The Braves have designated utilityman Emilio Bonifacio for assignment, per a club announcement. The club also optioned infielder Jace Peterson and righty Matt Wisler to Triple-A.
Those moves opened three active roster spots for Atlanta. Southpaw Eric O’Flaherty and third baseman Adonis Garcia will come back from rehab stints to rejoin the club. Also, infielder Johan Camargo was recalled.
[RELATED: Updated Braves Depth Chart]
It’s not surprising to see Atlanta move on from Bonifacio. The versatile 32-year-old has only seen 44 plate appearances in his 38 games of action, all in the outfield, and owns an anemic .132/.150/.211 batting line.
Neither Peterson nor Wisler were performing well, either, though in those cases there are longer-term implications. The 27-year-old Peterson had turned in a solid 2016 campaign, but is slashing just .194/.293/.259 through 123 trips to the plate this season. Wisler, 24, has struggled in the bullpen after spending the bulk of his career as a starter. He has permitted seven earned runs through nine innings with just three strikeouts against three walks.
The Atlanta organization, which sits seven games under .500 entering today’s action, will hope for more from its trio of new roster additions. But none have performed very well in the early going. In fact, their current-season lines are near matches for the scuffling players they’ll replace.
The veteran O’Flaherty owns an ugly 6.59 ERA in 13 2/3 innings, with nine strikeouts and six walks on the ledger. Garcia entered the year as the regular third baseman but is hitting just .237/.278/.348 in 144 plate appearances. And Camargo, a first-year player who isn’t regarded as a future regular, has reached base only twice in his 11 appearances at the dish — though he has hit quite well at Triple-A.
And Braves fans everywhere rejoice.
Why Boni?
Please tell me you’re not serious?
An OPS lower than Markakis’ OBP might have something to do with it…
Because he has been terrible this season, plain and simple. Only stayed around as long as he did due to his veteran presence and experience.
It was only in 10 games of action. It’s not like Braves Fans have had to watch him over the course of a long season.
actually he was in 38 games, mainly as a pinch hitter, something he is purely incapable of doing. He was something like 2 for 25? First off the bench, no power. 1 double, 1 triple that was it. Should have been released a month ago.
Yeah I am not sure how I screwed that up. Fixed.
Was being sarcastic.
Thank goodness!
Now for the love of god don’t send him to AAA. We have done this the past 2 years thinking its harmless and provides minor league depth, then somehow Boni enters Coppy’s mind and convinces him that he is a better option than actual MLB caliber players, yet alone a flat tire or a pine cone.
To be fair, there weren’t really any good options for the outfield at AAA last year, so it made sense at the time. However, they should be fine now with the group that they have now (plus, Jace going down gives them an extra option in general), so his presence really isn’t needed much anymore.
Honestly didn’t see Jace’s demotion coming, but it makes sense. Camargo’s doing too well at AAA not to come back up.
He’s been awful
for the love of Cthullu!! Finally!!!!
This needed to be done sooner. Was rooting for him to figure it out, cause there was time when he was a decent ball player, but he’s clearly lost it. Now it’s time to let go of EOF, I’d rather keep Wisler in there than him… I get you want extra LHP in the bullpen, and they are both equally bad right now. And yea… Wisler will get more work down in AAA.. but still… don’t we have some AAA guys that aren’t really big time names that can come up and do a better job? Heck, mop up duty? Braves managers are always too tempted to through EOF in the game when the game is on the line. I know we aren’t winning it all, but you want to win some, and when he pitches you just know it’s over…
3 times the Braves have signed Bonifacio. 3 times they have released him early in the season. Every team makes dumb mistakes, but to make the same dumb mistake 3 times is unfathomable. In April I predicted the Braves would release him in June. I only wish they it had been earlier.
Peterson has been hitting poorly and fielding poorly, so replacing him with Camargo makes total sense.
Bringing back O’Flaherty makes little sense to me. It shows how desperate the Braves are to fid any pitchers who are ready to perform at the major league. Kind of ironic given how stacked their minor league system is with pitching prospects.
Yeah cannot defend the FO on that
They will sign him again
Only a matter of time before Johnson is back
Camargo is a good ball player, and he’s a guy I think has sneaky talent that is overlooked. Watch for him to make an impact in the years to come.
stange move. Weisler was optioned to aaa after 2 bad performances in early may, then recalled mid may and had 2 outings of multiple innings with no hit or runs. then hes optioned again.
Best of luck, Emmy Boneface.
Will the Braves actually let Ruiz keep his spot in the starting lineup in favor of Garcia? Does he play some 1B to stay in the lineup?
Multiple reports have the braves intending to basically platoon Ruiz (left-handed hitter) with the right handed Garcia. Adams is a superior hitter to Ruiz at this point and both hit left-handed so no logical reason for Ruiz to sub at first to stay in the lineup.
Although I like Jace Peterson’s ability to draw walks he has not hit the ball well and his launch angle has been bad (as well as him being robbed of two dingers in the first month of the year). His defense has been poor too. Not much positive impact for someone who plays all over the diamond.
Hopefully Jace and Wisler both work their butts off to get another chance.
Why O’Flaherty over Lucas Sims? I have Sims on my fantasy team and was hoping he would be called up.
Lucas Sims will not be up until there is an opening in the pitching rotation. They won’t bring Sims up to throw him in the bullpen.
As soon as they ditch Terrible Tehran that spot will be available.
Anyone notice when they call up a player from AAA they’re always labeled as a good player but a ‘long term’ answer? Where is this top rated farm system the braves have?! All in single and double A i guess?
While each case is different, you don’t call up someone that isn’t “ready” to fill a short-term problem. That being said, I believe we’re still ahead of Super-2 cutoff, so give it another month and then you should see more AAA-talent reach the bigs to fix short and long-term problems. Would like to see Albies have consistent ABs from now until then and if BP is still running out of fuel (sorry), maybe have Albies and Swanson together again.
Sims should see some time in MLB over the next month or so, especially if Colon/Dickey’s troubles continue. I could see Sims taking a spot and one of the two go to the bullpen for long relief.
*not a ‘long term’ answer
Definitely glad the padres got Manny Margot instead of being stuck with wisler.
Ill also be glad the padres will have lauer instead of peterson.
Eff yes!
Thank goodness. I still have hope that Jace and Wisler can turn it around but I’ve given up on Boni a long time ago. He can’t hit worth a crap. He’s only good for maybe a September call up as a pinch runner and late inning defender. I wouldn’t even have him start in AAA.
Rex Brothers getting the call soon — Ian Krol, your time is almost up. Brothers has 12 K in 6 IP since his return, albeit at the AA-level. Looking forward to see him back in The Show.
It’d be awesome to see Brothers pitch in a Braves uniform. I’m guessing he’ll be moved up to AAA before getting the call to The Show though.
‘The Braves should pick this guy up!’
My guess is the Braves will give OF a few more games to see if he can figure things out. If not, he’ll be DFA’d, and Wisler will be brought up again.