The Braves announced that they have claimed infielder Andrew Velazquez off waivers from the Angels and optioned him to Triple-A. To make room on their 40-man roster, they transferred right-hander Yonny Chirinos to the 60-day injured list.
Velazquez, 29, has been serving as a glove-first utility player in the big leagues dating back to his 2018 debut. He’s hit just .189/.244/.293 in 624 career plate appearances, including a line of .173/.264/.284 this year. But he’s played a considerable amount of time at shortstop, as well as lining up at second base, third base and in the outfield, generally getting good reviews for his glovework wherever he goes.
The Angels have fallen out of contention in recent weeks and have put many players on waivers, seeing Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, Matt Moore, Hunter Renfroe and Dominic Leone get claimed by other clubs last week. Those moves were primarily about clearing out salary and trying to get the club under the lowest threshold of the competitive balance tax.
It doesn’t appear that would be a factor with Velazquez, as he has yet to qualify for arbitration and is presumably making a salary near the league minimum. But he was recently optioned to Triple-A as the club is getting a look at rookie Kyren Paris at short, with the versatile Luis Rengifo also able to take over that position at times. Velazquez has surpassed three years of service this season and will qualify for arbitration for the first time this winter. He will also be out of options next year and need an active roster spot. Perhaps he has fallen out of the club’s long-term plans and they decided to see if anyone else wanted to give him a shot.
It seems Atlanta will be that club, adding Velazquez to their system for a bit of extra infield depth. Since he has been acquired after September 1, he won’t be eligible to play for them in the postseason, but could perhaps be of use if any of their regular players suffers an injury or simply needs a rest over the next few weeks. He can also be retained for three more seasons, though his impending arbitration and out-of-options status will make it harder for him to hold onto a roster spot going forward.
As for Chirinos, he was placed on the injured list August 20 with right elbow inflammation. It seems the club wasn’t expecting him back anytime soon, as he will now be ineligible to return until the middle of October. He could technically return to the club in the event of a deep postseason run, but it seems fair to deduce that his season is over.
It was a bit of a bounceback for him this year, as he hardly pitched over the 2020-2022 period due to various injuries but was able to throw 85 innings between Atlanta and Tampa this year, going from the former to the latter via a waiver claim. However, his 5.40 ERA and 14.4% strikeout rate were well below his marks of 3.85 and 21.5% in 2019. Like Velazquez, he is eligible for arbitration this winter and will be out of options next season.
Was he needed for AAA depth?
AA works in mysterious ways.
Not mysterious at all. AA cycles through middle infielders until he unearths a potentially productive player and turns them over to the coaching staff. That approach allowed them to withstand the loss of Swanson by plugging in Arcia. Lopez might be another potential find. Elias in Baltimore did the same thing with left- handed hitters until they found O’Hearn and refined his approach.
Squid!!!
does this get the Angels under the threshold?
Probably not since he’s making near minimum salary per the article.
YES. NO MORE VELAZQUEZ. Second best news to “wake up” to. Only other better news would be to hear Moreno has sold the team..
They gave him every opportunity to succeed, and he just got worse offensively as time went on. The guy hits like a pitcher, and I don’t mean MadBum – more like a closer who hasn’t picked up a bat in 15 years.
As a Braves fan that watches a lot of Angels games, Velazquez is a great defender with speed and a super light bat. But he seems to think he is a power hitter. If they can fix his approach he could be a great 5th infielder type that can play 2B, SS and 3B
Middle IF in the minors is kind of crowded. Culberson, Shewmake, Grissom…and then add velazquez. Luke williams and Lopez on the mlb roster plus Adrianza making rehab starts.
Culberson and Adrianza are gone next year. Velazquez could be in our bench next season if Nicky Lopez becomes too expensive or if there is an injury to Albies or Arcia
quite honestly, his defense has really regressed this year. There’s at least 2 errors in the last few weeks that have cost them the game.
He was the only guy on the Angels that knew how to bunt.
Schanuel is a better replacement for Velzaquez.
Yes. I would say so as well.
The Braves are averaging one bunt per season the past two season. They didnt pick him up for his bunting skills.
I didn’t say that was why they picked him up. Just mentioned that Angels players aren’t very good at bunting, but he is quite good at it.
Terrific news… albeit a year too late!
Velazquez is indicative of a top heavy philosophy by Anaheim; spend all your money on 1-3 high end players and then AAAA guys like Velazquez(and tyler Wade) will be the ones filling the cracks and taking key at bats in crucial situations. If Andrew Velazquez is your starting SS, then your team is not making the playoffs. Clearly, the Braves acquired him only for depth and emergency.
Velazquez was only meant to be a backup, but Neto got hurt.
Neto wasn’t even supposed to be the starting SS this season. Perry Minasian has done nothing to fill the SS void since Andrelton Simmons.
He hasn’t done anything that worked.
He signed Jose Iglesias who had a decent record then. Then Fletcher was supposed to take over, he got hurt and the rest is history.
Then he drafted Neto.
So to say he has done nothing to replace an aging Simmons, is clearly not true.
A .100 hitter who doesn’t get on base nor hit the ball with authority… shocked he made it this far lol
patient folks soon we’ll be the best team on the planet. Let’s go Angels
lol
all of the MLB teams who don’t have AA wish that they did. whatever he thinks is best is damn sure good enough for me…
Hi Buddy! Haven’t we been saying that for the last 10 years?!
The Angels have a good young core of players, but Rendon’s contract is holding them back. Hopefully he can have a bounce back year, but that doesn’t seem likely.
We’ve been talking about an alleged young core for 10 years and it’s gotten this team nowhere. Moreno is a marketing guy, not a baseball guy. If he makes money, he’s happy, win or lose. I truly believe that this team will have the same results until Moreno sells, which I hope will be this winter once Ohtani signs elsewhere. You can’t keep using the same failed strategy to build a team and expect a different result every year.
I think Ohtani will re-sign with the Angels with an opt out after year 1 and 2. Specially now that he is hurt and won’t pitch next year. And the Angels haven’t had a young core of players in a long time. It’s usually Trout, prospects and free agents. But you are right in that Moreno is his own worst enemy. He thinks and acts like a businessman, not a baseball executive.