October 2nd: Kelenic, Díaz, Dunning and Williams have formally elected free company, in accordance with David O’Brien of The Athletic.
October 1st: The Braves have begun offseason roster housekeeping. Atlanta introduced they’ve outrighted 5 gamers — outfielder Jarred Kelenic, right-handers Alexis Díaz and Dane Dunning, catcher Sandy León, and utility participant Luke Williams — off the 40-man roster. They’ll all be minor league free brokers within the subsequent couple weeks.
Atlanta had 11 gamers end the season on the 60-day injured checklist. They’ll all have to be activated or positioned on waivers inside 5 days of the tip of the World Sequence. This clears 5 spots, and three extra will open when Raisel Iglesias, Marcell Ozuna and Charlie Morton attain free company. Ha-Seong Kim might want to determine on his $16MM participant possibility. They’ll have to drop a minimum of two extra gamers (three if Kim doesn’t choose out) inside the subsequent few weeks.
These had been all comparatively simple cuts, although it marks an unceremonious finish to Kelenic’s disappointing time in Atlanta. The Braves took quite a lot of lifeless cash off Seattle’s books to accumulate the previous high prospect in the course of the 2023-24 offseason. He hit .231/.286/.393 with a near-30% strikeout charge throughout 449 plate appearances in 2024.
Atlanta signed Jurickson Profar to interchange him because the beginning left fielder. With Ronald Acuña Jr. rehabbing ACL surgical procedure and Profar getting suspended for a failed PED take a look at, Kelenic had one other shot early within the season. He batted .167 and performed his method off the MLB roster by the third week of April. Kelenic’s solely MLB look after that was as a pinch runner on July 30.
Issues had been equally bleak in Triple-A. The 25-year-old hit .213/.286/.309 with solely 4 homers whereas placing out at a 27.6% clip with Gwinnett. Kelenic has by no means discovered sustained MLB success however had reliably hit Triple-A pitching till this 12 months. As a former sixth general decide, he’ll get minor league affords, but it surely’d be a shock if he instructions a significant league contract.
The Braves grabbed Díaz off waivers from the Dodgers in early September. That they had roster house to burn and needed a have a look at a former All-Star nearer who had recorded 28 saves with Cincinnati simply final season. Díaz had an uphill path to a 2026 bullpen spot and positively didn’t do a lot to persuade the Braves to maintain him round. He walked 5 batters and gave up 5 runs (4 earned) in 2 2/3 innings. Díaz had a nightmare season between three groups, giving up 17 runs over 17 2/3 massive league frames. He additionally struggled to a 5.61 ERA throughout 25 2/3 Triple-A innings.
Díaz made $4.5MM this 12 months in his first journey via arbitration. He would’ve made one thing near or matching that if he had been tendered a contract. That’s a simple move for the staff coming off the season he had. Díaz has by no means had sturdy command, and his velocity and strikeouts have dipped since his wonderful first two MLB campaigns. The 29-year-old may be in minor league deal territory.
The Braves acquired Dunning from the Rangers in July. It was a wage dump for Texas and certainly one of plenty of buy-low fliers that Atlanta took as members of their pitching workers saved dropping to accidents. Dunning was an up-and-down reliever for the Braves and gave up 12 earned runs in 10 innings. León, a longtime third or fourth catcher, completed the season on the MLB roster after Sean Murphy underwent hip surgical procedure. He appeared in 5 video games and went 1-12. Williams bought into 45 contests because the final man off the bench and designated place participant pitcher in blowouts. He hit .129 and owns a profession .212/.270/.280 slash over 349 plate appearances.
