How are the guys the Braves got rid of are doing?

Since the end of the 2016 season, the Braves have finalized nine trades while losing a few players via waivers. With roughly half of the season already finished, I wanted to look back at the players the team gave up and how they are doing in their new surroundings. Do the Braves miss them or do they miss the Braves more?

November 2, 2016
Ryan Weber selected by the Seattle Mariners off waivers.

-Before the 2016 World Series ended later that night, the Braves lost a right-hander who had made 21 appearances and seven starts with them over the previous two seasons. Weber was always a non-prospect - a guy with AAAA stuff and more guts than talent. He opened this year with 31.2 dominant frames in Triple-A for Tacoma before earning a callup. He was doing alright (3 H, 1 ER) through 3.2 innings, but left the game with a biceps injury. Actually, to be more specific, a "stretch of the musculocutaneous nerve." That sounds painful. He's been sidelined for a month-and-a-half and I have yet to see word on a return.

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November 28, 2016
Traded Max Povse and Robert Whalen to the Seattle Mariners. Received a player to be named later and Alex Jackson (minors). The Seattle Mariners sent Tyler Pike (minors) (December 9, 2016) to the Atlanta Braves to complete the trade.

-The Mariners are a common theme in this little update. Povse returned to Double-A to begin this season after eleven solid starts in the Southern League. He was less impressive in the Texas League, though, and his walks were "sky-high" relative to his usual pinpoint location. After 39 innings (he missed nearly a month on the DL), Povse was brought to the majors two weeks ago. His first outing out of the pen was horrid, but he threw two scoreless innings his last time out against the Angels. Meanwhile, Whalen, who made five starts with the big league club last year, has been a bag of awful this season. In 48.1 innings in the hard-hitting PCL, he has a 6.33 ERA. In five of his nine starts, he's given up at least four earned runs. Mixed in there are two spot appearances in the majors, including a start. He was dinged up for five runs in a late May loss to the Red Sox and went two scoreless innings in mid-June out of the pen against the Rangers. He's back in Triple-A and will look to end a streak of five consecutive starts with allowing at least one homerun the next time out.

December 1, 2016
Traded Luke Dykstra (minors), Chris Ellis (minors) and John Gant to the St. Louis Cardinals. Received Jaime Garcia.

-Some bemoaned the loss of Dykstra despite the fact that Dykstra found a way to hit over .300 last year in more than 340 PA with a sub-.700 OPS and less than ten steals. I mention all of that because since 1901, only five people were able to do that in the majors and the last time it happened was 1943 with Doc Cramer. This season, Dykstra has been terrible for Palm Beach in the Florida State League, playing against many of his former teammates on the Fire Frogs. Ellis, who spent only one year in the organization after coming over with Sean Newcomb in the Andrelton Simmons trade, has been woeful as well while splitting time between Memphis and Springfield. His ERA is only under 7.00 because his work at Springfield is less-awful. John Gant opened the year on the DL and has only made eight appearances on the year. In seven starts in Memphis, he's been pretty decent. Not great, but compared to the other guys the Cardinals got for Garcia, Gant's been amazing. He's also appeared once out of the bullpen for the Cardinals. he gave up two solo homers in 3.1 ING.

December 8, 2016
Traded Brady Feigl (minors) and Tyrell Jenkins to the Texas Rangers. Received Luke Jackson.

-A Spring Training arm that nearly made the team in 2015 before needing Tommy John surgery, Feigl made six appearances last year in the rookie leagues as part of his rehab. This season, he has pitched 22 times - mostly in the Carolina League - with mixed success. The strikeout numbers are solid and the control is magnificent, but when he's not missing bats, players are finding holes. He's also been miserable once promoted to Frisco to begin June. Jenkins didn't last long in the Rangers' system. A few weeks later, they lost him on waivers to the Reds and he spent about as much time in their system before the Padres got him off waivers. One of last year's fan favorites has been just bad with El Paso in the PCL. He gave up 14 homers last year between Triple-A and the majors. He's surrendered 16 already this year in just as many starts. His strikeout-to-walk rate is nearly 1.

January 11, 2017
Traded Shae Simmons and Mallex Smith to the Seattle Mariners. Received Thomas Burrows (minors) and Luiz Gohara (minors).

-Losing Simmons made me sad as I had been a quick fan of his in 2014. He made it back to the majors for seven games last year and was a potential x-factor for this year's bullpen before the trade. However, the prospect of acquiring Gohara was too great. Unfortunately, Simmons has been DL'd the whole season with a right flexor strain. The last I heard, he was throwing again, but has yet to start a rehab assignment and likely won't be in the mix until late July at the earliest. Smith spent a few hours in the Mariners' system before being packaged in a deal for Tampa's Drew Smyly. He's spent much of the year in the minors or on the DL, but when he's been in the majors, Smith has been pretty successful. With Kevin Kiermaier out for much of the foreseeable future, center field belongs to Smith, who's OBP is roughly 70 points higher than it was last year with the Braves. His stolen base percentage continues to need work (9-of-13), but he's been a nice fit in Tampa and one of the few ex-Braves on this list to look better than he did with the Braves.

January 13, 2017
Traded player to be named or cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Micah Johnson.

-The real winner of this deal was the Braves' fans who now know who Johnson is and follow him on Twitter.

January 26, 2017
Tuffy Gosewisch selected by the Seattle Mariners off waivers.

-Jesus, the Mariners love ex-Braves - even those that never suit up for Atlanta. Earlier in the offseason, Gosewisch had been picked up off waivers from the D'Backs to compete with Anthony Recker. That didn't happen as the Braves signed Kurt Suzuki and DFA'd Gosewisch. He's been around his career norms in 41 games in Triple-A for the Mariners. He also spent a few weeks in the majors where he went just 2-for-28 with 14 K's. Ouchie.

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February 12, 2017
Traded Carlos Portuondo (minors) and Andrew McKirahan to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Brandon Phillips.

-Not included here was the $13M the Reds sent to pay for Phillips contract, leaving the Braves on the hook for just a million bucks. McKirahan was a former Rule 5 pick who spent too much of his rookie season on the inactive list after being suspended for PED. He then spent 2016 on the mend after a second Tommy John surgery. He has yet to pitch this season and has spent some of his time on Twitter railing against vaccines. As for Portuondo, a Cuban-born right-hander, he pitched once and was released. Man, the Reds really wanted to get rid of Brandon Phillips.

March 6, 2017
Christian Walker selected by the Cincinnati Reds off waivers.

-The Braves were the second-of-four teams to get a look at Walker this spring. He started with the Orioles, the team that drafted him and originally promoted him to the majors in both 2014 and 2015. In late February, the Braves claimed him only to lose him two weeks later to the Reds. In late March, he was again on the move - this time to the Diamondbacks. He's bashed the PCL since with a slugging percentage well over .550. He's played mostly first, though he made a cameo at third and also logged a bit of time in left field. Because of how bad the Braves' bench has been - especially early - this one kind of hurts.

April 24, 2017
Traded David Hernandez to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Received player to be named or cash.

-You don't want to read about this. David Hernandez has been excellent for the Angels. Absolutely filthy. He's picked up over a K an inning, walked nearly nobody, and his FIP is absurdly in the 1.50-range. He's not this good, but he's definitely pitching like he is and the Braves are wondering why they just didn't bring him to the majors after all.

April 27, 2017
Chase d'Arnaud selected by the Boston Red Sox off waivers.

-There were people who were upset about this. I like to call these people the ones who are easily convinced by a month of success. D'Arnaud looked good briefly last year, but ended with a .245/.317/.335 split. His biggest value came from being able to play multiple positions and swipe a few bases. The Braves already had Emilio Bonifacio for that! (Too soon?) Cutting d'Arnaud, in late April, the utility player landed in Boston. After a month in their organization, he was waived and went to the Padres. He's been straight up awful with the bat and has played a little too often at shortstop, but when you're the Padres and you have Erick Aybar, that's to be expected.

May 8, 2017
Traded Kevin Chapman and cash to the Minnesota Twins. Received Danny Santana.

-Santana has had a few hits here-and-there but he's basically been the same guy who disappointed with the Twins last year. Meanwhile, Chapman, who the Braves added on waivers near the end of spring training, spent about a month in the Twins' organization for their International League club in Rochester. He gave up seven earned runs in 11.1 ING, which was actually an improvement over his time with Gwinnett. He was released a little more than a month after the trade.

May 20, 2017
Purchased Enrique Burgos from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Traded Juan Yepez (minors) to the St. Louis Cardinals. Received Matt Adams and cash.

-Burgos has been lights-out with Gwinnett and Adams hasn't been so bad either, but this article is about the players who the Braves gave up. Yepez hit .275/.309/.387 with a homer over 36 games with Rome before the trade. He left the SALLY League and landed in the Midwest League with Peoria. The two leagues are nearly identical in offensive production and while Dozer Park is a bit more homer-friendly than State Mutual Stadium, it's not exactly a big homerun park. Still, Yepez has bashed five homers since the trade, one fewer than he hit during 121 games in the Braves' organization. That said, he's still struggled to the tune of a .298 OBP.

Overall, outside of Mallex Smith - who doesn't have a place in Atlanta - and David Hernandez (sniff), the Braves haven't seen much success this season by the players they traded or waived. Some of that is luck, but a good deal of it is talent evaluation and coaching - something the Braves excel with at the minor league level.

Braves Continue to Deal & Pick Up Lefty Jaime Garcia

By: Keith Allison via Flickr (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The last two years: Did you hear? The Braves acquired another pitching prospect! And another. They acquired Bronson Arroyo just to get yet another pitching prospect! They drafted a billion pitchers!

The last two trades: And this is why they did. Create a strength and trade from it. Over the last week, the Braves have packaged four pitchers (and a position prospect) as they acquired an established veteran starter that (probably) is better right now than Matt Wisler or Aaron Blair. They also acquired a lottery ticket in Alex Jackson and a player to be named later. Oh, and despite trading five starting pitchers, they still have at least ten pitching prospects that are incredibly desired by the rest of the league. And that...is why they acquired all that pitching over the last couple of years.

Yes, on Thursday night, the Braves sent a trio of prospects to the St. Louis Cardinals for left-hander Jaime Garcia. So, let's dive right into all that.

Garcia is a veteran of eight major league seasons and 158 games, all with the Cardinals. He's a bit of a lottery ticket in his own right because he's been very good (2.97 FIP/3.39 xFIP in 20 starts back in 2012) and a bit of a mystery (4.49 FIP/3.77 xFIP last year). Overall, he's been worth 13.5 fWAR during his career, which is about an average of 2.5 fWAR per 30 games. Part of the reason I did that average is that Garcia went through a four-year stretch beginning with that awesome 2012 where he struggled to stay on the mound. Last year was just the third time since establishing himself in the majors in 2010 that he's reached 150 innings.

So, what can we expect from Garcia? Well, a lot of grounders. During this decade, among pitchers with at least 500 innings, Garcia's 56.4% groundball rate ranks ninth. But Garcia is not some junkballer getting grounders and backing up third base for the throw. Garcia has a 3.50 FIP since 2010. That ranks 31st and better than Alex Cobb, Sonny Gray, and Garrett Richards.

Of course, it's a what-have-you-done-lately league and Garcia wasn't nearly as notable last year. Will that continue?

On the bright side, he's unlikely to get burned by a 20.2% HR/FB rate again. The HR/FB stat goes back to 2002 and no pitcher had ever reached 20% before. Odalis Perez was the closest when 19.7% of his flyballs turned into homers for the Dodgers back in 2003. And while groundball pitchers typically carry higher HR/FB rates, you have to imagine Garcia's HR/FB rate will resemble his career 11.5% norm rather than that absurdity in 2017.

I mentioned before the disparity between his FIP (4.49) and his xFIP (3.77). This is because his xFIP normalizes the homerun rate. While certainly you can argue that Garcia wasn't as effective last year as he has been during his career and that is a valid argument, some of that looks very flukish and the Braves are wise to believe that a bounce-back year is likely.

As you might expect from a groundball pitcher, Garcia relies heavily on his sinker, though a 33% usage rate isn't overly dramatic. Both his sinker and four-seamer, which he uses nearly as much, average about 91 mph and that is pretty much the norm since 2014. He follows that up with an 82-83 mph changeup and 81-82 mph slider. The changeup is a weapon against righties and he'll rarely use it against a left-handed hitter. Three or five times a game, he'll showcase a curveball, which is delivered in the mid-70's.

Garcia is around the zone at about an average rate, which is okay because his control allows him to pitch outside the strikzone effectly. In fact, he carries about a 5% below average outside-the-strikezone contact percentage, but a 2% above-average swing rate which means...whiffs.

You may have heard that Garcia is a free agent after 2017, something he shares in common with new teammates Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey. This is an ideal situation for the Braves. If they somehow don't compete, they have three short-term, trade-able assets. If they do compete, great, but they won't block their youngsters from playing important roles for them beyond 2017. Garcia is probably, due to his age, the most likely of the trio to stick around after this season, though it's too early to gauge what chances he has to stay. For now, he provides depth.

And that depth may not be as the presumable fourth or fifth starter for the current collection of talent. Adding Garcia ahead of the winter meetings means that the Atlanta Braves - right now - have a full rotation with the three newbies plus holdovers Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz. While all five make for a fairly good rotation and the depth at the minors is second-to-none, Atlanta now also has the option to use Teheran or Foltynewicz in a trade to upgrade. As we already know, the Braves have flirted with the idea of going after Chris Sale or Chris Archer. They both have the depth in the majors to withstand such an investment and the prospect depth to make a deal happen. Alternatively, they could also try to go in a different direction and try to offer Teheran as a lower cost option. Doing so could provide the Braves with ammo to possibly address weaknesses at catcher, third base, or in the outfield.

Either way, the deal for Garcia is a win provided he pitches like his normal self and has a bit more luck. Even if Garcia isn't quite the pitcher he once was, this deal is unlikely to keep John Coppolella and John Hart up at night because the cost was fairly minimal.

John Gant is a fine pitcher to fill out a pitching staff. His delivery and guile will get him far in baseball, but like Robert Whalen, the pitcher he was acquired with in 2015 (and subsequently dealt a few days ago), Gant had a low ceiling. Righty Chris Ellis has good size and excelled last season with Mississippi before struggling in Triple-A. He continues to deal with control issues and was rated much lower than Sean Newcomb, who he was acquired with last offseason. Finally, there was second baseman Luke Dykstra. Short of him becoming David Eckstein for the Cardinals - which is probably going to happen - Dykstra was a another low-ceiling, nice filler guy. He could presumably make a decent enough platoon option at second base, but he's an empty batting average guy without power or speed.

Much like the deal for Alex Jackson, the Braves packaged low ceiling assets for a piece they believe makes them a better team. While Jackson is a dream for the future, Garcia is a reality for right now. The Braves are better with Garcia than without him as pitchers like Matt Wisler and Aaron Blair haven't shown that they are better options. Further, the Braves potentially benefit in two ways from Garcia being on a one-year deal more so than they might with Colon and Dickey. Those two might each be calling it quits after 2017 whereas Garcia is trying to stand out in a tough free agent market as he tries to secure one final long-term deal. Contract years sometimes bring the best out of players. Secondly, by avoiding the long-term commitment, the option remains open to go to Wisler, Blair, Newcomb, or any number of great pitching prospects the Braves have.

Some will question why a team that has valued young pitching so much is now dealing it for a pitcher that turns 32 years-old next July. They will wonder why the Braves, after two years of rebuilding, are now sending prospects to other teams for short-term assets.

It's simple. You build a strength. You trade from that strength. You better your club. Garcia makes the Braves better right now and after those two years of rebuilding, I think it's about time we start to gaze at the right now a bit more than the distant future. Oh, it still looks bright, but the right now isn't looking so gloomy either.

Braves Go Big, Sign Bartolo Colon

By Arturo Pardavila III from Hoboken, NJ, USA (#WorldSeries Game 1:
Bartolo Colon) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

One day after adding 42 year-old R.A. Dickey to their rotation, the Atlanta Braves signed 43 year-old Bartolo Colon. If both reach at least 20 starts in 2017, it will be the first time since 2007 that a team had two starters get the ball that many times to begin a game. It's only happened once for the Braves - 1981 with Phil Niekro and Gaylord Perry.

Of course, by now, you know the Colon story. A Cy Young winner in 2005, Colon's career took a sharp downward turn due to injuries and poor pitching. In 2011, he made a triumphant comeback as a competent starter for the Yankees and after two years with the A's, he returned to the National League for the first time since 2002 when he signed with the Mets. Three years and 588.2 innings later, Colon is on the move again - this time to help open SunTrust Field to the tune of $12.5 million. Oddly, that's a fairly good price for Colon.

The last player still active who played for the Expos, Colon is a fan favorite. One of baseball's best moments in 2016 - before a magical World Series - was Colon's first career homer against the Padres. Outside of that, he is one of baseball's worst hitters with a career .091 average and a strikeout in over half of his 302 plate appearances. Weighing at least 285 pounds, Colon looks more like he's playing in a charity game rather than getting paid to play baseball professionally, but he makes it work.

But how?

While the image of an old pitcher throwing all kinds of junk at the plate hoping something gets by the hitter might immediately flood your mind when you think about Colon, he's really not that guy. For Colon, it's less about what he's throwing and more about where he's throwing it.

His main pitch is a sinker. Of course, it's lost 3-5 mph in velocity over the last decade, but he still averages 87.8 mph and the 95% +/- confidence interval tell us that the average is about what you should expect most of the time. He also throws a four-seamer at about 90 mph. While he does throw three other pitches, 85-90% of the time, you are getting two variations of a fastball. Again, it's about location and not trick pitches with Colon.

His collection of pitches includes a rarely thrown cutter, a change-up he throws more often to lefties, and a slider he almost exclusively uses against righties. He used his slider a lot less last year (a decrease of about 4-5%). His two breaking balls both are in the low 80's while his cutter is a few mph slower than his sinker.

Have I mentioned it's about location for Colon? He's going to live on the outside corner and only go inside to show that he's willing to. When he's on, he'll get a lot of foul balls off the bat and grounders up the middle. When he's not, he'll get a lot of foul balls off the bat and grounders up the middle and more homeruns. Either way, he's not going to hurt himself via walks, not is he going to get strikeouts.

While durable, Colon's innings and pitches per game have both declined the last two seasons. After reaching 100 pitches 14 times in 2014, he's only done it 11 times since. He only had one game where he failed to throw 80 or more pitches in 2014. He's done that 15 times since. Basically, it's like having a better, older, more robust Chuck James.

But why?

That's the bigger question. Why Colon especially after already adding Dickey (along with bringing back Josh Collmenter?). Here's a few possible hypotheses.

First, the Braves really don't have a lot of faith in Matt Wisler, Aaron Blair, John Gant, Robert Whalen, and Tyrell Jenkins to be starters for them in 2017. These five pitchers combined to make 61 starts in 2016 for the Atlanta Braves. Now, they will battle Collmenter, other young starters looking to make a mark, and any other veteran the Braves bring in to join the rotation to open 2017. Atlanta feels that Colon gives them a better shot to compete now and the price was too good to pass up.

Second, the Braves feel another lean year is destined for 2017. They see the shallow free agent market, the unreasonable asking prices in trades, and the slow development of many prospects as reasons to not commit to long-term deals that could become untradeable albatrosses. Instead, they would rather roll the dice with one-year veterans who, as we all know, they can trade later to turn into future assets (such as the aforementioned Gant and Whalen).

Third, they need depth for when they trade Julio Teheran. I don't think this is likely, but let's run with this idea. The Braves are attached to Chris Archer in trade talks. Apparently, they asked about him and tried to gauge the Rays' asking price. What if that was research to see what the asking price might be for Teheran? It's a shallow free agent market (that may have been mentioned). Why not try to cash in an asset at above market value to take advantage?

Fourth, they really enjoy watching Colon bat. I really didn't have another hypothesis, but I didn't want to end on an odd number.

Whatever the case, the Braves should avoid the desperate search for random arms to help fill out the rotation in case of injury considering the depth they now have. That alone should make them a better squad in 2017.

Sticking to the Plan: Braves Add R.A. Dickey

By slgckgc on Flickr (Original) [CC By 2.0], via Flickr

In a case of an early free agency rumor becoming true, the Atlanta Braves have signed pitcher R.A. Dickey to a contract for 2017. According to Jon Heyman, he'll receive at least $8M (total includes $500K buyout) with a chance to earn an additional $7.5 million if his option for 2018 is exercised.

Let's take a look at what the Braves got.

Profiling Dickey

I don't know if you are aware of this, but Dickey throws the knuckleball. In fact, he throws it about 88% of the time according to Brooks Baseball. Along with Steven Wright and Eddie Gamboa, he's one of three knucklers to pitch in the majors since the retirement of Tim Wakefield in 2011. All three had been in the AL East, but that is no longer the case now.

Before Dickey, nobody threw the knuckleball with such velocity. That said, Dickey has "lost" about three ticks in velocity over the last two years from an average of 75.3 mph in 2014 to 72.2mph this year. However, those averages are pretty much useless because Dickey throws two knuckleballs that are only charted as one. The fast one is the one that shocks hitters and observers as, on a good day, it can reach 80 mph. The slower one is comparable to the Bugs Bunny cartoon where a hitter can swing three times on one pitch. Okay, maybe not that slow, but the two knucklers have about, on average, a 5-to-10 mph difference.

Dickey throws three other pitches, but last year seemed to relegate himself to a two-pitch pitcher. His sinker, which averaged 83 mph, was utilized 9.2% of the time. That represents an increase of double the usage from 2015. He rarely went to his fourseamer, which he adopted in 2012, nor his changeup - though that's nothing new. Now, here's the thing. Being a two-pitch pitcher is more in line with his Mets' days. Back then, he actually used his sinker much more (around a quarter of the time). Once he went to Toronto, his knuckleball usage went through the roof.

That's one thing the Braves may attempt to change once he arrives in camp in February. Dickey will also enjoy a move away from the homer-happy stadiums of the AL East where three of the five home parks in the division are extreme hitter paradises. That's especially true of his former home in Toronto. Since joining the Jays, Dickey had a HR/9 of 1.45 at home versus 1.02 on the road. While it's unknown how SunTrust Park will play, of the dozen current stadium in baseball that parkfactors.com gives a rating of 105+ - which classifies it as a hitter's park - only one is the NL East. In an unbalanced schedule, that should aid with Dickey's homerun numbers. He surrendered between 25 and 35 homeruns as a Blue Jay and between 1.05 and 1.49 HR/9. That mark should fall with his return to the NL.

That would also help his FIP/xFIP numbers. During his Blue Jays days, his best performance in those metrics was 4.32/4.14 in 2014. They looked noticeably worse over the last two years as his strikeouts fell. On the subject of K's, it's important to point out that he rebounded there last year (3% climb) and percentage-wise, he's just about 1.5% below where he was in 2014. Of bigger concern was that Dickey's walk numbers climbed sharply as a Blue Jay to a seven-year high of 8.7% last year. Perhaps less knucklers will help with that.

It's also important to not get too attached to the home/road splits. I gave you the homerun difference earlier, but from a FIP/xFIP standpoint, it's less stark. At home with the Blue Jays, Dickey had a combo split of 4.78/4.30. On the road, it was 4.36/4.59. While the FIP does keep the big change, the xFIP doesn't. That's because xFIP normalizes the homeruns surrendered. I'm pointing out this because if you think a return to the NL is just going to fix Dickey right up, you might be very disappointed. It's not to say Dickey won't be improved by a switch of leagues, but he's also not the guy who the Mets traded after 2012 anymore either.

How Dickey Fits

Dickey does do one thing the Braves are searching for. He takes the mound every fifth day. Until last year when he finished 31.1 innings short, the right-hander had pitched at least 208.2 innings every year since 2011. He would have at least gotten closer to 200 innings in 2016, but the Jays removed him from the rotation for the September stretch run. Since the Braves have had two pitchers reach 170 innings the last two seasons, an addition like Dickey will bring some calm to the staff and help them to avoid using AAAA depth guys like Lucas Harrell and Ryan Weber so frequently.

The knuckleballer also buys the Braves some time. Sean Newcomb is coming. So is Max Fried. As is Max Povse, Lucas Sims, and others. Matt Wisler, Tyrell Jenkins, John Gant, Robert Whalen, and more are already here. But the Braves don't want to just hand them spots. They want them to earn their spot like Mike Foltynewicz has. In the mean time, a veteran like Dickey gives them an option and let's not ignore that Dickey, for all his faults, gave the Jays over 800 innings and 6.4 fWAR the last four seasons. Only one pitcher has done either for the Braves. To be fair, Julio Teheran was 4.2 innings short of doing both.

It is unlikely Dickey will be the last starter the Braves add this winter. From the start, the idea was a guy like Dickey who will provide a short-term boost and help the Braves be better in 2017 while the young guns mature. Meanwhile, the Braves will seek another starter to stick around beyond 2017. Recently, I profiled Jason Hammel as a possibility. Regardless of what happens, the Braves do not want to run out of options like they did in 2016. Adding a guy like Dickey will help with that.

It's not a sexy signing. You'll probably have to remind yourself the Braves added Dickey by the time pitchers and catchers report. But it's a good signing that helps the Braves do what they have stated is their goal for 2017 - to be better.

2016 Player Reviews: Jim Johnson, Casey Kelly, Matt Kemp

The Braves have already signed their first free agent, which means it's a good time to unveil this year's minor league free agent portal. As I did last year, I will try to track down all offseason minor league free agent signings and, in many cases, provide some analysis. Last year's crop of players included Jhoulys Chacin, Chase d'Arnaud, and even Blake Lalli - who rejoined the Braves yesterday after briefly becoming a free agent. One new thing for this year's list is that I will try to add in those players that have left the system.

Let's get to today's player reviews. Did you miss the last edition? I got your back. Want to catch up on all of the series? I have you covered as well.

*Ages reflect the player's age on opening day, 2017

By Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational
(Crop) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Jim Johnson, RHP, 33 years-old

2016 Review: For all the criticisms that rightly and unjustly have been attributed to Roger McDowell, one thing that cannot be ignored is the magic he could do with veterans like Johnson. After returning to the Braves, where he looked effective in 2015 before a midseason move to the Dodgers, Johnson arguably had his best season. Granted, 20 saves doesn't look as fancy as back-to-back 50-save years, but he set new career-best totals for strikeout percentage (26%) and FIP (2.71). He also lowered his HR/FB rate under 10% for the first time in four years. He continued to practically scrap his changeup in favor of a four-seamer to keep batters off-balance from keying in on his sinker. One big change in pitch-selection this year was that he began to use his curveball nearly 25% of the time, an increase of about 10% over his career. None of his pitches generate more whiffs per swing, which is a big reason for such an increase in strikeouts.

2017 Projection: Can he repeat his success without McDowell? The Braves put a $10 million bet on that happening when they extended his contract through 2018 and why not? He has been given a base from which to excel regardless of the pitching coach. 2017 and 2018 will be his Age-34 and Age-35 years so regression is certainly possible - though Johnson has been remarkably durable with 60 or more games in five-of-the-last-six seasons with only one trip to the DL since 2011 (non-arm related). The Braves have done well to keep Johnson in the fold and Johnson surely has enjoyed his career resurgence in Atlanta.

Casey Kelly, RHP, 27 years-old

2016 Review: Acquired last December for Christian Bethancourt, Kelly was part of a trio of pitchers - along with Ryan Weber and John Gant - who seemed to handle the role of long-man out of the pen. Once they threw a few innings in a game, they'd cycle back to Gwinnett in exchange for a fresher arm and rinse-and-repeat. Kelly was optioned to the minors four different times during the season While in the minors, he received the first extended look at Triple-A during his eight-year career. It was fairly meh (stats term) as far as results go. His 3.53 ERA was helped by a .266 BABIP. His major league results over 21.2 innings were pretty ugly as his inability to get many swings-and-misses becomes a real problem against major league batters.

2017 Projection: It's been three years since Kelly last showed up on Top 100 prospect lists and at his age, he won't again be in contention for a spot. Kelly's problem is that after a 2013 Tommy John surgery, his strikeout numbers have never rebounded and his control has gone from merely good rather than impeccable as it was when he climbed the minor league ladder. That's not to say all hope is lost, but Kelly is a guy who throws 90 mph, gets a decent amount of groundballs, and doesn't have the stuff to bear down and get strikeouts when needed. Those type of pitchers are a dime a dozen. While Kelly still has an option left and provides depth, he needs to develop an out-pitch and quickly to start ascending the depth chart rather than get passed by higher-ceiling prospects as they mature.

Matt Kemp, LF, 32 years-old

2016 Review: While the trade of Hector Olivera to the Padres in exchange for Kemp was all about saving face, it turned into a game-changer for an offense without much power. Despite playing for the Braves for just two months, Kemp finished fourth on the team in homeruns with a dozen dingers. The big finish gave him 35 homeruns overall - his best single-season total since 39 to lead the NL in 2011. All in all, he hit .280/.336/.519 as a Brave. Included in this offensive improvement was a 5% increase in walk rate from his time with the Padres. While it's a far cry from the Dodger All-Star years, a 120 wRC+ and .354 wOBA as a Brave is nothing to scoff at.

2017 Projection: At just 32, Kemp likely has some more productive years left in him. We'll get to his issues in a second, but dive into his ratios at the plate and you see one positive common theme - nothing he did during two months with the Braves was out-of-character for him compared to other times in his career. That's not to say he can sustain that production over a full season, but he was essentially playing to his career averages in wRC+ and wOBA. That's promising and if he's able to get in better shape, as both the team and Kemp have indicated he needs to do, there is a pretty good chance that Kemp can be an asset at the plate. In the field, that's another question. The Padres moved him away from center field - which badly needed to happen - and now the Braves are counting on him in left. Despite a less physically taxing position, the results were miserable and you would be hard pressed to find an outfielder with worse defensive metrics than Kemp since 2014. In fact, it's not even close. Kemp owns a -20.5 UZR/150 over the last three years. Dayan Viciedo (who hasn't played in the majors for two years) and Shin-Soo Choo are the only outfielders with more than -9 UZR/150 and neither come close to Kemp. This a real problem and not just a stat nerd one. If Kemp cannot improve his defense from epically bad to fairly bad (yes, that's the scale I'm using here), his value is considerably muted. You can't hide a player like Kemp in the NL and that's why the Braves traded Evan Gattis. For the time being, they are saddled with Kemp moving forward. Here's hoping his defense improves just a bit more because the bat has a chance to be a big asset for a Braves team that could make some noise for a playoff spot in 2017.

2016 Player Reviews: Freddie Freeman, John Gant, Adonis Garcia

Welcome back to another edition of 2016 Player Reviews. Today's a biggy with a franchise cornerstone, a righty with a funky delivery, and one of the biggest surprises of 2016. Thanks for bearing with me as I look at these players and take stock in their contributions this season. With still over 30 to go, I hope to complete this series in the next couple of weeks.

Did you miss the last edition? I got your back. Want to catch up on all of the series? I have you covered as well.

*Ages reflect the player's age on opening day, 2017

Freddie Freeman, 1B, 27 years-old

Keith Allison via Flickr
Creative Commons

2016 Review: Remember when people used to say, "sure, Freddie's good and all, but he's not one of the best at his position?" Yeah, about that...Freeman only hit .302/.400/.569. Want more advanced metrics? Freeman posted a .402 wOBA with a 152 wRC+. His .267 ISO was seventy points higher than his previous career-best while he eclipsed 6 fWAR for the first time in his career. His homerun total breezed past 30 in no small part because he finished with a flyball rate higher than his groundball rate for the first time. And about how he compares to the league - Freeman's 6.1 fWAR was nearly a full run higher than the next major league first baseman and one of the ten best WAR totals according to Fangraphs in 2016. It was the kind of season John Hart - and yes, Frank Wren - envisioned when they extended Freeman for $135 million less than three years ago. His overall numbers are even more impressive when you remember that his OPS  was in the .750s through 60 games. Back then, fans and media types alike wondered if his wrist troubles from 2015 would limit the effectiveness of Freeman moving forward. Now, they wonder how much better Freeman can be in 2017 and beyond.

2017 Projection: Here's the good news - at just 27, Freeman is entering his prime. There is no reason to believe that Freeman can't be even better in 2017, though even a slight fallback campaign would still be plenty good. One of the many bright spots in Freeman's numbers was an OPS of .901 against left-handed pitchers. Freeman had been fairly limited against southpaws in his career with weak isolated slugging numbers against them, but that wasn't the case in 2016. Freeman is a franchise cornerstone and there no longer exists reasons to doubt that.

John Gant, RHP, 24 years-old

2016 Review: Let's just say that Gant is more than a funky delivery. Out of necessity more than anything, he made the roster to open the year despite having just 100 innings of experience above A-ball (all at Double A). Over six different stints with the club (including a trip to the DL), Gant logged an even 50 innings in the majors. He was about a league-average arm - which really isn't that bad of a thing to say about a guy getting his first taste of the majors. He walked a few too many and homeruns allowed were a little much, but the strikeout total was solid (8.8 per nine). His favorite pitch was the split-fingered fastball, which he delivered about 60% of the time. The remaining 40% was split pretty evenly between his curveball and changeup.

2017 Projection: Gant was not the higher-rated prospect of the duo of righties the Braves got from the Mets for Kelly Johnson in the summer of 2015. While he did beat Robert Whalen to the bigs, I still like Whalen's chances of sticking more. Gant does everything he can - including his delivery - to keep hitters off balance and his split-fingered heater has some decent getty-up on it. This surprises me, but he's never really been a high groundball pitcher despite a splitter/slider combo that hitters like to beat into the ground. If he could improve that, Gant could carve out a nice role in the majors as a low-end starter/long reliever. As for just next season, Gant is in the mix, but will need a big camp to make the Braves for a second straight opening day.

Adonis Garcia, 3B, 31 years-old

2016 Review: What a strange season Garcia had. After an exciting summer callup the previous year, Garcia won the lionshare of time at 3B to begin 2016. He struggled both in the field and at the plate and was banished to the minors for most of May before a return as the Braves sought offense. While the Braves flirted with the idea of moving Garcia back to left field, he settled back into the third base spot and improved his numbers dramatically. At the plate, there was both good-and-bad. He provided some power for what was, at times, a punchless lineup. His negatives, though, included weak on-base numbers (.311) and while he did hit 14 homeruns, his ISO was a mere .133 (or about 90 pounds below his 2015 run).

2017 Projection: Garcia is a mixed bag. The Braves are probably asking too much from him to be an everyday starter. Sure, when he's hot, like he was during July when he slashed .337/.370/.537, it's difficult to get him out of the lineup. He's a good enough hitter to avoid long stretches of disappearing, but not good enough to provide enough offensive talent at the plate. His defense was definitely improved after a trip to the minors and he's competent at the position. The Braves seem unlikely to splurge for a third baseman to take over the position full time, but Garcia could still lose playing time to the rookie, Rio Ruiz. A left-handed hitter, Ruiz could be protected a bit by Garcia, who has slashed .310/.357/.472 in 213 career PA against southpaws in the majors. If Ruiz needs more time, Garcia could be partnered up with a different platoon partner (perhaps Jace Peterson) or handed third to open 2017, though that's not ideal. Either way, the Braves are getting their money's worth and then some with Garcia.

Transaction Tuesday: Allard, Shae, Kinman, Pache

These moves happened between May 31 and June 6. Check out the previous week's recap.

Gwinnett Braves
Promoted (from MIS): Brad Roney...A righty out of Southern Miss in 2014, Roney is another of those exciting arms who has off-the-charts stuff, but doesn't always know where it's going. In fact, he rarely does. Last year, he struck out 70 in 48.1 innings, but also walked 35, hit six batters, and uncorked six wild pitches. More of the same this year, but the Braves are still progressing him through the system in a hurry. While no one should be compared to Craig Kimbrel, it's worth remembering Kimbrel had serious control concerns in the minors. The year before he hit the majors, Kimbrel walked 6.8 per nine. With any luck, Roney will make that leap as well.

Activated: Sean Kazmar...The veteran Gwinnett fixture had been on the paternity list for a little over a week. I had wondered if he was considering retirement, but he got back in action over the last four days. He's hitting .302 this season.

Optioned: John Gant...One of the trio of pitchers holding down the long relief role for the Braves, Gant got into a pair of games against the Dodgers last week, including a two inning stint. It was his fourth stint in the majors just this year. Gant has looked good in 43 innings with Gwinnett.

Optioned: Ryan Weber...Another part of the trio with Gant and Casey Kelly, Weber has not been able to find the magic from last year that made him a competent fifth starter toward the end of the year for the Braves.

By Arturo Pardavila III from Hoboken, NJ, USA
[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Rehab: Erick Aybar...Nobody needed to get away for awhile more than Aybar, who suffered a foot contusion a few weeks ago. He'll look to jumpstart his season once he is activated, though the results in Gwinnett have hardly been awe-inspiring (2-for-12, 2 SB, 2 BB, K).

Rehab: Shae Simmons...After some forearm tightness halted his rehab stint over a week ago, Simmons was able to get back in the saddle during the weekend. He opened a game with a hitless inning where he walked one batter and struck out two. So far in four rehab games, he's pitched four innings, allowed two hits, walked four, and struck out nine. The control needs to be cleaned up, but with another good rehab outing or two, he might rejoin the Braves.

Mississippi Braves
Acquired: Jed Bradley...A former first rounder out of Georgia Tech, Bradley was acquired from the Brewers for future considerations last week. In his first game, he allowed all three batters he faced to reach and each would score, giving him an ERA of infinity with Mississippi. The lefty was a Top 100 prospect heading into 2012, but that was a long time ago.

Activated: Kyle Kinman...A pair of DL trips have limited Kinman, who briefly became a potential option for the major league team toward the end of spring training. Lefties can't hit him, but can he progress against righties? With a wide-open bullpen situation in Atlanta, Kinman could get a look sooner rather than later.

Promoted (from MIS), Demoted: Steve Janas...After just a game in Gwinnett where he retired all six batters he faced, Janas returned to Mississippi. He's had a surprisingly good season after being moved from the starting rotation to the pen this year. He doesn't get K's, but also doesn't walk batters. It's difficult to see him as a prospect for the future, but he might have a chance to surprise.

Released: Danny Burawa...Things have gone from bad-to-worse-to-cut for Burawa this season. After a dozen games in the bigs last year for the Braves, Burawa entered spring with a chance to win a spot in the bullpen. He struggled early and was one of the first players crossed off. He went down to Gwinnett, but couldn't find the strikezone. A trip to Mississippi did little to help and after the Braves acquired Bradley, Burawa was cut to open up a spot.

Carolina Mudcats
Demoted (from GWI): Stephen Gaylor...Wherever you need him, Gaylor is there. Whether it's one game in Rome or another game in Gwinnett, Gaylor will be ready. For the most part, though, he's played in Carolina for 36 games where he's slashing .232/.347/.263 with 10 steals.

Demoted (from GWI): David Peterson...A righty out of the 2012 draft, Peterson was struggling very badly for Gwinnett to open the year. In 17.2 innings, he had been charged 18 earned runs, surrendered three homers, and walked 14. In his defense, four were intentional. A far cry from his 2015, where he had a 2.28 ERA in 51.1 innings as he climbed from Carolina to Gwinnett. A move to Carolina could help take the pressure off and get him jumpstarted.

Rome Braves
Promoted (from GCL): Kolby Allard...The expectation was that we wouldn't see Allard until later this month with Danville, but the 18 year-old first-rounder started his first game of the year yesterday with Rome. The results weren't so good, but it was great to see Allard get his season going with a game in Rome either way. The Braves will be very cautious with Allard and it wouldn't surprise me to see him head to Danville when their season begins.

Danville Braves
Demoted (from ROM): Adam McCreery...Early results were not overwhelming for McCreery, who gave up six runs (three earned) in 3.1 ING. He was moved down the ladder to make room for Allard.

Demoted (from CAR): A.J. Minter...I've yet to see an explanation for this move. Minter had thrown 10 innings over 7 games with Rome and Carolina before not appearing in a game for a week and getting reassigned to Danville. Theoretically, if it were an injury, Minter would have been DL'd. Maybe it was an innings deal?

GCL Braves
Promoted (from DSL): Anthony Concepcion...The following several moves were DSL guys from last year who were promoted to GCL to begin the year. Concepcion was a good bat last year, though he was a bit old for the league. He slashed .308/.410/.451 with 5 HR and 12 SB while splitting time between 1B and LF. I would have liked a more aggressive move to Danville.

Promoted (from DSL): William Contreras...A catcher, Contreras hit well last year in the DSL at just 17 years-old. He was part of the group of free agents the Braves added in the winter after changing general managers and scouting directors.

Promoted (from DSL): Luis Mejia...An infielder who turned 19 a few months ago, Mejia on-based .376 with the help of a 29 BB/25 K rate over 60 games. A little undersized, it's difficult to foresee the switch-hitter developing much power.

Promoted (from DSL): Luis Mora...Good to see Mora get a promotion after two years in the DSL. He had zero control in 2014, but turned it around in a big way in 2015 as one of the Braves' more dependable starters. A right-hander, he went form more walks than strikeouts to a 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk rate in the span of a season. He turns 21 in a little more than a week.

Promoted (from DSL): Christian Pache...One of two big international pickups (Derian Cruz is the other), it's good to see that the Braves think enough of Pache to skip him past the DSL. Pache was ranked 11th by Fangraphs among the 2015 International Class. He's expected to have the skills to stick in center with a chance to hit for a high average with good power.

Promoted (from DSL): Ramon Taveras...Like Mora, Taveres pitched two seasons in the DSL before earning a trip state-side. A full-time reliever, Taveras's control improved tremendously a year after walking 11 in 14 innings as Taveras walked just six in 34.1 innings last year. He doesn't have gaudy K numbers, but the righty's improvement will keep him around for a third season.

Promoted (from DSL): Randy Ventura...No Brave had a bigger year in the DSL than Ventura, who swiped 55 bases in just 58 games last year with 35 walks to 27 strikeouts. A car accident ended his year prematurely, but if back, he'll get a chance to show that he has an encore in him. I ranked him 25th in my Top 50 before the season. His production early will go a long way toward keeping that spot.

Promoted (from DSL): Bredio Vega...A tall righty out of Panama, Vega struggled in the DSL last year especially early, but started to turn the corner over his last eight games. He K'd 13 in 13.2 innings while walking six. A reliever with good velocity, Vega could be a fun name to watch when the Gulf Coast League season opens.

DSL Braves
Too many moves to list as the Dominican Summer League rosters were set for the beginning of the season.

Minor League Stats Pack - Newcomb, Whalen, Toscano, Davidson

Here is this week's Saturday Stats Pack for the minor league Braves. Feel free to add to this post through the comment section with some interesting numbers I've missed.

Ken Lund via Flickr - Creative Commons License

Newcomb Heating Up

In a year of uneven performances, things are clicking for Sean Newcomb over his last two starts. In 11 innings, he has allowed just two runs, four walks, and 12 strikeouts. 61% of his pitches have gone for strikes during that time frame. If we can start to see more strikes out of Newcomb, the hope that he remains in the starting rotation increases. One thing's for certain - he is a weapon against lefthanders. They have managed just seven singles off the southpaw in 49 plate appearances. 35% of those appearances have ended in a strikeout.

Whalen Finding His Groove

While John Gant has already appeared in the majors out of the Juan Uribe/Kelly Johnson deal last summer, Robert Whalen was the higher-regarded prospect at the time of the trade. His work of late has shown exactly why. Over his last six starts, he has allowed an earned run or less in five of them. His average game score for those outings is 59 - which is dragged down significantly by a 34 mixed in there. Whalen might not enter any Top 10's for the system, but he's a pitcher worth watching as 2016 continues.

For Toscano, 2016 Has Not Been Worth the Wait

On one hand, it's an improvement for the Braves to even see 27 year-old Dian Toscano on the field after VISA issues wiped out his 2015 season. However, the Cuban defectee has been thoroughly underwhelming for Mississippi this year, slashing just .228/.302/.289 over 40 games. The dream was that Toscano had the upside of a second-division starter in the outfield, but the fallback of a fourth outfielder appears - for now - to be a fantasy as well.

Braxton Starting to Get It

It wouldn't be accurate to label Braxton Davidson's season anything but disappointing. Nevertheless, the 20 year-old has shown improvement after slashing .172/.245/.276 over his first 24 games. In the next batch of two-dozen games, Davidson has improved to the tune of a .253/.358/.342 slash. Now, that is hardly outstanding numbers, but we are starting to see progression, which is the most important thing for Davidson at this point. Not for nothing, but the next time Davidson faces a pitcher younger than him, it'll be the first time in two years. Remember that the next time anyone refers to the 19 year-old as a bust.

Runners of the South Atlantic League: Beware!

The duo of Lucas Herbert and Jonathan Morales have done a great job this year for Rome. One catches while the other DH's. It keeps both in the lineup almost every day. Herbert's bat hasn't been a plus this year and Morales has cooled off after a scorching beginning to the year, but even if they're not producing tremendously at the plate, they are doing the duty behind it. Herbert, who was drafted because of his work behind the plate, has not disappointed. Morales's defense has been a bit of surprise and together, both have dominated the South Atlantic League baserunners. 43% of those that have tried to steal on Herbert have been caught. For Morales, it's 20-of-41 (49%). The league average is 33% and the Rome Braves are bringing up the curve.

Minter Rolling

Limited to just 58 innings in college and no innings after being drafted last summer out of Texas A&M, A.J. Minter didn't pitch this season in a game until May 5. Since getting into game action, Minter has been on fire. After 6.2 scoreless innings with Rome to begin his professional career, he was promoted to Carolina. In two games there, Minter added 3.1 scoreless. Overall, he is up to ten innings, two hits allowed, three walks, and 11 K's. The potential bad news is that he was moved down to Danville on June 1st. This may have been an administrative move to limit his innings. There also exists the possibility that Minter is attracting trade interest and the Braves don't want to chance his health. Either way, the results on the mound have gave the Braves some validation for drafting him in the second round.

Transaction Tuesday: Shae, Yepez, Minter, Banuelos

Many apologies for disappearing over the last week. A slew of other commitments propped up and pushed many of the things I enjoy - like this blog - to the side as I tried to be an adult. I hope to address many of the things I missed over the coming days like Fredi Gonzalez's dismissal, yesterday's trade with the Orioles, and continue my recap of the 5 Best and 5 Worst Drafts since 2000. To get back into the swing of things, here is this week's minor league transaction recap. I missed last week, but this won't be a supersized version. Instead, this will be all of the reported moves from May 17 to May 23.

Gwinnett Braves
Signed: Lucas Harrell...After looking like a pretty interesting middle-of-the-rotation piece in 2012, Harrell's career has went off the tracks. Part of that was due to Harrell being really hit-lucky in his Age-27 year. Did I say only part? Harrell is a groundball guy who spent last year in Korea. He depends on location and being stubborn on the mound - not entirely terrible things, but unlikely to help him get back into the majors without some serious luck.

Signed: Rob Wooten...Second go-around with the Braves just this season. Wooten may have been cut before to seek other employment opportunities and when he didn't find them, indicated he was open for a return assignment. Thoroughly unimpressive reliever.

Optioned: Aaron Blair...What we saw with major league Aaron Blair was a guy who nibbled - a lot. He was behind the count on 30% of his pitches, which is not an easy way to make a living. Pitching behind leads to a 74% contact rate on pitches outside the strikezone as hitters can zero in on where they want the pitch and even if it's a "ball," it's where they want it. Blair got away with it for awhile, but it's just not possible to keep pitching behind as major league hitters tee off pitches that they can guess with a reasonable amount of confidence that they will see - as his 32.5% line drive rate can attest.

Optioned: Manny Banuelos...With his assignment last week, Banuelos took the next step in getting back into the Braves' good graces after succombing to more injuries last year. It's been his M.O. during his nine-year career. Excite, get hurt. Excite, get hurt. He made one start with Rome on a "rehab" assignment before being curiously optioned a day later.

Optioned: Joel De La Cruz...Seriously, Atlanta. Stop calling him up unless you plan on using him. For the second time this season, Cruz was promoted to the majors only to sit in the bullpen for a short time before being sent back down. Now in his ninth year (if you don't count 2007-08 when he didn't pitch), Cruz has not been good at all for Gwinnett this year.

Optioned: John Gant...I've never been too high on Gant like others. He's a flyball pitcher who relies on his herky-jerky delivery a little too much over having the skill level to throw balls passed hitters. That works in the minors - not so much in the majors. He could be a decent long reliever, but expecting more would be a bit too much in my opinion.

Released: Sean Burnett...The southpaw badly wants back in the majors. When a run with the Dodgers didn't get him to the majors, he tried the Braves. Growing impatient, he now heads to the Twins organization in his quest to wear all of the AAA jerseys in one year. Burnett has looked good in AAA and honestly, I would have preferred him over Eric O'Flaherty, but the difference between the two probably isn't significant enough to care.

Mississippi Braves
Promoted: Levi Hyams...Short of a small run in Gwinnett of 12 PA, Hyams has been in Mississippi this year and was simply being returned to the team after a brief assignment with Danville. He's hit worse this year than he did last year (.365 wOBA - .267), but keeps getting work.

Promoted (to AAA) and Demoted: Victor Mateo...Organizational arm went to Gwinnett to give them an extra arm if need be, but quickly was demoted back to Mississippi, where he has a 4.76 ERA in 11.1 innings.

Demoted (to Danville) and Promoted: Michael O'Neal...An independent signing last offseason, O'Neal has played at times this year for Carolina to the tune of four runs in nine innings. Was brought up to Mississippi for an emergency start last week and was actually quite decent (4 ING, H, 2 BB, K). If he has a future big league career, it'll likely be as a left-hand specialist.

DL'd and Activated: Matt Kennelly...Has played in all of six games in this, his tenth season. Did hit his first homerun since 2013 with Gwinnett.

DL'd: Kyle Kinman...Second trip to the DL for Kinman this year. Over his last eight games, he has surrendered five hits, five walks, and struckout six over 8.1 innings. A lot was hoped for with Kinman this season, but it's been slow to get going.

Released: Steve Rodriguez...Picked up in the minor league portion of last year's Rule 5 draft, Rodriguez hit just .210 at Mississippi last year and was hitting .209 at the time he was released this year. In 74 games with the Braves' organization, he had just six extra-base hits - all doubles. To remember all that Rodriguez brought, feel free to read my recent Random Prospect profile on him.

Carolina 
Promoted: A.J. Minter...Atlanta really likes what they have seen from the 22 year-old second rounder who made his debut with Rome earlier this month. It's worth mentioning (again) that Minter only tossed 58 innings in college so what the Braves have right now is fully based on potential rather than results, though Minter definitely looked good with Rome (6 ING, 2 H, BB, 6 K). He made his Carolina League debut last week and struck out 4-of-6 batters he faced in the two-inning outing. The lefty has a chance to be a quick riser at this rate. The demotion of O'Neal (covered above) to Danville set the stage for Minter to join Carolina.

Rome
Promoted: Carlos Castro...With a slew of injuries leaving Rome short-handed, the team brought up Castro from the Danville roster. Castro spent two years in the Dominican before finally hitting in 2014. Atlanta finally brought him stateside and he slashed .319/.340/.412 with Danville last year. He's a bit too old, is a first baseman without power, and doesn't walk. Still, he should make the Rome lineup better and possibly show the team that when those injured players return, Castro shouldn't be returned to Danville.

Promoted: Trevor Belicek...His placement in Danville was only temporary. Belicek had been one of Rome's most dependable relievers and often gave the team multiple inning performances. His almost robotic control comes through impressively in his stats (28.1 ING, 1 BB, 32 K). That includes a three-inning stint with Mississippi in April. Belicek would be traded Monday to the Orioles.

Rehab Assignment: Shae Simmons...Simmons had already logged a pair of innings with Gwinnett, but with Gwinnett playing in Charlotte as his next rehab game was on tap, the Braves moved him down to Rome so that he could stay close to Atlanta. Most teams do something similar, but with two minor league teams so close to the parent squad, Atlanta is usually able to avoid any case of sending a rehabbing player on the road. As for the outing, Simmons had his cleanest inning. He needed just 11 pitches to send Augusta into the field. He struck out one and 7-of-11 pitches went for strikes with 3 looking. He's close - real close.

DL'd: Matt Tellor...He's struggling to stay healthy and hasn't hit much when healthy. Of 84 possible plate appearances, he has 2 doubles, a homer, one walk, and 32 strikeouts. He's 24.

DL'd: Juan Yepez...It was good to see Yepez get some reps at third base last week and the 18 year-old was handling himself okay before hitting the DL. Yepez is going to hit. It's his calling card. The dream was that he would do so as a third baseman, but that might be too much to ask for. As a 1B, his value decreases.

Danville
Demoted: Jose Ramirez...Just a means to get a live arm on the Gwinnett roster. Ramirez had thrown 46 pitches in a 2.2 inning outing against Charlotte on May 20, so a demotion to Danville gives him time to rest. He'll be back (possibly today or tomorrow).

GCL
No moves.

DSL
No moves.