AA used some of his cheat code skill at the trade deadline, adding Pierce Johnson to the bullpen. That move was so good he’ll be back in ’24. I’m pretty excited AA struck quickly and Johnson will be back for 2024. Details on the deal may be found here.
I say cheat code, of course, because Braves country scratched its head when AA signed Johnson. The righty with the nasty wrinkle was 1-5 with a 6.00 ERA at the time. Of course, Johnson pitched for the Rockies in Coors Field, but I doubt anyone expected just two earned runs the rest of the season.
Johnson appeared in 24 games for the Braves. He allowed just two earned runs and ended the season with an ERA of 4.02. In a word, he was sensational! After taking the loss in his first appearance for the Braves, Pierce didn’t allow a run in his next 10 outings. He struck out 14 and walked just three during that stretch. His Baseball Savant page shows some savage numbers, including a 33% whiff rate, and 31% K rate.
The dope on Johnson, the deeper you look, is mind-numbing. He had a 0.76 ERA in 23.2 innings with Atlanta. He struck 32 and walked 5. And – wait for it – his WHIP with the Braves, was a minuscule 0.89. Johnson’s career WHIP is 1.38, an indication of how special he was this year. He was Raisel Iglesias-ish from 2022, when Iglesias came over from the Angels at the deadline.
AA’s cheat code was on brand with this one. Here’s to a similar 2024!
Thanks Christian. I don’t want to get too wound up over 24 innings, but the winter is for hope.
Interesting that Atlanta will get an All-Star Game after all. Guess I missed the news about the voting law being changed.
We just dumped a whole lot of dudes off the 40 man for Aaron Bummer?
I just saw that. Looks like a high price at first blush but 4 of the 5 guys were possible non-tenders. If you figure they were all going to be non-tendered then the Braves essentially got Bummer for Gowens. And the Sox will likely not non-tender most of them so it’s like they picked them up as free agents. And the Braves need to clear 40-man space for their own free agents (hopefully big ones) and now a bench infielder.
I am really sorry to see Soroka and Lopez go though. Braves have now shed 6 of 13 arb eligibles.
Yeah, unfortunately it’s clear Soroka wasn’t in their plans much. Poor guy. Really hate that. But Bummer is an elite, cheap LH reliever, even if he had a down year last year. Everyone on the White Sox did.
Congratulations, Ronald! A season for the ages indeed.
Looking at his stats a month after the season ended seem even more amazing.
I’m reading different amounts of control that Atlanta now has on Bummer. DOB is saying one year, other saying three. It’s one, right?
I think one year and two options
The Bummer trade is sneaky genius like the Pierce Johnson trade was. He is much better than his bad season suggests. We are building a very deep bullpen and offloading parts that don’t have a future with us to do so.
Question is, do you want a deep bullpen or do you want an elite bullpen? And extrapolate that out to the entire roster. Do you want a deep 40-man? That doesn’t help you in the playoffs. Sorry if I continue to bang the drum too much, but I just don’t care if we have this deep roster that wins 100 games. I care about having the best 20 or so guys that are the ones that actually play when it matters.
To be fair, Bummer is a lefty, so I’ll take an elite lefty all day.
No, you don’t want 8 average relief pitchers or something, but you do want 6-7 plus relievers, which I think we can have. We do lack elite guys, but to get that you might have to pay a Hader $20 million, and I’d rather spend that on a starter if we even have it. And I think Bummer can be an elite lefty, yes.
I also don’t think going with depth over elite talent caused us to lose in the playoffs. Getting outpitched by the Phillies’ starters did. Arguably, rust, etc, but that isn’t going to be fixed by anything but intentionally being a little worse to get the 3rd seed, which is a risky game
Rob, another perspective is that Bummer is cover if Matzek and Lee don’t make it fully back to health. He is better (and cheaper and younger and more controllable) than Hand is now. I think with Bummer and Matzek, specifically, the bullpen is “elite”. I sure would never have thought the Braves would sign Hader (or Chapman).
I have said before, I wish the Braves would have added Chapman instead of Hand last year (Texas got him and that seems to have worked out for them).
Oh gosh, without a doubt, Roger. Everything went wrong with lefty relievers last year. In fact, a narrative that was never discussed (because there were so many) about the failures of the NLDS is how bad our lefty relievers were. Is Bryce Elder pitching to Harper in the 3rd inning of a must-win if you could burn a LHP to saw him off? That’s a big reason why we won in 2021. We no problems doing bullpen games and burning a SP early in the game. Let’s be honest; the season was decided when Harper went yard. If a healthy Dylan Lee or Tyler Matzek comes in and puts him down, we might have had a very different series.
Don’t give me another 4th starter, Alex. Gimme guys that can come in and change a playoff series.
We couldn’t do much with most of those guys. Lopez is the only loss, and we were about to have to pay him 4 million to be a utility infielder and he would have been making more than the starting shortstop.
The White Sox may have gotten MUCH better as a result of this trade (more in protection from being a 60 win team than in likelihood of being a 90 win team).
We will see if he really is a “bummer.”
I’ll miss Soroka, but that may be more sentimentality than rationality. I’ll be bummed 😉 if he puts it all together with another team (well, happy for him; bummed it wasn’t with the Braves). Lopez was a quality backup IF but we obviously didn’t want to meet his cost.
Leave it to AA to strike a late-night deal that nobody saw coming. Now let’s extend Max and sign Gray or Nola.
Soroka’s health is one of the all time off field “what-ifs” in team history.
If healthy he’s a top 20 pitcher in baseball for years and we probably win the 2020 World Series.
Agreed. And I was sad to see him traded. I would have also been sad to see him non-tendered. And I’d have been even more sad to see him non-tendered, stashed in AAA, and given the yo-yo next year because we think we need to win regular season games for some reason. Chicago ain’t going anywhere, and they can plug him into his rotation and work through it. Maybe he signs back with Atlanta after he’s a FA. Wish him well; my favorite underdog story in recent memory.