Dereck Rodriguez makes very brief stop in Atlanta
Dereck Rodriguez was a Brave, and then, as quickly as he arrived, he was gone again. Such is life for a player like Rodriguez on the fringe of the major leagues, jockeying back and forth between the Triple-A level and MLB.
After we covered the news that he had his contract selected and joined the active roster yesterday, he has been designated for assignment by the Braves on Monday.
Looking at his performance on Sunday, there's good reason for that move to have been made. He appeared in a relief outing on Sunday but gave up eight runs over two innings pitched, throwing just 54 pitches. He allowed seven hits, two of them home runs. He also walked three batters.
Simply, Rodriguez was given a shot, and couldn't hack it. MLB Trade Rumors points out that when he hits waivers, it'll be the third time for Rodriguez this season. There's a chance he winds up back with Atlanta (they DFA'd him earlier this year, as well, but he stayed with the club's minor league team), but that remains to be seen.
Lucas Luetge selected by Braves
In a corresponding move to the DFA of Rodriguez, the Braves selected the contract of relief pitcher Lucas Luetge.
Luetge is another player who has been churned through the DFA and waiver process a few times this year at-will as the Braves have needed to fill in players at the end of the rotation. Luetge's struggles this season (8.49 ERA in 11.2 innings pitched) can be chalked up in part to his limited playing time at the pro level, because he posted a sub-3.00 ERA in 2021 and 2022 with 72.1 and 57.1 innings pitched those seasons, respectively.
Still, his performance in limited opportunities has not inspired confidence for Atlanta to keep him up at the pro level consistently.
Recent struggles could give Luetge more of an opportunity to get in the game this time around. After Atlanta has held opponents to a third-best-in MLB 3.81 in April through August, September so far has featured a 6.21 ERA.
Part of the factor is that Atlanta has its playoff berth wrapped up, so there is certainly less to play for now. But it's still not a great indicator of how things are going. Maybe Luetge can take advantage.
Braves might be able to backfill Max Fried, but need to focus on development... Or, simply, lock him up!
OK, don't get me wrong here. The Atlanta Braves should be trying to secure Max Fried to a long-term extension. It's worth pushing for, and hard. He's flashed potential to be a Cy Young winner, finishing second in voting last season and fifth two years ago.
This year, he once again posted a sub-3.00 ERA and has lost just one game. Sure, his availability has been limited by injury this season, but you feel good about your chances at winning a game any time you have him on the bump. His ERA+ is 169, which would be his highest mark of any season since his 11-game sample in the Covid-shortened 2020.
But as we discussed yesterday, the Braves philosophy for team building might not be timed well with when an extension would be served. Atlanta typically gives prescient extensions so they can get talented players at a massive discount relative to what they'd receive in the open market. Identifying talent and moving quickly has been their strategy.
Unfortunately, Fried has probably outplayed a "cheap" extension. If the Braves want him for a while, it'll cost them.
But maybe some players behind him could make that sting a bit less if such a situation does come to bear?
AJ Smith-Shawver could be the next elite pitcher out of the Braves system, but there's reason to question why he wasn't brought up to help the Braves when they had significant depth issues in the rotation due to injuries.
After all, the best-case scenario wouldn't be Smith-Shawver replacing Fried, but rather, adding depth to the rotation.
Eisert looked at his low-spinning slider helps to catch hitters off guard, but he saw some issues with the pitch, particularly data that suggests problems with finger dexterity. It speaks to a definite issue for the Braves if they let Fried walk: They might not have perfect backfills in the development pipeline to come up and grab a starting role right away.
Simple solution? Get Fried locked up this offseason.
