The Braves announced the signings of relievers Penn Murfee and Jackson Stephens to one-year split deals. A split contract means the player would be paid at differing rates for time spent in the majors versus Triple-A. Both pitchers rejoin Atlanta’s 40-man roster. The team still has seven openings on the 40-man on the heels of an active non-tender deadline.
Murfee and Stephens were each dropped from the roster within the past couple weeks. Atlanta had cut Murfee loose at the non-tender deadline. Stephens hit the open market not long before that after going unclaimed on outright waivers.
The Braves had just snagged Murfee off waivers a few days before cutting him loose. The 29-year-old righty has 80 games of major league experience, all of which have come with the Mariners over the past two seasons. Leaning heavily on a sweeping slider, Murfee has posted strong results. He owns a 2.70 ERA in 83 1/3 innings, striking out nearly 28% of batters faced. He has found success against hitters of either handedness.
Murfee’s season was unfortunately cut short in June. The 29-year-old underwent surgery to repair a UCL tear in his elbow. He’ll miss a good portion of next season as a result. There’s no injured list during the offseason, explaining Seattle’s decision to move on despite his strong body of work. The Braves have enough roster space to give Murfee a spot, at least for the time being. If he sticks on the roster for the rest of the offseason, they could place him on the 60-day injured list whenever they need a 40-man spot from the start of Spring Training onward.
Stephens, 29, has spent the past two seasons in the Atlanta organization. The righty logged more big league action in 2022, when he turned in a 3.69 ERA through 53 2/3 frames. He didn’t see as much time this past season, tallying only 12 MLB innings over five appearances in September. Stephens worked to a 3.28 ERA with a strong 26% strikeout rate across 24 2/3 innings with Triple-A Gwinnett.
Since he is out of minor league options, he’d have to open next season on the active roster or again be exposed to waivers. Stephens would have the right to elect free agency if the Braves successfully passed him through waivers unclaimed. Since he has less than five years of service time, he’d have to forfeit his guaranteed salary to become a free agent. By signing him to a split deal that locks in an undisclosed amount of money for whatever time he spends in Triple-A, the Braves increase their chance of retaining Stephens as non-roster depth in the event they try to run him through waivers at some point.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that Murfee was returning to the Braves on a major league deal shortly before the club announcement.
Braves move again solid.
attempt at a super Bullpen; no major Rotation upgrade is on the horizon looks like. …I’ll happily ‘eat crow’ if so down the road but it’s getting close to December when AA stops doing anything
guess theyre out on cease now
Why would you think that? He is a bullpen arm, really inconsequential to acquiring Cease, if anything it gives them more leverage to acquire him, trade another arm.
Assume that was a joke.
Yeah obviously joking around
AA is always puttin in work
Is Murfee healthy ?
I thought he was gonna miss most of the year for some reason
He had season ending surgery in June, so at minimum he will need a few
Months.
He is hurt. ATL had 9 open 40 man slots. Tough to fill them all right now. They had the space.
Both are minor league split deals so doesn’t even cost 40 man roster spots. AAA depth. Sneaky good deal for Atlanta though. They can stash Murfree at AAA for the season and still have 4-5 years of team control after that if they add him to the 40 at some point.
They both take up a 40 man spot. The split contract only affects their salary.
they both will occupy 40 man spots for now. You’re thinking of minor league only deals, not split contracts. Murfee is safe bc he has options and can be moved to the 60 man later if needed. Stephens doesn’t have options so he has to make the active roster Opening Day or clear waivers if they want to send him to AAA. Same deal he had last year.
DON’T KNOW MUCH AT ALL ABOUT PENN MURFEE, BUT I DO KNOW JACKSON STEPHENS IS NOT ON “MY” WISH LIST! NOT A FAN TOO MANY WALKS! JUST A BELOW AVERAGE JOE!, SORRY, BUT THAT’S MY OPINION! MURFEE APPEARS TO HAVE GOOD NUMBERS, BUT HIGH WALK RATE ’23, BUT SMALL SAMPLE SIZE!
Why are you yelling? Are you OK?
I AM NOT YELLING, IM VISUALLY IMPAIRED! I DON’T GET THIS YELLING BS BECAUSE IM USING ALL CAPS! ARE PEOPLE THAT USE ALL LOWER CASE WHISPERING???, DON’T GET IT. IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, OVERLOOK IT AND READ THE NEXT ONE
WE SHOULD HAVE BOLD FONT TOO‼️
IF YOU BAIL FROM EVERY SITE THAT LAUGHS AT ALL CAPS, THEN YOU WON’T HAVE MANY SITES TO GO TO! JUST EXPLAIN IT AND BE A LITTLE PATIENT WITH PEOPLE!
BOLD FONT IS REALLY KINDA NICE BUT I KINDA REALLY WISH I COULD MAKE IT GO BLINKITY-BLINK SO WHEN I GET IN YOUR EYE WITH MY RAISED FONT THEN MAYBE I COULD JUST MAKE YOUR EYE STRAIGHT UP TWITCH FOR A BIT NOT A BIG BIT BUT JUST A LIL BIT MAYBE 15-20 MINUTES
‼️
I’M SORRY IF I DID ANYTHING WRONG? I WILL NOT POST ANY COMMENTS PERIOD! KEEP THE SITE AND COMMENTS SECTION TO YOURSELF! I’M OUT OF HERE!
Stick around. We’re sorry. It’s a pretty good community here.
No reason to get nasty over it
You are obviously the exception so to explain it everyone is a respectful thing to do
Grow up
I LOVE LAMP!!!
Sorry you feel this way bud, I hope to see you again. Your comments are always valued.
Don’t let these knuckleheads get the beat of you. Most of them are just joking anyways, try not to take it personally.
Best Wishes,
One Braves fan to another
@richardc,
Your attempt at diplomacy is much appreciated. Many of us are quick to kid at someone else’s expense, without knowing what’s going on in their lives. This is a fun site that everyone should enjoy participating in.
Thanks, just don’t want someone turned away or turned off from something they enjoy.
Couldn’t agree more
I‘VE LOVED ALOTTA LLAMA LAVA LAMPS.
THEY’RE THE ASBESTOS
Wow
Stop yelling, weirdo.
If the guy is sight-impaired, I’m just trying to accommodate.
At least one of these guys is going to be sneaky good.
If Murf is healthy- nothing sneaky there! He is a valuable asset to any BP. Of course you probably already know that if you peek under the hood of that “funky delivery” – you’d see a Pitcher with a track record of missing bats and soft contact all through the Minors and in Seattle. If he was 100% healthy he would still be in SEA
You need to finish that statement….If he were 100% healthy, he would still be in Seattle but the Mariners are too cheap to pay injured players.
The Mariners did a similar deal with Ken Giles just a couple years ago. I think that may have given them more caution to try it again.
These are non-guaranteed split contracts (minor/major). Neither of them will be put on the 40 man roster now. So, the Braves still have 9 spots open.
Oops, I was wrong. Mark Bowman says they will be put on the 40 man roster. That leaves 7 open roster spots.
Explain split contracts …. You know… for a friend …. lol
The player earns a different amount if he is on a minor league roster than he does when he is on a major league roster.
Correct, but they both have to start out on the 40 man roster, or be exposed to outright waivers if they’re taken off.
This was a very solid move by AA, as both could help out the bullpen in case there is an injury later on in the season.
That goes especially for Murphee! He will go on the DL initially, and then when he’s healthy he will be able to knock off the rust in AAA for as long as he needs. Then, if they need another solid LHRP in their pen he’ll be available and waiting during the latter part of the season.
Stephens can take over the Tonkin role of necessary, and give them plenty of average to slightly above average innings if one of their starters gets taken out early and they need to eat up some innings without taxing their best guys…
Excellent move by AA.
My bad, Murfee is a RHRP.. lol moron..haha
@richardc: Murfee has 3 options left. No need to expose him to waivers if the Braves choose to send him down. You’re right on Jackson though. He’s out of options.
Who are these guys? Maybe MLB is going to expand and these players will be the players to be named later when they have to give up a few players❓
Ugh, so tired of the Braves getting all the big stars.
Big stars?
I kid
It’d be nice if it is a 2 year deal for Murfee like the Kirby Yates deal. Considering he will miss most of all of 2024.
it’s the exact same deal that Nick Anderson signed last year. One year with MiLB options so he should stick around as long as he’s healthy.
Penn was really good for the mariners before he got hurt, hope he does great in ATL.
He will miss 2024
Murfee is good but he will miss the 2024 season after surgery !
As a Mariners fan, you guys will love Murfee when he gets back. That sweeper is effective against both right and left handed hitters. The fastball is good, too. His lower release point is very difficult to pick up. And he grows a fine beard, which we all know is a sign of good character. I’m going to miss him! Great pickup, as long as he heals right.
Why not keep Tonkin?