL First Base

AL Second Base

NL Second Base

AL Third Base

NL Third Base

AL Shortstop

NL Shortstop

AL Left Field

NL Left Field

AL Centerfield

NL Centerfield

AL Right Field

NL Right Field

Nicky Lopez of the Royals was originally left off the list, but he is in fact a nominee at second base, one of four nominations at the keystone in the American League. It’s the only position with four nominations.

There are a few other interesting things of note. Perennial candidates like Andrelton Simmons and Matt Chapman did not make the list this year due to shortened seasons, nor did last season’s Outs Above Average leader Victor Robles. Both Gurriel brothers earned nominations this year, with the younger Lourdes (LF) joining perennial candidate Yuli (1B).

There are also a couple of largely part-time players that made the cut, like Hoerner of the Cubs and Mendick for the White Sox. Neither was the everyday second baseman, but they did reach the inning minimum of 265 total defensive innings. They qualified at second because that’s where they played the most innings. Mendick, for example, registered just 226 innings at second, but with 27 innings at third and 15 at shortstop, he ended the year with 268 total defensive innings played.

Catchers required a minimum of 29 games, which is how we got a pair of White Sox catchers making the top-3. Pitchers had to throw a minimum of 50 innings.

The winners will be selected using the SABR Defensive Index and announced on November 3rd, per sabr.org.

Braves Announce Starters For First Three Games Of NLDS

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OCTOBER 5: As expected, the Braves announced that Fried will get the ball in Game 1, with Anderson and Wright tabbed for Games 2 and 3, respectively (via David O’Brien of the Athletic). Manager Brian Snitker suggested the club could carry fifteen pitchers on their NLDS roster (relays O’Brien). Atlanta only activated thirteen pitchers for their shorter first-round series against the Reds.

OCTOBER 4: The Braves will consider a bullpen game at some point during their NLDS series against the Marlins, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. That’s a lot to put on a bullpen in a 5-game series that takes place over 5 days, but the Braves and manager Brian Snitker may not have a better option available to them.

Max Fried figures to get the start in game one, with Snitker announcing the move in all but name: “I think you want your best going in Game 1,” said Snitker, per Bowman. Fried could return on short rest to start a potential win-or-go-home game five. Said Snitker, “…I definitely think that is a possibility. We just need to see how that first game goes and the subsequent games as well.” Snitker remained coy about officially naming Fried as the game one starter, but only an injury would derail a game one start from Fried at this point, and it seems their ace lefty is finally healthy for the first time in that past month.

Beyond Fried, rookie standout Ian Anderson should line up for game two and Kyle Wright for game three. Again, Snitker would make nothing official, but the Braves don’t have a lot of options given the injuries that befell their rotation during the season.

Game four is where things get interesting for the Braves, as they don’t have a clear option lined up to start this game – hence the possibility of a bullpen game. Josh Tomlin was on the Wild Card roster, and he could function as a key swingman after making 5 starts during the regular season. Tomlin covered 39 2/3 innings across 17 total appearances during the regular season with a 4.76 ERA/4.02 FIP and 8.17 K/9 to 1.82 BB/9.

Atlanta went with a 10-man bullpen for the wild card series, with Tomlin as the only true long man. If they should so choose, the Braves have a number of options elsewhere in the system with experience eating innings. Huascar Ynoa, Bryse Wilson, Touki Toussaint, and Sean Newcomb could conceivably be added to their pitching pool as options to start or eat innings in a potential game four. That said, 10 guys in the pen should be enough even with a bullpen game, and the Braves already expect to lean heavily on Mark Melancon and Shane Greene – each of whom could theoretically pitch in as many as four of the five games, if it goes the distance.

Ronald Acuña Jr. Scratched From Sunday’s Lineup

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Ronald Acuña Jr. was scratched from today’s lineup because of left wrist irritation, the team announced via Twitter. Obviously, it’s not an ideal situation for the Braves, but there’s no apparent reason to read anything more into this than what’s on the surface. With their playoff position locked, the Braves don’t gain much from playing Acuña today, especially if he’s anything less than 100%. There’s no reason to expect Acuña won’t be back in the lineup for their 3-game wild card playoff.

Acuna wanted to be in the lineup today, so the injury clearly isn’t all that limiting, but the Braves wanted to be cautious with their superstar, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (via Twitter). It is the same wrist that caused him some trouble in August. That said, the 22-year-old still managed to play in 46 games this season and post 2.0 rWAR with a triple slash of .250/.406/.581.

While Acuña’s wrist soreness will surely make some Braves fans a little nervous, there’s cause for optimism coming out of Atlanta as well. Ace Max Fried threw a bullpen session today, and as expected, he’d been given the green light for the playoffs, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Perhaps even more important than Acuña, Atlanta really needs a healthy Fried in order to make a deep run this postseason. He was their best starter by a wide margin this season, emerging from a muddled and hectic rotation to establish himself as an ace and Cy Young candidate.

In 11 starts this season, Fried went 7-0 with a sterling 2.25 ERA/3.10 FIP across 56 innings. His contributions amount to 2.9 rWAR, the fourth-highest mark among pitchers in the majors. The only concern for Fried is that he’s thrown just 6 innings across two starts since going on the injured list early in September. The Braves have held the division lead or some time now, so they’ve been able to be patient with their ace. Still, he’ll be watched closely as he prepares to start the opener of the postseason. As the #2 seed, the Braves will be playing in Atlanta, though their opponent has yet to be decided. Beyond Fried, none of the Braves potential starters (Ian Anderson, Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson) have more than a year of service time under their belts.

Latest On Max Fried

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SEPT. 24: Great news for the Braves: Fried will “certainly be ready” for the start of the playoffs, general manager Alex Anthopoulos told MLB Network Radio.

SEPT. 23: Braves southpaw Max Fried exited his start against the Marlins on Wednesday after one inning because of a tweaked left ankle, the team announced. Fried previously missed time with a left-side muscle spasm in his lumbar spine.

With the Braves having clinched yet another NL East title and looking for their first World Series title since 1995, a significant Fried injury could be a catastrophe for a team whose rotation has had to overcome multiple problems during the season. The Braves are already set to enter the playoffs without Mike Soroka (Achilles) and Cole Hamels (shoulder), who haven’t contributed nearly as much as expected this year and won’t pitch again in 2020.

In a rotation devoid of two of its highest-profile arms, Fried has been a saving grace and one of the NL’s premier starters. It took until Wednesday for Fried to allow a home run, when the Marlins teed off on him for two in an inning of work, though he has been brilliant for the most part. The 26-year-old owns a 2.25 ERA/3.09 FIP with 8.04 K/9, 3.05 BB/9 and a 53 percent groundball rate in 56 innings.

Braves Promote Jasseel De La Cruz

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The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve promoted right-hander Jasseel De La Cruz and optioned Touki Toussaint to their alternate training site. De La Cruz will make his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game.

Ranked as Atlanta’s No. 12 prospect at each of Baseball America, FanGraphs and MLB.com on their respective midseason updates, the 23-year-old De La Cruz will be the latest promising Braves arm to try to help patch an injury-decimated pitching staff. He split the 2019 season between Class-A, Class-A Advanced and Double-A, pitching to a collective 3.25 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9 and a healthy 47.6 percent ground-ball rate.

Scouting reports at BA, FanGraphs and MLB.com all credit De La Cruz with a mid-90s heater that can reach the upper 90s and, per BA, has occasionally scratched triple digits. He’s made strides with his slider and improved his changeup as well, but while he’s worked as a starter for most of his minor league career, his violent delivery leads many to believe that he’s eventually bullpen-bound. That would allow his heater to play up and perhaps allow De La Cruz to focus on the better of his two offspeed offerings, which is currently his slider.

It doesn’t appear as though De La Cruz will start a game anytime soon, so he could just be bullpen depth for the time being. David O’Brien of The Athletic tweeted last night that the Braves expect to start Huascar Ynoa today, with Cole Hamels coming off the injured list for his season debut tomorrow and Max Fried slated to return Friday. (The Braves are off Thursday.) As such, there’s no guarantee that De La Cruz will get into a game before he’s sent back out, but Atlanta fans could still get a glimpse of the future in the coming days if he’s called upon.

The impending activation of Hamels and Fried should be a welcome breath of fresh air for a Braves club that has continually struggled to piece together its starting staff in the wake of myriad injuries and unexpectedly poor performances. They’re still a lock to make the postseason, holding a 2.5-game lead in the NL East at present, but the type of starting pitching they’ve received recently wouldn’t instill much confidence in a playoff series. However, a group led by Fried, Ian Anderson and a hopefully healthy Hamels looks considerably more impressive.

Braves Place Max Fried On IL, DFA Charlie Culberson, And Other Roster Moves

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The Atlanta Braves announced a number of roster moves this morning, the most consequential of which was placing ace Max Fried on the injured list, retroactive to September 6th, the team announced. Also, Kyle Wright was recalled and Jacob Webb reinstated from the injured list. Fan favorite utility man Charlie Culberson was designated for assignment.

Fried might be the single most important player on the Braves roster right now as the only reliable high-end arm in the rotation. In the wake of Mike Soroka’s season-ending injury, Mike Foltynewicz’s demotion, and Cole Hamels’ injury, Fried has ably stepped up and developed into an ace for the Braves. He’s currently a top contender for the Cy Young in the National League with a 6-0 record through 9 starts, 50 innings, a 1.98 ERA/2.47 FIP, and zero home runs allowed.

A worrying drop in velocity hit a season low in his last start on Saturday, as illustrated here by PitcherList.com (via Twitter), averaging just 91.7 mph after being as high as 94.1 mph for his first two starts of the year . The injury listed is a left-side muscle spasm of the lumbar spine, aka back spasms. The Braves are obviously hopeful that some rest and treatment can get him back on the hill.

In the meantime, Hamels is on the comeback trail, and he could be activated as soon as next Monday, per Baseball America’s Gabe Burns (via Twitter). For now, Wright will return from their alternate training site in Lawrenceville to re-join the rotation. The Braves will hope for better results this time around for the 24-year-old, who was hit with a 7.20 ERA/6.48 FIP while going 0-3 in 4 starts earlier this season – though The Athletic’s David O’Brien reports that Wright is just up for a spot start. Still, Wright is highly regarded, their 4th ranked prospect by Fangraphs, Baseball America, and MLB.com.

The 27-year-old Webb could provide boost to Atlanta’s right-side relief corps. Webb has yet to appear in 2020, but he put up a 1.39 ERA in 39 games in 2019 – his first big league experience. The 6’2″ right-hander brings a 95 mph heater buttressed by a curveball and 86 mph change that generated a 40% Whiff% in 2019.

Culberson, 31, only appeared in 9 games this season going 1 for 7 with a double and RBI. The utlilty man has mostly been used as a pinch-runner this season. Culberson had some big hits for the 2019 Braves, but he took a Fernando Rodney fastball to the cheek on a bunt attempt in Washington which broke his cheekbone and ended his season. Culberson hasn’t seen regular playing time since the injury.

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