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Braves Claim Kevin Chapman From Astros

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The Braves announced on Monday that they’ve claimed left-handed reliever Kevin Chapman off waivers from the Astros. Houston reportedly placed the 29-year-old Chapman on waivers over the weekend. Atlanta had an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary.

Chapman is out of minor league options, so the Braves will need to either carry him on their roster to start the season or once again expose him to waivers if they hope to send him to the minor leagues. The former fourth-round pick has a career 4.09 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 5.1 BB/9 and a 43.1 percent ground-ball rate in 55 big league innings.

While Chapman saw quite a bit of time in the Majors in 2013-14, he’s logged just 13 1/3 combined innings with the Astros over the past two seasons as they’ve relied heavily on Tony Sipp as the primary (and in many cases only) left-handed option in manager A.J. Hinch’s bullpen.

Chapman struggled in Triple-A this past season (4.87 ERA in 61 innings) but does have a strong track record at that level, where he’s worked to a collective 3.67 ERA and racked up 262 strikeouts in 208 2/3 innings (11.3 K/9). He’s also struggled with his control throughout his minor league tenure, however, as evidenced by a career 4.7 BB/9 rate in the minors (4.9 in Triple-A). Chapman doesn’t dominate opposing lefties and permits them to reach too often via walk, but he’s also prevented them from hitting for any sort of power against him. In total, same-handed opponents have batted .263/.354/.325 against Chapman in the Majors. He’ll give the Braves an additional lefty option for the bullpen and compete with the likes of Ian Krol, Paco Rodriguez and non-roster invitee Eric O’Flaherty for a spot at the end of camp.

Braves An Unlikely Match For Angel Pagan

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Braves Notes: O'Flaherty, Bench

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  • Left-hander Eric O’Flaherty has rediscovered some of the sink on his fastball in Spring Training and, with righties Chaz Roe and Blaine Boyer struggling, has emerged as a legitimate option to break camp with the Braves, writes MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. “He’s throwing some good breaking balls and his fastball has a little more life than it did,” manager Brian Snitker tells Bowman. “We just need to stay with him. I think he feels good, so that’s just a good thing to just keep him out there. I think he’s feeling healthy for the first time in a while.”
  • Looking to the bench competition that is ongoing in Atlanta, Bowman tweets that the only two locks for bench spots at this moment are backup catcher Kurt Suzuki and utilityman Jace Peterson. The Braves are said to be eyeing a right-handed-hitting fourth outfielder that can handle center and have several other candidates in camp vying for bench roles (as can be seen on their depth chart at Roster Resource).

Latest On Angel Pagan

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4:09pm: Pagan had an agreement with the Orioles, but a failed physical blew things up, Heyman reports. It isn’t clear just when that occurred or what the issue was.

The deal with Baltimore was a major league deal, Heyman suggests. Pagan’s agent, Greg Genske, also says that other teams have offered MLB roster spots, per the report. Indeed, Atlanta is potentially interested in such an arrangement, though it’s not clear at what price tag.

This new report seems to change the story on Pagan. It now appears that opportunity and/or money are the main sticking points. The veteran has “been seeking close to $5MM” in contract talks, according to Heyman.

3:47pm: The Pirates and the Braves are among the “many” teams that have made offers to outfielder Angel Pagan, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. (Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported that the Braves had made an offer.) However, the 35-year-old Pagan has reportedly been holding out for a Major League offer, and it doesn’t seem that any team has made that type of proposal to this point, as Heyman adds that the outfielder has yet to find a suitable opportunity.

Pagan isn’t exactly missing out on Spring Training entirely, as he’s playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, so he’ll be somewhat up to speed if he does ink a deal with a club at some point this month. Earlier this week, Pagan told reporters that he feels that his 2016 play has earned him a spot somewhere. It’s hard to argue that, based on Pagan’s 2016 season. While he may no longer be much of an option in center field, he did bat .277/.331/.418 with 12 home runs and 15 steals last season, and his defense in left field as passable in the eyes of Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved.

Both Atlanta and Pittsburgh were among the speculative landing spots I listed for Pagan last week, as either one makes sense on paper. The Braves don’t have a true fourth outfielder, as their current backup options in center field include Jace Peterson, Chase d’Arnaud and perhaps non-roster invitee Lane Adams. The Pirates, meanwhile, are currently set to utilize Adam Frazier as an infielder/outfielder off the bench but lack a pure fourth outfield option themselves.

Braves Seeking Right-Handed-Hitting Fourth Outfielder

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  • The Braves are in the market for a right-handed-hitting outfielder that can handle center field. Currently, Atlanta lacks a clear-cut fourth outfielder and is set to deploy two left-handed-hitting starters in Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Latest On Angel Pagan

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We’ve heard mostly crickets on the market for veteran outfielder Angel Pagan, who turned in a strong bounceback year in 2016 (.277/.331/.418 with 12 home runs and 15 stolen bases) but remains unsigned with camp well underway. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently looked at the possible landing spots for the 35-year-old Pagan, who has been linked at least loosely to teams such as the Nationals, Blue Jays, and (quite a ways back) Orioles.

Here’s the latest on his situation:

  • On hand to face his old Giants club as a member of team Puerto Rico, Pagan spoke with reporters including MLB.com’s Chris Haft (links to Twitter). He says that he has only been offered minor-league deals, which obviously haven’t held appeal. “I just don’t feel I need to be fighting for a job,” he said. “If a team wants me to help a team win, they know I can help them win.” Pagan added that he’s healthy and certainly suggested he’s still hoping to find a place to play in 2017. “They’ll see it in the [World] Baseball Classic,” he said.

Earlier Updates

  • The Braves have made Pagan an offer, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter), but it was of the minor-league variety. Understandably, Pagan is looking for a MLB roster spot, according to the report. While that’s not surprising, given his solid work last year and long history as a semi-regular player, it remains to be seen whether such an opportunity will arise.
  • For the time being, at least, Pagan seems willing to wait and see whether he does find a 40-man spot. His agent Greg Genske tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links) that Pagan is currently focused on preparing to play in the World Baseball Classic with Puerto Rico. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how he performs, and whether or not that may have some impact on the interest level around the league.
  • That said, Genske notes that Pagan “has received several offers from clubs during the off-season and since start of spring training.” To date, the agent adds, he “has not yet found the right fit.” Whether that’s his way of saying that MLB offers haven’t been forthcoming, or whether Pagan is heavily weighing other factors (money, role, location, etc.), isn’t immediately clear. All told, though, it seems reasonable to expect that some organization will find enough of a need — whether due to injury or reevaluation of internal options — to offer Pagan at least a reserve/platoon job with some amount of guaranteed money.

Reds Claim Christian Walker, Designate Jumbo Diaz For Assignment

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The Reds have claimed first baseman Christian Walker off waivers from the Braves and designated right-hander Jumbo Diaz for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, tweets Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Atlanta had just picked up Walker off waivers a couple of weeks ago, but they clearly weren’t able to succeed in passing him through waivers themselves.

Walker, 26 later this month, was long viewed as a potential first base/DH option in the Orioles organization, but both of those spots are blocked in the long-term by Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo. Beyond that, Walker had seen himself leapfrogged by fellow first base/DH prospect Trey Mancini within the Orioles’ ranks.

[Related: Updated Cincinnati Reds Depth Chart]

Walker saw brief cups of coffee with Baltimore in both 2014 and 2015, hitting just .148/.258/.296 in a minuscule sample of 31 plate appearances. And while the former fourth-round pick (2012) has turned in solid overall numbers across parts of three Triple-A campaigns, he’s never exactly exhibited any sort of mastery over upper-level minor league pitching. In 1332 plate appearances with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk, Walker has a .260/.324/.429 batting line to go along with 42 homers and 72 doubles.

While he’s been primarily a first baseman in his pro career, Walker did spend some time in left field last year (90 games), so he could be an option as a bench bat with Cincinnati. The Reds do have a left-handed-hitting right fielder in Scott Schebler, so Cincinnati could potentially utilize some sort of platoon if the team is comfortable with Walker’s relative lack of corner outfield experience. In that sense, he could be competing with non-roster invitee Ryan Raburn for a roster spot. Additionally, he has a minor league option remaining, so the Reds could simply send him to Louisville to open the season, where he’d serve as a depth option.

As for Diaz, the 33-year-old posted what looked on the surface to be a solid 3.14 ERA in 43 innings with the Reds last year, but his peripheral numbers painted a less optimistic picture. Diaz posted career-worst marks in K/9 (7.7), BB/9 (4.0), swinging-strike rate (10.4 percent) and average fastball velocity (95.9 mph). He also benefited greatly from a .239 average on balls in play and an 80.4 percent strand rate — both of which seem likely to regress in 2017 and beyond.

Of course, those velocity and swinging-strike rate marks are still better than the league average, so perhaps there’s hope yet that Diaz could rebound and again work as a serviceable middle-relief option. In 138 frames at the Major League level, Diaz sports a 3.65 ERA with a 144-to-51 K/BB ratio and a 43.7 percent ground-ball rate. Given his age and the current juncture of Spring Training, Diaz could certainly clear waivers and remain with the Reds in a non-roster capacity.

Jesse Biddle Returns To The Mound

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  • Former Phillies first-rounder Jesse Biddle is looking to revive his career with the Braves, though he tells Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer that he has no hard feelings towards his old club for trading him to the Pirates in February 2016.  Once a fixture of top-100 prospect lists, Biddle ran into some struggles as he reached the upper minors, and his career was halted entirely when he underwent Tommy John surgery in October 2015.  Atlanta claimed Biddle off waivers from Pittsburgh last March and the southpaw was finally back on the mound on Saturday, facing (ironically) the Phils in Spring Training action.

Braves Sign David Hale To Minors Deal

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  • The Braves signed right-hander David Hale to a minor league deal earlier this winter, and the righty made his spring debut for Atlanta yesterday (hat tip to reader Paul Tate for his e-mail about the under-the-radar move).  Hale was originally drafted his hometown Braves in 2009 and he posted a solid 3.30 ERA in 87 1/3 IP during his 2014 rookie season, pitching mostly out of the bullpen.  He struggled after a January 2015 trade to the Rockies, however, and Hale pitched in just two big league games in 2016 before being claimed off waivers by the Orioles and eventually outrighted off their 40-man roster in August.  Hale discussed his recent history and his return to the Braves earlier this week in a radio interview on Macon 93.1 FM’s Bill Shanks Show (audio link).

Armando Rivero Cleared To Resume Throwing

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  • Braves Rule 5 pick Armando Rivero has been dealing with shoulder soreness, though manager Brian Snitker said Saturday that there’s no sign of structural damage, tweets Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Braves doctors cleared the righty, previously with the Cubs, to continue throwing and vying for a job with Atlanta. Rivero, 29, pitched to a 2.13 ERA and recorded a sky-high 13.97 K/9 against a bloated 4.66 BB/9 in 67 2/3 innings with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in 2016.
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