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Huascar Ynoa

Braves Designate Sean Newcomb For Assignment, Option Huascar Ynoa

By Steve Adams | April 19, 2022 at 1:42pm CDT

The Braves have designated left-hander Sean Newcomb for assignment, per a club announcement. They’ve also optioned righty Huascar Ynoa to Triple-A Gwinnett and recalled right-hander Touki Toussaint and lefty Dylan Lee in place of Newcomb and Ynoa. Additionally, the Braves announced that Ronald Acuna Jr. is headed out on a minor league rehab assignment.

Newcomb’s DFA comes on the heels of a three-year downturn that have seen the starter-turned-setup-man’s effectiveness dwindle considerably. The No. 15 overall pick by the Angels back in 2014, Newcomb headlined the Braves’ return in the trade that sent Andrelton Simmons to Anaheim. After a solid rookie showing in 2017, he looked to have broken out in 2018 when he made 30 starts and pitched to a 3.90 ERA over the life of 164 innings. Newcomb’s 23% strikeout rate was solid, but his 11.6% walk rate marked a continuation of ongoing command troubles that had plagued him dating back to his minor league days.

Despite a decent start to the 2019 season, Newcomb was optioned to Gwinnett in mid-April and returned as a reliever in early May. The new role seemed to suit him just fine, as he pitched to a 2.89 ERA with improved strikeout and walk rates (25.5% and 8.9%, respectively) in 56 innings the rest of the way. Averaging just shy of 95 mph on his heater and putting the ball on the ground on more than half of the batted balls against him, Newcomb looked the part of a quality late-inning option.

That hasn’t proven to be the case, however. Dating back to 2020, Newcomb has a 6.71 ERA in 51 big league innings and has spent some time shuttling between Gwinnett and the big leagues. He’s walked more than 15% of his opponents since Opening Day 2020, plunked another five batters and thrown seven wild pitches. Newcomb is out of minor league options, and with him yielding four runs on seven hits and four walks through just five innings (26 batters faced) to begin the season, the Braves made the choice to cut bait.

Newcomb is earning $900K this season after avoiding arbitration this past offseason. He’s still owed about $842K of that sum for the remainder of the season, and any team that claims him or acquires him via trade would be on the hook for the remainder of that sum. If a new team is able to help Newcomb right the ship, however, he’d be controllable through the 2024 season via arbitration. Given that his salary is only $200K north of the new league minimum, it’s certainly possible that another club will look to help get the once-successful southpaw back on track. The Braves will have a week to trade Newcomb, attempt to pass him through waivers or release him. If he’s released, the new signing team would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster.

As for Ynoa, he’ll remain on the 40-man roster and hope to work toward another big league shot after an awful start to the season. The former Twins prospect, acquired in the deal that briefly sent Jaime Garcia to Minnesota, had a short breakout last year when he pitched to a 3.09 ERA over an eight-start stretch that spanned 43 2/3 frames. Ynoa, however, suffered a broken hand when he punched the bench following a poor start and spent two months on the injured list. When he returned, he posted a 5.05 ERA in 46 1/3 frames, and those struggles have not only continued but escalated in 2022. So far this year, he’s made two starts, both shorter than four innings, and yielded five earned runs in each.

The news on Acuna is a welcome sight for Braves fans, as it signifies that — barring any setbacks in his rehab from last year’s ACL tear — he’ll be back with the big league club within a month’s time. Minor league rehab windows are capped at 30 days, so Acuna will be back by mid-May, health-permitting.

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Atlanta Braves Newsstand Transactions Dylan Lee Huascar Ynoa Ronald Acuna Sean Newcomb Touki Toussaint

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Braves Notes: Rotation, Jackson, Freeman

By Anthony Franco | March 29, 2022 at 10:13pm CDT

During last year’s World Series run, the Braves found themselves mixing and matching at the back of the rotation behind Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson. Atlanta hasn’t done much to solidify that group this winter, leaving themselves to again count on a handful of less-proven arms at the back end.

Manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) over the weekend that righties Kyle Wright and Huascar Ynoa look like the favorites for the fourth and fifth spots. Ynoa always seemed to have a leg up after posting a 4.05 ERA/3.62 SIERA in 18 appearances last season. Wright, on the other hand, made just two regular season starts in the majors. The 26-year-0ld had a nice showing at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he worked 137 frames of 3.02 ERA ball. A former top five pick and highly-regarded prospect, Wright hasn’t yet had a ton of MLB success, but his minor league production and the quality of his arsenal still offer reason for Atlanta brass to believe in him as a long-term option.

The Braves are scheduled to play every day from their April 7 opener through April 20. With that heavy workload to start the year, Toscano writes the club could lean on a six-man starting staff early on. If that bears out, rookie Spencer Strider — who climbed four minor league levels last season to reach the majors in September — could assume the final spot, Toscano writes, with lefties Tucker Davidson and Kyle Muller also in that mix.

All those pitchers outside the Braves top three starters have minor league option years remaining, so any of that group could be sent back to Gwinnett throughout the season. They could also spill over into a multi-inning role out of the bullpen. Atlanta has one of the league’s strongest relief units on paper, but a key member has yet to pitch this spring.

Luke Jackson has been dealing with some forearm tightness, the team told reporters (including David O’Brien of the Athletic). The 30-year-old has been throwing on the side, so the Braves clearly aren’t concerned he’s facing a significant absence, but it’s not known whether he’ll have time to get into regular season game shape by next week. Jackson has been in the Atlanta bullpen for the past five years, but he had a particularly successful showing in 2021, pitching to a 1.98 ERA/3.75 SIERA in 63 2/3 frames.

While the Braves rotation looks much the same as it did last season, their position player shakeup was one of the stories of the offseason. Atlanta acquired Matt Olson and let Freddie Freeman walk in free agency. General manager Alex Anthopoulos and the front office were no doubt aware that decision would be a divisive one among the fanbase, and Freeman himself suggested in the immediate aftermath he was taken aback by the Olson trade. At his introductory press conference with the Dodgers, Freeman suggested Braves brass wasn’t as communicative as he’d expected they’d be throughout his stint on the open market. He also seemed to dismiss Anthopoulos’ assertion the Olson trade was the most difficult move of his executive career.

Chatting with the Journal-Constitution’s Gabriel Burns over the weekend, Freeman walked back those comments and took a brighter tone. The five-time All-Star said he chatted with the Braves baseball ops head last week and apologized for the comments he’d made at his introductory presser. “It helped to hear his side of things,” Freeman told Burns. “I won’t divulge what we talked about. But you can imagine what we talked about in three hours. It was good for us to now be good again. Now, when we see each other, we can just hug. I asked him to come to LA (for the series in April). I don’t think he was going to come to the LA series when they came out. I said, ‘Please, I want to see you and give you a hug because we did so many good things together.’”

Regardless of whether the fences are mended, the Braves and Dodgers figure to have plenty of memorable clashes over the coming seasons. The pair met in last year’s NL Championship Series, and they again look to be two of the top teams in the Senior Circuit. FanGraphs’ projections indeed forecast Los Angeles and Atlanta as the NL’s top two clubs heading into the year.

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Atlanta Braves Notes Freddie Freeman Huascar Ynoa Kyle Muller Kyle Wright Luke Jackson Spencer Strider Tucker Davidson

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Braves Remove Huascar Ynoa From NLCS Roster Due To Shoulder Injury

By Anthony Franco | October 20, 2021 at 5:13pm CDT

Major League Baseball announced this afternoon that it has approved the Braves’ request to scratch right-hander Huascar Ynoa from the team’s roster for the NLCS against the Dodgers. Lefty reliever Dylan Lee has been added in his place.

Ynoa had been slated to open tonight’s bullpen game, but he was diagnosed with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. MLB must approve any injury-related substitution from a team’s playoff roster in the middle of a series, and the league quickly granted the Braves request to remove Ynoa in favor of Lee. Players scratched mid-series are ineligible to participate for the remainder of the current series, as well as the next series should the club advance. Ynoa is thus officially done for the season, as he’d be ineligible to return even if the Braves make the World Series. Jesse Chavez will open tonight instead.

This season, the 23-year-old Ynoa tossed 91 innings of 4.05 ERA ball, starting seventeen of his eighteen outings. He missed a couple months during the middle of the year after fracturing his hand when he punched the dugout after a bad start. It was surely frustrating for the Braves to lose one of their more promising starters for a while in that manner. Still, the team has to be impressed with Ynoa’s performance, as he posted solid strikeout (26.9%), walk (6.7%) and ground-ball (47.3%) rates.

Lee is a 27-year-old rookie who earned a late-season call with an elite showing at Triple-A Gwinnett. He only has two big league innings under his belt, but Lee tossed 46 2/3 frames of 1.54 ERA ball with the Stripers this year.

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Atlanta Braves Dylan Lee Huascar Ynoa

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Braves Reinstate Huascar Ynoa From Injured List

By Anthony Franco | August 17, 2021 at 10:24am CDT

The Braves announced this morning they’ve activated Huascar Ynoa from the 60-day injured list. He’ll start this evening’s game against the Marlins. Reliever Jacob Webb was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett last night to create an active roster spot. Atlanta already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster to accommodate Ynoa’s reinstatement.

Ynoa struggled over his limited big league time between 2019-20, but he looked to be amidst a breakout campaign earlier this season. Over nine appearances (eight starts), Ynoa tossed 44 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball. The right-hander backed that up with a strong 27.9% strikeout rate, a lofty 13.3% swinging strike rate and a lower than average 6.1% walk percentage. The 23-year-old benefitted from an elevated strand rate and a low opponents’ batting average on balls in play — meaning he wasn’t likely to sustain an ERA at or below 3.00 — but he looked like a good bet for continued mid-rotation production.

However, Ynoa was tagged for five runs over 4 1/3 innings against the Brewers on May 16, his second-worst outing of the season. He punched the dugout in frustration after coming out of that game and fractured his throwing hand. That wound up requiring a three-month stay on the injured list.

It’s surely a decision Ynoa wishes he could have back, but he’s making his return at an opportune time. The Braves have been on a tear of late, winning eleven of fourteen this month. After hovering at or just below .500 for the entire season, Atlanta’s gone on their best run of the year to jump to the top of the National League East at 63-56. The Braves lead the Phillies by a game and a half and hold a three and a half game advantage over the Mets.

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Atlanta Braves Transactions Huascar Ynoa

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NL Injury Notes: d’Arnaud, Ynoa, Flaherty, Mikolas, Sims, Antone, Senzel

By Mark Polishuk | August 7, 2021 at 8:52pm CDT

The Braves are planning to activate Travis d’Arnaud from the 60-day injured list this week, possibly on Tuesday when the team begins a series with the Reds.  Manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Gabriel Burns of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that d’Arnaud is slated to catch all nine innings of a minor league rehab game tomorrow, representing a final step in his recovery from surgery to repair a thumb ligament.  A Silver Slugger winner in 2020, d’Arnaud hasn’t played since May 1 of this season, contributing to Atlanta’s near-total dearth of production from the catcher position.

Huascar Ynoa is also working his way back from a broken hand, as Snitker said the righty threw 68 pitches in his most recent rehab outing on Friday, and is scheduled to toss roughly 85 pitches in his next outing.  With a 3.02 ERA over nine starts and 44 2/3 innings, Ynoa was a nice surprise for Atlanta’s rotation prior to his injury, and he could be used as either a starter, long reliever, or both upon his return to the active roster.

More injury updates from around the National League…

  • “I’m going to pitch in Pittsburgh,” Jack Flaherty told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other reporters, indicating that he plans to return from the 60-day IL during the Cardinals’ upcoming series with the Pirates from August 10-12.  A left oblique strain put Flaherty on the IL on June 1, leaving the Cards without their ace for a big chunk of the season.  Miles Mikolas is also tentatively scheduled to return for next weekend’s series against the Royals, as Mikolas is working through a minor league rehab assignment of his own.  Mikolas missed the entire 2020 season due to flexor tendon surgery, then made just one start in May before heading back to the IL due to forearm tightness.
  • Some bullpen reinforcements look to be on the way for the Reds, as Lucas Sims might be activated from the 10-day IL on Sunday, and Tejay Antone could be ready sometime this week.  Both relievers went on the injured list in the final week of June — Sims with a sprained right elbow, and Antone with a right forearm strain.  Reds manager David Bell told Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer and other reporters that Sims has “a pretty strong chance” of returning tomorrow, while Antone’s timeline is more tentative since he was only scheduled to begin his rehab assignment today.  “We want to get him back as quick as we can, but we want to do it in a way that is best for Tejay, and we can have him for the rest of the year and he doesn’t have to deal with this anymore at all, even next year or beyond,” Bell said.
  • Nick Senzel’s status is even more uncertain, as Bell said Senzel is “still not recovering exactly how we would want him to” after a week of rehab games.  Senzel underwent arthroscopic knee surgery at the end of May, and was initially given a recovery timeline of 4-6 weeks.  Things are open-ended enough that Bell said Senzel might return to the Reds within a couple of days if he shows improvement, but for now, the oft-injured Senzel is once again sidelined.
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Atlanta Braves Cincinnati Reds Notes St. Louis Cardinals Huascar Ynoa Jack Flaherty Lucas Sims Miles Mikolas Nick Senzel Tejay Antone

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GM: Braves Can Add Payroll At Trade Deadline

By Steve Adams | June 14, 2021 at 10:51pm CDT

During a wide-reaching interview that any Braves fan will want to check out in its entirety, Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos confirmed to Jeff Schultz of The Athletic that he’s been told by ownership he’ll have the ability to “add payroll at the deadline.”

It’s common for teams to leave room for in-season maneuvering when making their offseason transactions, but this sort of direct acknowledgment from a baseball operations leader is still of note — particularly on the heels of an offseason where virtually every club in the game had to work with more budgetary constraints than usual. The Braves were no exception, as they spent heavily to address the rotation and to re-sign Marcell Ozuna but appeared to be on a rather strict budget beyond those moves. The bullpen went largely unaddressed, though the team did ultimately bring Shane Greene back into the mix on an affordable one-year deal in early May.

There’s a vast array of directions the Braves can choose to go as they look to bolster the roster, though as with most clubs, they’re likely several weeks away from making any actual transactions. Sellers often prefer to wait until the market has more competition, and the Braves themselves right now probably want to take more time to evaluate the roster. Atlanta is five games out of first place at the moment and three games under .500. They’ll presumably operate as a buyer, given the generally underwhelming performance of the entire NL East, but a prolonged losing streak could send them in another direction, of course.

It’s also quite likely that the Braves want to gather more information on internal reinforcements before spending what still figures to be a limited amount of available resources. To that end, Anthopoulos notably reveals that he’s optimistic the Braves will get each of Mike Soroka, Travis d’Arnaud and Huascar Ynoa back at some point in the month of August.

The general assumption has been that Ynoa, who fractured his hand after punching the bench in the dugout after a poor outing, would make his way back in the season’s second half. But that hasn’t at all been clear regarding d’Arnaud and particularly regarding Soroka. The veteran d’Arnaud has been out since May 1 after tearing a ligament in his thumb that required surgery.

Soroka, meanwhile, opened the year on the injured list while wrapping up rehab from the Achilles tear that limited him to just three starts in 2020. But he felt some discomfort in his right shoulder that slowed his rehab, and once he ramped up in earnest, he experienced discomfort in his surgically repaired Achilles tendon, which prompted exploratory surgery. Anthopoulos declined to go into much detail but noted that the Braves received “good news” on the right-hander.

With d’Arnaud out, young William Contreras has stepped up with a .240/.313/.460 showing in 112 plate appearances. His bat has cooled since a hot start, but that production tops the output from d’Arnaud in the season’s first month. Of course, the veteran was brilliant for Atlanta in 2020 — the first season of a two-year, $16MM deal.

If the team feels confident that Soroka, d’Arnaud and Ynoa can return at some point in August, that could lessen any temptation to allocate some of the prospect capital and financial resources to rotation upgrades or catching help. That’d make the bullpen and the outfield far likelier targets for outside additions. Braves relievers have a collective 4.77 ERA, which ranks fifth-worst in the Majors. Atlanta outfielders, as a group, rank 10th in the Majors with a 104 wRC+ at the plate, but nearly all of their production has come from Ronald Acuna Jr. Non-Acuna Braves outfielders are batting a combined .215/.294/.356.

The trade market out to feature various outfield and bullpen options — you can peruse our initial Top 40 trade candidate list for some ideas — but Anthopoulos generally hasn’t been shy about making upgrades on the trade market in the past. With the Braves, he’s made midseason deals to acquire Greene, Chris Martin, Adam Duvall, Kevin Gausman, Darren O’Day, Brad Brach and Mark Melancon. Last year was an unusually quiet deadline for Anthopoulos, but the Braves had a rather comfortable division lead and may not have wanted to expend many resources with only one month of games post-deadline and with an expanded playoff field.

Again, we’re probably weeks away from the Braves or any other club beginning to pursue truly meaningful additions to the roster — a reality Anthopoulos himself acknowledges while discussing a generally open-minded approach to this year’s deadline. The whole interview, which also covers Freddie Freeman, some early thoughts on Contreras’ play and myriad other roster issues, is well worth a full look. But the general takeaway that the Braves will have some financial leeway is an important one, particularly at a time when many other teams won’t have that luxury.

The Yankees, Astros and Red Sox, for instance, are all within $4MM of the luxury-tax barrier. The division-rival Phillies are just shy of $5MM away from the $210MM threshold, while the Padres clock in at about $6MM from the tax line. The Indians and Reds both made substantial payroll cuts over the winter; it’s not yet clear how much (if any) additional salary they’ll be willing to take on.

We likely won’t know the extent to which Atlanta can increase its bottom line. Anthopoulos, like an GM or team president, would never directly tip his hand. However, the very presence of extra resources and the fact that they’re nowhere near the luxury barrier ought to give them some advantage when looking to pry veterans away from other clubs.

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Atlanta Braves Huascar Ynoa Mike Soroka Travis D'Arnaud

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Braves Select Abraham Almonte’s Contract

By Mark Polishuk | May 31, 2021 at 12:40pm CDT

The Braves have selected the contract of outfielder Abraham Almonte from Triple-A Gwinnett.  In corresponding moves, right-hander Jay Flaa was optioned to Triple-A, and a 40-man roster spot was opened when Huascar Ynoa was moved to the 60-day injured list.

A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Almonte now looks to add a ninth campaign to his record after signing with the Braves last October.  While Almonte technically signed a Major League contract, it wasn’t a guaranteed deal, and Atlanta already outrighted him off its 40-man roster near the end of Spring Training and Almonte chose to remain in the organization.

Almonte has played for five different teams over his career, hitting .237/.298/.370 over 1151 plate appearances.  A part-timer and platoon outfielder for much of his tenure, Almonte hasn’t seen much action over the last two seasons, appearing in 24 total games with the Diamondbacks and Padres since the start of the 2019 season.  However, Almonte’s ability to play all three outfield positions will add some depth to an Atlanta bench that is short on true outfielders.

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Atlanta Braves Transactions Abraham Almonte Huascar Ynoa Jay Flaa

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Braves Place Huascar Ynoa On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | May 17, 2021 at 3:10pm CDT

Braves righty Huascar Ynoa is headed to the injured list after suffering a broken right hand, manager Brian Snitker told MLB.com’s Mark Bowman and other reporters.  The Braves made the official announcement shortly after Snitker’s meeting with the press, as Ynoa was placed on the 10-day IL and righty Edgar Santana was called up from Triple-A.

Ynoa broke his hand after punching the dugout in frustration following a tough outing yesterday against the Brewers, and will now spend approximately two months or more in recovery.  It’s a very unfortunate setback for a player who has become an unexpectedly big part of Atlanta’ rotation this season.

Even after yesterday’s struggles against Milwaukee (five earned runs allowed on nine hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings), Ynoa still had a 3.02 ERA/3.28 SIERA over 44 2/3 total frames of work for the Braves.  Though Ynoa has been allowing a lot of hard contact, he has delivered an above-average 27.9% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate.

Considering Ynoa had only a 7.30 ERA in 24 2/3 innings for the Braves in 2019-20, his emergence was a major plus for an Atlanta pitching staff that has struggled to stay healthy and pitch effectively.  Since Mike Soroka’s timetable to return from the IL is still uncertain, the path was clear for Ynoa to remain in the rotation prior to his own injury.  With Ynoa out, the Braves could turn to some combination of rookie southpaw Tucker Davidson (who was called up earlier today), Bryse Wilson, or Kyle Wright to fill the open spot in the rotation.

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Atlanta Braves Transactions Edgar Santana Huascar Ynoa

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Pitching Notes: Greene, Ynoa, Braves, Twins, Kuhl

By Mark Polishuk | May 10, 2021 at 12:55pm CDT

Shane Greene’s long free agent wait ended yesterday when he re-signed with the Braves on a one-year deal worth a prorated $1.5MM.  “It seemed early on that a return to the Braves was his preference,” SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson writes (Twitter link), as Wolfson notes that the Twins were willing to offer Greene more money.  This focus on Atlanta could explain why it took until May for Greene to land a contract, as David O’Brien of The Athletic estimated back in mid-March that the Braves were only willing to spend in the neighborhood of $1MM on Greene — given the prorated nature of Greene’s contract, he’ll end up earning around $1.1 or $1.2MM.

More pitching-related items from around baseball…

  • Another Braves/Twins link is explored by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, regarding how Atlanta acquired breakout star Huascar Ynoa from Minnesota back in 2017.  The Braves wanted to move Jaime Garcia at the trade deadline, and initially discussed a trade with the Yankees that would have sent Garcia to the Bronx for then-Yankees prospect Nick Solak.  Once those talks fell through, Atlanta pivoted and sent Garcia to Minnesota, and the Braves “did not do as much diligence on Ynoa as they normally would on a prospect” since their top priority was just to dump the rest of Garcia’s salary.  In fact, Ynoa wasn’t even Atlanta’s first ask from the Twins’ farm system, as Nick Burdi was initially part of the proposed trade.  From being a rather anonymous rookie ball pitcher and an apparent “plan C” type of pickup for the Braves, Ynoa has become an unexpected stalwart of the Atlanta rotation in 2021.  The righty has a 2.23 ERA/3.19 SIERA and an above-average 28.4% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate over 40 1/3 innings, plus Ynoa has augmented that pitching production with two home runs and a 1.267 OPS over 15 plate appearances.
  • Pirates right-hander Chad Kuhl threw a live batting practice on Saturday as he continues to recover from right shoulder discomfort.  In a radio interview on 93.7 FM (hat tip to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Pittsburgh GM Ben Cherington said Kuhl will return “before too long” but will first require a minor league rehab assignment.  Kuhl has struggled in his first four starts of the year, posting a 6.32 ERA with more walks (16) than strikeouts (14) over 15 2/3 innings.
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Atlanta Braves Minnesota Twins Notes Pittsburgh Pirates Chad Kuhl Huascar Ynoa Jaime Garcia Nick Burdi Nick Solak Shane Greene

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NL Notes: Mike Soroka’s Return, Cardinals’ Rotation Health

By TC Zencka | March 13, 2021 at 2:28pm CDT

Alex Anthopolous spoke to Craig Mish of Sportsgrid about when Mike Soroka might be ready to return to a big-league mound. Anthopolous suggested he’ll be more-or-less ready in April, and though it sounds like he isn’t likely to be on the opening day roster, joining the club before the end of the season’s first month appears likely. That’s great news for an Atlanta rotation that’s looking better by the day. Max Fried remains at the top of their projected pitching staff, while Ian Anderson continues to look the part of a Major League hurler. In the meantime…

  • Huascar Ynoa, Kyle Wright, and Bryse Wilson continue to compete to be Soroka’s understudy. Because of the way the schedule shakes out, the Braves could open the season with a four-man rotation of Fried, Anderson, Charlie Morton, and Drew Smyly. But one of Ynoa, Wright, and Wilson would still likely make the team in that case as a long-man out of the pen, writes MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. All three young pitchers have some experience in that role, but Ynoa, in particular, has struggled somewhat pitching deep into games, which the Braves are monitoring closely this spring, writes Bowman. If the Braves prefer Ynoa as a couple-innings-at-a-time-type arm out of the pen, that could bode well for his chances to make the opening day roster.
  • The Cardinals, meanwhile, might be without yet another starter when the season opens. Manager Mike Shildt put Kwang Hyun Kim in the same camp as Miles Mikolas concerning their readiness for opening day. Kim missed his most recent start after his back tightened up on him during a bullpen session, per MLB.com’s Jeff Jones (Twitter links). There’s not much concern long-term regarding Kim’s health, but there are now a couple of open rotation spots behind Adam Wainwright, Jack Flaherty and Carlos Martinez. John Gant is the favorite to nab one of those two spots, with Daniel Ponce de Leon, Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo among the candidates to start games early in the year.
  • The Cardinals have come to terms with 24 pre-arbitration players, per Jones (via Twitter). This is notable because it means they didn’t have to renew anyone’s contract, an option that teams retain under the current arbitration system. While pre-arbitration players don’t have the right to arbitration yet, they do still have to come to terms on a new deal each season. In cases where an agreement can’t be made, the team can unilaterally renew a player’s contract. The Cardinals had had to renew contracts in the past for Flaherty and Jordan Hicks, and while it’s hard to quantify long-term damage, it certainly paints a poor portrait of team-player relations. It is a good sign, in this case, that the Cardinals found common ground with all of their pre-arbitration players.
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Atlanta Braves Notes St. Louis Cardinals Huascar Ynoa Mike Soroka

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