The Braves have claimed infielder/outfielder Travis Demeritte off waivers from the Tigers, per announcements from both teams. Atlanta released right-hander Jeremy Walker in a corresponding move.
Demeritte was the 30th overall pick of the Rangers in 2013, but they traded him to the Braves in 2016 for pitchers Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez. Demeritte stayed with the Braves until they sent him to the Tigers at the 2019 trade deadline in a deal for reliever Shane Greene. He combined for 219 plate appearances as a Tiger from 2019-20 and batted .217/.264/.323 with three home runs. The Tigers designated the 26-year-old Demeritte for assignment last week. Despite his woes in the bigs, Demeritte’s a .286/.387/.558 hitter in 399 PA in Triple-A with two minor league options remaining, so he could have a legitimate second act with the Braves.
Walker, 25, was a fifth-rounder of the Braves in 2016 who worked his way to the majors in 2019, when he tossed 9 1/3 innings and surrendered just two earned runs on nine hits and four walks (with six strikeouts). Walker impressed at the Double-A and Triple-A levels before then, but he didn’t pitch at all last year because of shoulder problems.
return to sender
C’mon, seriously?
Good, I liked Demeritte. I still think he could be useful potentially
Tiger fan here (thanks for your sympathy). Demeritte played hard so there is always potential.
He hit well for Gwinnett in 2019
I’m not asking him to be an AS, but if things click I could see him being every bit as valuable as a Camargo or Omar Infante type.
Teams need those players too
Tiger fan here,too. I am just baffled with the Tigers cuts this off season. Lots of players IMO that would pass thru waivers, like Stewart or Funkhouser, but instead lose Demeritte and Stokes. They had one of the least productive OFs, and I don’t see Grossman being any type of notable improvement. Demeritte and Stokes being unproven is a better option for a rebuilding team than what Grossman has proven he is capable of.
Al Avila is a wonderful GM.
I don’t think anyone expects demeritte or stokes to be good. They both got a solid amount of playing time and did next to nothing. I just don’t see much potential in either of them
Is destined to be a star in Japan
that wouldn’t shock me with his offensive profile
Fast with no bat…
AA’s kind of player.
Walker strikes me as a bad last name for a pitcher to have.
Not as bad as Grant Balfour. Or Homer Bailey
Or Chuck Dinnger.
I guess it could be worse, he could be named Billy Baseonballs.
Freddy Freepass
Johnny Dickshot
Fans in Gwinette will enjoy watching him. Always have some band aids in the drawer, never know.
High Desert Maverick Star!! Let’s gooo Travis! Long live the Mavericks!
Nailed it! Go see the article where he was DFA’d and see where I commented that the Braves should go get him..
Nice pick up. I think he can be a great bench bat for us with a little pop. All that time spend in developing him, then to trade him away kinda stinks. Good to see him come home and hopefully get an opportunity
Seeing that Walker was released for this move though, that’s a bit frustrating … there are others I would have released long before this
makes me wonder if he’s planning on hanging up the cleats…
No one is double checking your silly claim man, who cares
Lol true. A “Claim” would imply that it could be false though… this statement isn’t false. You should care because my input for future moves may have meaning ! Lol or not, just having fun with it
Hopefully walker can get resigned with us on a minor league deal dude has some upside
Guy has power and is athletic. Just can’t hit for average could replace Duvall if he has a good spring training and be a 4th OF and bench power bat.
Is this assuming Pache doesn’t break ST with the club (to affect his clock) with Inciarte as starting CF? If Pache isn’t the OD starting CF, Inciarte is the 4th OF.
Thats assuming Ender gets cut or traded.
I think all us Braves fans are hoping Ender will be traded soo much that we use assume it’s already happened and AA has a deal made lol!
But it might be better for all concerned to just take the loss since it’s just one year. The guy is completely untradeable. I see some value in having him in as a late inning fielding replacement but with benches so small nowadays it’s hard to justify keeping him on the roster. I would rather have a catcher, Carmargo, Demeritte, Waters and someone else if necessary depending on how many relievers the Braves carry.
Waters needs constant reps not to be a bench bat. You don’t put a top 30 overall prospect on the bench when he still needs AAA time.
As a Rangers fan just got shake my head and laugh I can remember being excited about this guy along with Cordell, Drew Robinson, Nick Williams, Ariel Jurado, Luis Ortiz, Yohander Menendez, etc. we were supposed to be great they were all gonna come up with Gallo and Profar
and ppl wonder why this team is projected to finish fourth.
Good! Prove my point they don’t care about winning!
Compare the roster from last year to present day and explain your comment! We have fortified our SP, re-signed Ozuna, and still have a decent BP.
This is the same troll who keeps changing his name he’s the bumgarner nut
Wait… Do you mean to tell me that Bumgarner DIDN”T actually equal NLCS? But he said it so much that I was actually teaching my students it was a mathematical formula.
I don’t care what they did last year. Last season was worthless.
We are heading towards a 162 game season again. The Braves will not be facing the Marlins and the Reds in the playoffs.
The rotation I’m happy with. I’m happy I will never have to see Teheran, Faulty, and Newcomb in the rotation again. About time 2 of the 3 are gone. Somehow people kept arguing in support of the 2 that are now gone. Guess their delusion was proven wrong after all.
This team needs to replace Riley. Get Turner or KB and go for it. Not for another worthless division title. Win the damn whole thing!
Riley (and the rest of the offense for that matter) will benefit from Chipper working on mechanics and approach at the plate. Turner will be expensive in years and dollars and same could be said for Bryant. We had a patchwork rotation last year and that’s what sank us.
There are things I would like changed, But This is a very good team the way they are now, Maybe the kids will get to play and the Braves are going to be fun to watch-AGAIN. And all the titles are meaningful.
Blah blah is too expensive monetarily
Blah blah is too expensive prospects wise
Again, this team does not care about winning!
The team takes half-steps forward without going for it.
You’re a gem…
Thank you but the fact that people keep making excuses for their failures is the reason why the team continues to fail
You’re saying the team that took the Dodgers 7 games with a patchwork rotation doesn’t care about winning. That is why nobody takes you seriously.
and once getting you are celebrating their failures. Congrats to them. They lost game 7 instead of game 4 or game 5 like they did the previous years. Who cares? You either beat them or you don’t. Celebrating second place is not an option.
He (BAGR) probably only looks at scores and doesn’t watch games
So what’s your excuse for Madison Bumgarner being so terrible? You were soooo certain that he would be great it was all you ever talked about. You even changed your name to “BumgarnerEqualsNLCS.” Bumgarner was terrible and the team that did sign him for a bunch of money (the Arizona Diamondbacks) ended up in last place in large part because of him. To make matters worse the Braves didn’t sign him and still made it to the NLCS anyway. In fact, the Braves would probably have not made it to the NLCS if they had signed Bumgarner. That’s how bad he was. Everyone seemed to know he was going to be terrible but you and the equally incorrect Diamondbacks. He benefited heavily from pitching in SF because his road ERA was in the 5.00’s. On top of that his velocity was dropping like a bowling ball. How did you not see this coming? What’s your excuse, Gag Reflex?
Or do you just not acknowledge MadBum questions anymore because they prove you have absolutely no judgement or clue about what you’re talking about when it comes to building a baseball team?
Obtaining a 36 y/o 3B (Turner) wanting a deal that pays him until he’s 40 or a 3B (Bryant) coming off a career-worst season being paid $19.5M and saying recently how he just isn’t having fun anymore. Neither of those are “going for it”.
Going for it for me would be Matt Chapman/Eugenio Suarez (not even bringing up the pipe dream that is Jose Ramirez). Either something is worth doing well or not at all — and Turner/Bryant aren’t worth it, especially when this is a make-or-break year for Austin Riley.
Hear hear
Jedd Gyorko/Jake Lamb to 2M a year for utility and 3B and bench. Send Riley to the minors after the start of the season with an understanding that its only for a couple months in order to build his confidence before bringing him back up and seeing if he sets the world on fire. People hate on Jake Lamb and Gyorko but they looked as good as ever last “year”. I also want Shin-soo choo over Markakis for OF/bench depth. Even though hes older I feel theres way more risk of a decline with Markakis, Choo averages over 20hr and 370 obp, Could probably sign both of them, inciarte needs to be traded or cut tbh,
…plus Gwinnett being a 35-40 minute ride for Chipper to work on Riley’s approach on a daily basis is money well spent.
Agree! How is signing an aging Justin Turner help? That would not be worth it bro. KB would be nice, but I think he needs to show himself a little bit first (which I personally think the cubs might wait and hope he gets off to a hot start and some team overpays for the rental btw).
I won’t be surprised if Chipper greatly helps Riley and the youngster smacks 30 homers this year. 1st place is the Braves to lose. They got Ozuna back even with some bad defense the Braves are a much better team.
You do know that those projections have been way off the last 3 years but the Mets are like the Washington formerly Redskins always winning the off-season but nothing to show for it in the regular season.
Jeremy walker was actually useful can’t believe we cut him for demerrite
Funny how it all runs together. At the hearings this afternoon, somebody asked if they understood the Demeritts of De Arguments…..
Serious question when will we get a real GM that knows what he’s doing
I like Al Avila. He is a great baseball guy.
But I am a little confused. Doesn’t having to cut someone reflect poor planning and a waste of money, resources anytime it happens? I mean, a great deal of money is invested in paying, training and developing players. Just to cut them seems frivolous.
Could he have attempted a trade first, especially if he knew he was going to be signing more than 40?
I mean, people on this site KNEW the Braves had interest.
Isn’t it Als’ job to know that too?
Couldn’t he have package Demeritte with some others and gotten back anything? I heard Phillip Pfeifer is a great pitcher and has a super name! They have a catching prospect with a funny French name? Langliers?
Not being a sports professional, I am at a disadvantage. Why is baseball different from other businesses? Lowly me, just doesn’t understand these things……