The Braves announced that right-hander Shane Greene has been designated for assignment. Southpaw A.J. Minter has been called up from Triple-A to take Greene’s spot on the active roster.
It has been a tough season for Greene, who didn’t land a contract in free agency until May, when he agreed to rejoin the Braves on a one-year, (prorated) $1.5MM deal. Since Greene didn’t have a proper Spring Training, he worked out at Triple-A for a month before joining Atlanta’s bullpen, but the results simply weren’t there. Greene posted an 8.47 ERA over 19 innings for the Braves, striking out only 20.5% of batters faced and allowing five home runs.
Greene’s strikeout ability has tended to be more “above average” than elite, yet even without a blazing fastball or a big K-rate, the 32-year-old has generally posted quality numbers out of the Tigers and Braves bullpens since the start of the 2017 season. Atlanta first acquired Greene in a deadline deal in July 2019, and he pitched well for the club both in the regular season and in the last two postseasons — Greene had a 2.39 ERA over 90 1/3 innings with Detroit and Atlanta from 2019-20.
It isn’t out of the question that Greene can regain this form in 2022 with the benefit of a full Spring Training, though it remains to be seen if his next contract will come this winter or if another team could potentially obtain him now before his DFA period is up. Claiming Greene would require a new team to take on his remaining 2021 salary, so the likelier move is an interested club would either work out a trade with Atlanta or just wait to see if Greene is released. If Greene clears waivers, he might also accept an outright assignment to Triple-A and remain in the Braves organization.
signing late as a pitcher is a death sentence for one’s career, unless you’re a prominent player.
Yeah, Greene has had some rough years in the past… but he’s been simply unusable this season. I can’t imagine the guy just flat out forgot how to pitch. The late start had to play a part. At any rate, it’s the right move for the Braves. Can’t wait on him to figure it out in the middle of August while in a pennant race.
He’ll get another chance, if not a few of them, but he best be realistic on his salary demands next year and show up at the start of camp.
if he had been realistic this year he’d be in a much better spot to earn more next year. RPs have to earn while they can – even once good relievers can have to settle for several minors contracts in a row to get back to earning anything tangible.
Maybe it’s best for Shane Greene to go back where it all lst started? There is absolutely no risk on a minor league contract. It definitely sounds like it could be low risk/high reward for both parties involved.
What “unrealistic” salary demands did he have? I’ve seen speculation but have not heard any verification that was his reason for not signing earlier. Hope he returns to Detroit.
If I recall it was 13 or 14 million for 2 years.
No, please, no more Shane Greene in Detroit.
Please no.
Hasn’t Ian Krol’s return been enough? Buck Farmer’s roster yo-yoing?
Drew VerHagen is teaming up with Ronny Rodriguez to Tigerize the 2021 Nippon Ham Fighters. At least one will return to Detroit.
No to Shane Greene. Please draw a line somewhere, Al Avila. Start with him.
Have to agree with Darkside, when a pitcher misses spring training, it rarely ever works out well.
I mean, Dallas Keuchel, when he signed with the Braves midway through the season, that actually worked out pretty well, but Greene has bombed this year, and even someone as dominant and seemingly invincible as Kimbrel even had a really down year when he signed late…
I’m starting to think that pitchers might begin to take notice, and I’m betting we will see especially relief pitchers just going ahead and signing rather than missing ST and signing late.
I’m guessing starters are more successful doing this because they’re typically given longer to ramp up, and they’re also allowed to pitch more than just an inning allowing themselves to get a better grasp of their stuff and a better feel for which pitches are and aren’t working that day.
As a relief pitcher, you really don’t have any time to truly get a good handle on which pitches are working for you that day ajd which aren’t. So, sometimes it can he a baptism by fire trying to get a hold of their different pitches.
Either way, I thought they rushed Greene to begin with, and then they’d only use him sparingly, due to his ineffectiveness, so it was just a recipe for disaster from the very beginning.
If the Braves might have had Martin, Jackson, and another RH pen arm doing well from that point on, then they might not have had to rush Greene so quickly, but they were struggling with mainly only a lefty dominant pen. They were desperate for Greene’s arm, and thinking he could give him the sake success he had last season, thinking he could be thenajswer to alot of their issues, but by rushing him up, again, they ruined any chances of him helping them..
Definitely wish him the best of luck, he’s a solid pitcher when he’s on, and he’s a real gamer.
This really extends to hitter too. In 2014, when Kendrys Morales didnt sign till late in the season with the Twins, I think it was in July, he had the worse season of his career up to that point.
Guy should have signed at the beginning of the season (if it was an option). Trying to ramp up mid season as fast as he did is never good. Maybe we can retain him and keep him in the minors, but I’d imagine someone else will swipe him up.
I believe the rule is guys with 3+ years of service time can refuse the assignment, which I expect he will. Too many teams need RP, and some team will gamble on him.
Phillies
Or Reds
I can’t believe that teams are still using guys like this while Shane Greene is still out there… wait…
He’s still better than Minter FFS
That’s not saying too much.
Minter sucks but their numbers this yr say otherwise
Give Kranitz some of blame here. His pitching philosophy seemingly getting more and more out of touch.
Good riddance.
Greene’s numbers this year are ugly, quite possibly due to the late start on his year. However, one particularly troubling trend is his lower K rate over the past three seasons since coming over from the Tigers..
That he signed for just $1.5 mill. (prorated) suggests the demand for his services just wasn’t there. He is still relatively young at 32 and might want to figure it out in the minors before giving it one more shot. If it doesn’t work, hopefully he’s been smart with the $13.8 mill. he’s been paid as a major leaguer.
Was wondering if Perry would bring him here all off season. Nobody predicted this disastrous year.
Still it is only 19 innings in an odd year for him.
Don’t say nobody because I did. He’s been walking the fine line between disaster and decent for 3 yrs now. His velocity has been decreasing and the strikeouts were dropping. He was becoming very hittable. I argued with Braves fans all off-season and during the season about him.
Didn’t realize how poorly he was pitching after his late signing.
I just assume every guy who signs late in the offseason or during the season struggles. I’m surprised if one of those guys is even average to be honest.
There are some things to worry about, like lower strikeout rate, higher EV, walk, and hard hit rates, but you can’t judge him off a SSS. His xBA is 80 points lower than ba, and xSLG is 160. Dodgers should take a flier on him.
The travails of a relief pitcher. Could have a 1.50 era and make the all star team or be in AAA next year, who knows?
“…striking out only 20.5% of batters faced and allowing five home runs.”
Without context these are not useful statistics. They may be somewhat adequate for projecting, but not for evaluating.
Pitching is all and only about Run Prevention.
If you’re not striking anyone out and giving up homers, it’s safe to say run prevention isn’t a strong suit.
Incorrect.
And you’re offering shallow, incompetent thinking.
Striking out 20% of your batters means you’re getting a guy per Inning also. Greene’s K’d 17 in 17 innings. 5 HRS leads you to believe he’s struggled but on its face doesn’t tell you a ton.
If he gave up 5 solo HRS in 17 innings he could still have an ERA around 3.
Still not relevant. Re-read what I’ve already written, and process it this time.
No 20% is 1 in 5.
ERA is deceptive for relievers. They could allow a bunch of inherited runners to score without their ERA taking much of a hit. Relievers need to be able to get out of someone else’s jam with minimal damage.
BravesNutter: I see that you’re merely a very casual fan who doesn’t actually understand baseball.
Name 1 successful reliever with an 8 era? I’ll wait
Glad to see him preventing runs with “only’ an ERA of 8.50! You aren’t very smart.
Context is everything, especially for relievers (and triple-especially for closers). Don’t be closed-minded, and don’t be obtuse yet simultaneously arrogant. None of that will ever do you any good.
One of Cashmans better trades
I wonder if Didi misses the Yankees, more then the Yankees miss him? Gregorius was so loved by the fans here, and was definitely a good clubhouse guy. He’s missed.
While it’s too early to say Greene is done, the Tigers actually made out well on this trade with the Braves (as opposed to the JD Martinez deal with the D-backs). Travis Demeritte did not pan out, but Joey Wentz looks like he has a good shot at being a decent starter in Motown next year.
“Scrambles to try and delete all posts saying the Blue Jays should’ve signed Greene in May*
End of the day, if he had the opportunity to prepare like everyone else and didn’t perform it’s on him. However, you can’t blame Shane Greene based purely on results. He didn’t have a ST and was thrown in the fire forced to get big leaguers that are already ahead of him. They got guys down in the pen right now as well as guys the got rid of “Jones” “Webb” on and on that have struggled with a full ST. Hope the dude goes to Gwinnett and gets more innings and gets called back up.
Let’s ALL hope Minter found a way to throw strikes again!
He will sign next year with Detroit for 1million
How long before Minter is sent down again? Both Newcomb and Minter are terrible.
I don’t think either are terrible. They’re definitely MLB talents. Just wildly inconsistent from year-to-year which makes them just like a vast majority bullpen arms in baseball. Heck, even the consistent ones lose it every now and then (see Kimbrel, Craig)
Minter I’m not ready to give up on after this season. I think the best thing for Newcomb would be a fresh start elsewhere. There’s plenty of bad teams in need of pitching that may give him a shot to start again next year.
Yes Minter has good stuff he is just so inconsistent. He makes wrong pitch or doesn’t hit his spot always at worst time. Good arm and they shouldn’t be scared to send him down. He can pitch more and work it out. If not make him a starter.
Pick up jb from Oakland!
Shane Green to the Phils or Mutts
Greene will get another chance. Greg Holland was horrendous in St.Louis in 2018 after signing at the end of spring trainining and almost immediately went in to the Cardinals bullpen. Got let go and pitched pretty well for Washington the rest of the season.
Some team is going to get a freaking steal with Greene on a minor league deal this offseason.
Maybe AA knew what he was doing when he let him walk, and the rest of the front office around the league knew more than a bunch of message board commenters when he went unsigned well into the season. Hmmmm
For all the people saying Greene was bad, you definitely have to take into account his season starting in June, that means he missed so much prep work. His spring training has been on the diamond at MLB level, plus looking at his situation his first game back was a 1/3 of an inning and he gave up 2 runs, this shot his ERA to 54.00 straight away, then on Jun 16 he had 2/3 of an inning and gave up 3, then he didn’t pitch for 5 days, do you think that was good for him to get his mechanics in shape, on 21 Jun then he pitched another 2/3 of an inning and gave up 3 again, on July 4 he gave up 3 again, and then on July 21 he gave up 2. All of the damage has mainly come in 5 games out of the very low 19 games he’s participated in. Hopefully he can get some more work at Gwinnett and come back better, as he has some great pitches in his arsenal, with more work and getting in the groove he can be very good. Most people here didn’t want Luke Jackson either, he certainly has left mud on many commenters faces as he has pitched magnificently this year.
If the Braves had Rodriguez earlier I believe the Braves would have won many more of the close games including the appalling lottery that is extra innings that should not be played at this level with a free runner on 2nd-a farce.
Will Smith is good, but he always gives me high blood pressure. We’d be equal lead now if Smith hadn’t given up a fat fast ball in the middle of the plate to that catcher hitting .086, why they threw him a fast ball first pitch I’ll never know, that’s just poor calling.