Braves Claim Dario Alvarez from Mets

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For Dario Alvarez, yesterday's news opens yet another opportunity for the Dominican-born lefty to finally get a sustained look. For the Braves, it's another example in the long line of throwing enough junk against the wall in hopes that some of it will stick.

Alvarez has been around for a long time. 27 years-old, Alvarez first appeared in professional ball with the Phillies' Dominican Summer League team in 2007. He spent three years trying to break through, but ultimately wore out his welcome and was cut after the '09 campaign. For three years, Alvarez languished in baseball purgatory before finally landing a job with Caribes de Anzoategui of the Venezualan Winter League. He didn't get much work there, but two months later, he was signed by the Mets for the 2012 season.

Already 23 with three years of experience in rookie ball, but none since 2009, finding a spot for Alvarez was not easy. The Mets started him with Brooklyn of the Short-Season A New York-Penn League. He looked good in a dozen starts, though you should do well when 97.8% of all batters you face are younger than you.

2014 was a big year for Alvarez. He opened the season with twenty stellar games in mostly relief work with Savannah (Sally League). Mixed in was a little work with St. Lucie before spending mid-August with Binghamton. His quick rise up the chain was highlighted by a September callup to the majors. Two years before, it looked like his career was done. Now, he was in the Show. He was used as a lefty specialist three times to some success (retired two-of-three batters) before being given an inning of work in his fourth game of the year. With the Nats blowing out the Mets, Alvarez struggled to put away the visiting team in the ninth. He gave up a double, but got the next two. However, Denard Span homered - which about says all you need to know. After another hit, Alvarez was removed and his season came to a close as he was not used again. He did get some action in the Arizona Fall League.

Alvarez would spend much of 2015 in the minors, split between Double-A and Triple-A. He continued to display great strikeout numbers, occasionally spotty control, and avoided homeruns. That was until he got back to the bigs to close out the year. Alvarez was utilized in a game against the Braves in which a runner was already on in a tie game in the 8th. After a sacrifice, Alvarez hit Nick Swisher. He got the second out, but Daniel Castro singled in a run. After a walk loaded the bases, Alvarez was removed but his ERA would take a hit when Adonis Garcia singled in a pair off Bobby Parnell. In true Braves fashion, with the Braves one out away from beating the eventual NL Champs 7-4, the Braves bullpen imploded and the Mets tied it on a three-run homer and won it with three runs off the immortal Edwin Jackson and Danny Burawa in the tenth.

Alvarez would give up homers in two of his next (and final) three outings and rather than get time as a left-hand specialist, he was a used in losing efforts. He wouldn't get much of a look this spring, appearing in just two games and walking five. He was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas where his problems only worsened. While he struck out 27 over 15.1 innings, he also walked ten and gave up three homers (or 33% of his career total in the minors). Las Vegas and the PCL in general are terrible places to pitch, but this was really bad. Needing room on the 40-man, New York waived and designated Alvarez on the 23rd. Two days later, the Braves claimed him.

Alvarez throws a four-seam fastball and a slider pretty much all the time, though a cut-fastball and a changeup have been charted by Brooks Baseball (but only 11 times between the two). The fourseamer typically comes humming in at about 91 mph with Alvarez having a max giddy-up of about 94 mph. The slider slips into the low 80's. The fourseamer gets a little sinking action, but is not his strikeout pitch. The slider has a sharp cut at the end that bites into right-handers and away from lefties. Neither pitch are plus pitches and righties will feast on him if his control isn't pinpoint, making him a much better option against lefthanders. He telegraphs his pitches a bit in the follow-through, though that helps us - the viewer - much more than the batter. He too often gets a whip-like follow-through on his fastballs as if he's trying to overthrow it. This herky-jerky addition to his delivery seems like something he may have adopted to increase his average velocity as footage of Alvarez before signing didn't have much of a difference between his delivery on fastballs or sliders.



Like any number of fringy southpaws, Alvarez's game could be tweaked and he could find success. Clearly, the Mets had seen enough, but Atlanta can take a chance that something clicks. He'll be worth a look this summer in Gwinnett to see if he takes to Braves' coaching and starts to get outs.

Jonny Gomes Pitching Was More Than a Novelty

Some so-and-so's on Twitter voiced their displeasure of Jonny Gomes pitching Friday night. "Embarrassing," they called it. Using Gomes was "making a mockery of the game."

Don't get me wrong - Gomes looked awful on the mound and every bit of a guy who has never pitched a game in his life (which he hadn't). His pitching motion evolved during the inning with him suddenly deciding to do a Luis Tiant-impression. His pitches confused Gamecast and Pitch f/x who thought he was throwing a knuckleball outside of his fastest delivery (classified as a changeup...somehow). Gomes threw batting practice fastballs that were sometimes pulverized. And really, how much did the team save the bullpen from throwing one more inning right before rosters expand?

But here's the thing...it wasn't about using the best prepared position hitter as a pitcher (Andrelton Simmons probably wanted the ball even more). It wasn't about saving the bullpen, though it makes for a nice reason. It wasn't even about a misguided idea of what respecting the game is, though if that were a concern, we could have asked Brian McCann his thoughts on the matter since he wrote the book.

No, it was none of these things. It was about September. It was about a clubhouse that was going through the motions of an awful season in which the Braves are only getting worse. Did you know the Braves are 3.5 games up on last place in the East? In two weeks time, they could be looking up at the Marlins and Phillies and that's actually okay. The Braves are who they are at this point. They own every bit of the league's worst offense and third worst pitching staff. Gone are Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, who combined for an OPS near .800. Also gone: Alex Wood, who was the Braves second-best starter this year, along with the four most-used relievers this season. Their replacements have often been underwhelming and that's unlikely to change this season. The Braves are trying to see what they have with Mike Foltynewicz and Matt Wisler. Their bullpen is made up of down-on-their-luck veterans and guys like Matt Marksberry, Andrew McKirahan, and Arodys Vizcaino, who are all trying to remain in the picture for 2016. It's far more important to see what Atlanta has in Christian Bethancourt than keep playing A.J. Pierzynski, even though they are a better team with AJ in the lineup. All of these things come with expected growing pains.

So, Gomes taking the mound might seem like a small blimp in an otherwise-awful year, but I promise you that the Braves clubhouse had a different feel not present when the Phillies rocked them 12-2 on August 1. When the Brewers shut out the Braves 11-0 back on May 22, I am willing to wager that the Braves players felt worse about that game than they did about Friday's shellacking. The Braves took it on the chin, but came away with a smile. Sure, it was their 17th lost of August - which ensures that August will be their worst month this year. And yeah, it was the 19th time this season they lost by at least five runs. But at the end of the night, it was the most fun many of us Braves fans have had in weeks when it came to our team.

Look, losing sucks. I'll even paraphrase Heathers. Losing sucks losers dry. Well, that didn't make as much sense as it did in the movie (when losing was replaced with "real life"), but you get the point. Most of the time, losing is simply no fun and all-too-often, it's heartbreaking. The Braves lost last night like they have been doing with regularity since their 6-1 start. Williams Perez stunk, the bullpen wasn't much better, and outside of Freddie Freeman, the offense looked non-existent. But...the Braves still won. Their clubhouse was given something to laugh about. Their fans were given something to be happy about and almost as importantly, something to tune in to watch for. For one-half inning, the crushing weight of a crap-filled season was lifted. I'll take that mockery of the game over watching Edwin Jackson try to throw another inning any day of the week.

Howdy, Edwin!

The surprising thing about the signing of Edwin Jackson isn't that the rebuilding Braves picked him up. It's that it took 13 years for it to happen. Maybe I'm alone in this, but it's seemed like Jackson was due to be a Brave several times before, but it finally took a former Brave (Rafael Soriano) joining the Cubs to make it happen.

Jon Durr | Getty Images

Jackson broke into the majors as a top prospect for the Dodgers in 2003. Over the next three seasons, he logged time in both the majors and minors, but never established himself until finally being dealt to the Rays before the 2006 season in a four-player trade that would send another former Brave, this time Danys Baez, to the Dodgers. Tampa Bay, unlike the Dodgers, was more willing to let Jackson figure it out and over a three year period, Jackson pitched in 87 games, including 63 starts, and logged 380.2 ING. It remains the longest tenure in innings that Jackson has received in any of his eight stops (nine counting Atlanta).

The Rays, like the Dodgers before them, grew tired of waiting for Jackson to begin to emerge as the pitcher many had hoped he would become and moved him to the Tigers for Matt Joyce after 2008. On a 86-77 Tigers team, Jackson set a personal high with 214 innings pitched and was especially good in the first half as he limited opposing hitters to a .212 batting average and went to his only All-Star Game on the heels of a 2.52 ERA. However, things regressed for him in the second half to the tune of a 5.07 ERA, prompting the Tigers to include Jackson in a three-team trade with the Yankees and Diamondbacks that included Max Scherzer going to Detroit, Curtis Granderson heading to the Bronx, and Jackson moving out west to the desert.

Jackson spent the first four months of 2010 with the Diamondbacks pitching similar to the way he finished the second half with the Tigers - poorly. His ERA was 5.16 when, at the trading deadline, the White Sox sent a couple of pitchers, including Daniel Hudson, to Arizona to add Jackson as they attempted to make a stretch run to the playoffs. A September collapse kept that from happening, though Jackson pitched his best ball of the year after the trade. He would remain with the White Sox into 2011 and over his first 19 starts, he was 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA and 3.25 FIP. Pretty stout numbers for him. His time with Chicago remains some of his best pitching in the majors (30 starts, 3.66 ERA, 3.22 FIP). The White Sox would trade him to the Cardinals and he remained a decent back-of-the-rotation option for St. Louis and would remain in the picture in the postseason. In fact, he started four games for the Cards in October, including Game 4 of the World Series where he would take the loss in a 4-0 game. The Cards would later win it in seven games, leading to Jackson's only championship ring.

After a solid year-and-change with the White Sox and Cardinals, Jackson finally entered free agency for the first time in 2011 and waited for the long-term deal that would allow him to settle down and stick around for awhile. None were to his liking and just weeks before pitchers and catchers were to report to spring training for the 2012 season, Jackson accepted a one-year pact to join the Nationals. It would be a good spot for him as he made 31 starts and finished the year with a 4.03 ERA and two appearances, including one start in the NLDS. More notable for him was that it added a bit more longevity to the best pitching of his career and he finally was able to secure the long-term deal that would stabilize his future - four years, $52 million.

It immediately looked bad. He dropped his first five decisions and never was able to get his ERA under 4.60 after his second game of the year. On the year, he finished with the season with a 4.98 ERA. Jackson finally paced the league in a statistical category - 18 losses. Many suggested that there existed some reason for optimism. After all, a 3.79 FIP was his second best total in any season to that point. Maybe he would bounce back in 2013.

He didn't. He was so bad that the Braves apparently flirted with the Cubs about sending Melvin Upton Jr. to Chicago for Jackson.

After a 6.33 ERA in 2014, the Cubs decided to shift Jackson to the pen for the remainder of his tenure. He was doing an acceptable job as a low-key, long reliever for Chicago this season and had thrown 31 innings on the year with a 3.19 ERA, but the Cubs liked their bullpen with Rafael Soriano in it rather than Jackson and decided to cut their losses (and the roughly $15M owed to Jackson).

Jackson throws a fastball or slider over 85% of the time, preferring to utilize a cutter, curveball, or change-up sparingly. Like Jason Frasor, David Aardsma, and Nick Masset before him, Jackson's chances to be a Brave in 2016 will be completely dependent on his play moving forward. The Braves are committing precious little to Jackson. He simply brings a veteran arm who can help with innings that a young staff sometimes struggles to give. The Braves are also counting on the idea of a hungry player who knows his future in the game relies on him being able to shake off his previous bad play and move forward with solid contributions.

Teams like the Braves can take chances on guys like this. Atlanta isn't going anywhere and they might be able to benefit from a hungry veteran trying to play for a major league contract after the season. Either way, he allows them to not abuse younger arms to get to game 162. That in itself is a good thing.

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Do me a solid and also check out my Saturday Stats Pack at my About.com blog that was posted today. Some interesting tidbits about historically low power numbers for Atlanta, Pedro Ciriaco's tendency to not let any pitch get by him, Shelby Miller's bad-luck record, Andrew McKirahan's bad luck ERA, and nothing about Matt Wisler's luck (though his K numbers are a little concerning).