The Braves announced a number of roster moves today, recalling Jasseel De La Cruz and Victor Arano from Triple-A. To create the roster space, Sean Kazmar Jr. was optioned to Triple-A and Carl Edwards Jr. was designated for assignment.
Edwards Jr. didn’t much of an audition with the Braves. The former Cub, Padre, and Mariner made just one appearance in Atlanta, serving up three earned runs on three hits and a walk. The only out he recorded was a strikeout. On the bright side, the String Bean Slinger struck out the side in his only appearance in Triple-A. Kazmar Jr. has been called up a couple of times now, but he has just two plate appearances in three games.
As for the newcomers, the 23-year-old De La Cruz has yet to make his Major League debut. The right-hander finished 2019 in Double-A. Arano, meanwhile, made 73 appearances out of the Phillies’ bullpen from 2017 to 2019. He owns a 2.65 ERA across 74 2/3 innings. The Braves claimed him off waivers in January.
Least he struck one guy out so his 21 era isn’t infinity….
String Bean Slinger
Perhaps Edwards can get a job promoting Carl’s Jr.
I’m not so sure, he’s not exactly slinging cheese on the mound…
He can promote the meatball sliders.
Well like food poisoning. That lasted 24 hours.
And was rather painful to endure.
One might say, almost Hardee’s to watch?
This post goes out to the Equipment Manager who sewed his name including the “Jr.” only to see it undone in about 24 hrs. Here’s to the unsung heroes across this great land.
The world needs ditch diggers too – Judge Smails.
I said it yesterday, just sign Shane Greene already. SMH
He must have something in his medicals
That or his demands are sky high
Does that mean the 40 man roster is now at 39 players? If so who may be coming off the 60 day il or would be signed?
All teams maintain a 40 man roster. If someone comes off, they don’t waste time adding a replacement.
An absolutely atrocious display. Why do we keep bringing in these pitchers who clearly don’t belong at the Major League level? Carl Edwards, Nate Jones, Jesse Biddle, etc. The list goes on and on.
Because they are cheap. You can’t spend money on proven talent. You just have to keep digging into the pot of available players and eventually find someone who will produce. That’s how AA got the genius label even though AA has not done anything for this team. But ppl still think he is good for some reason.
The Donaldson and Ozuna signings have worked out. The Keuchel signing wasn’t great but I have no problem with trying to bring in a veteran with World Series experience. He also did a good job fixing the bullpen at the deadline in 2019. The Hamels signing ended up being a disaster but fortunately that was the 60-game season so it didn’t hurt the team quite as much. I do agree that the 2020 trade deadline and this past offseason haven’t made much sense.
Prior to beginning of the year, Braves fans were all in! Confident of a division title, best starting rotation, etc. It’s why the games are played.
And it is early May. Jeez, take a breath.
Games blown in April and May have a way of hurting late in September.
I’m not saying CEJ was great but one appearance then he’s cut loose? Biddle hasn’t exactly done much of anything or Dayton. This is getting tiresome. Braves were up 3-1 in the NLCS last year and blew it. This is not looking good.
Agreed. This team absolutely needs to win a title. Say what you will about the ‘90s Braves not living up to expectations but they at least won a World Series. Every other decade has come up empty to this point.
Fans don’t care about WS titles…just read what people say here. Otherwise, AA would receive more scrutiny.
I care about World Series titles. I know you can’t win it all every year but every move you make should be made with the goal of winning a title in the near future. What the Red Sox have done is a good example. They won titles in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018. All of those teams had some different pieces but the goal was always the same.
and their argument will be the Braves don’t have the big money to spend..which is true.
They do have the prospects though but they are still hoarding them for some reason.
@ian. Maybe because the Braves front office remember the Wainwright and Teixeira trades still…
Ian… Exactly! It’s as if they don’t know that trading prospects for immediate return has no value? Maybe they don’t know?
Uh, delete the “no”
I’m with you, but everyone likes playing the lottery – this is AA’s lottery. It only takes winning once-in-million — and he’s done that on a few over the years. Doesn’t make it any less infuriating when it doesn’t work out, but Matzek is one of the core pieces of the ‘pen and look where he was at just a few years ago. Sometimes you capture lightning in a bottle to some guys who were 1st rd picks years ago and never put it together.
The irony is, you are right and describes exactly his tenure with the Braves — play it safe and hope to win the lottery. Too bad that does not help the team win a WS at all.
It also affirms they don’t care about winning.
The NASCAR/MLB crossover didn’t work out
Bum
For anyone on here mocking an injury you make it to the big leagues. Then you can talk until then you are just a dude with a keyboard.
He pitched 1 freaking inning. He’s 29 years old has a 3.68 career ERA. I don’t think he’s washed up but if you want to use that 1 inning to judge him go ahead.
It does seem like a sudden decision to move Edwards after 1 IP. In all honesty, I have a nagging question or 2 about how the Braves handle pitchers. In most cases, I think their leash is too short. As a qualifier, I’m not in the dugout obviously. I’m not the guy evaluating pitchers in the pen.
I think Braves give hitters more opportunities to work through their bugs.
Just my opinion. I could be wrong.
@Neil. I agree. Camargo comes to mind as a hitter who’s had plenty of opportunity.
We need to axe biddle also. He’s been nothing but terrible for us. He’s only had 1 outing this year that wasn’t painful. I don’t really understand this concept of getting washed up guys that have already been experimented with not only us but other teams, and hoping he finds another round of success with us. We have other guys, minor leaguers, that having a higher ceiling, but also can perform just as badly lol. So I’d rather give some of those guys a try in the pen.
Because there is not an adequate supply of quality relief pitching in MLB. They also get hurt more often than starters do. You need to hit on a few retreads every year to build a successful bullpen.
You can draw an obvious straight line from the current practice of starting pitchers only completing 5 innings per start (sometimes less) to bullpens being overworked and frequently injured. So many maximum effort pitches are being thrown by starters and relievers. I hope MLB figures it all out before more and more pitchers are significantly injured and careers are cut short. It doesn’t seem sustainable on its current path.
De La Cruz was called up to replace him along with Arano. I don’t know anything about Arano (check that out) but I have followed De La Cruz since 2019 when he made a big splash in the minors, rising rapidly in just 1 year. He was signed mid 2015 by John Hart ‘administration’, so just in the early early stage of rebuild, which really took off under Coppy in late 2015.
De La Cruz has been in between starter and reliever. He has very upper 90s heat (triple digit on occasion). His best pitch is that FB, but he also has a decent slider. He has additional pitches that rate avg at best. He would be a contender for a role in rotation if he had better pitch control I think he will probably end up in the pen IF he sticks with big club, but I have read about some great starts from this guy at AA Mississippi where the control is on and he simply shut down opposing lineups.
It’d be funny if they just recycled this spot in the bullpen on a daily basis.
Medical aside, if he is still recovering from some injury that isn’t major, I’d rather have the guy in June or July then to keep throwing these guys out there.
Why is Biddle still on the roster?
Not expensive.
Looking for another miracle year from him.
Overrated “depth” and minor league talent.
I bet Giants sign him, cause he seems to have the “stuff” just it ain’t working like it used to…maybe this will be another fix ’em up scenario for him