The Braves had a decision to make on left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer: exercise or decline his $7.25 million club option for 2025.
They are bringing him back, but not on those exact terms.
The Braves signed Bummer to a two-year, $13 million contract, the club announced Saturday. He will make $3.5 million in 2025 and $9.5 million in 2026.
Bummer had the $7.25 million club option for next season and a $7.5 million club option for 2026. The Braves simply wiped out those and gave him a new deal. Those options, if they were exercised, would’ve paid Bummer a combined $14.75 million. Instead, he gets $13 million guaranteed, regardless of how he performs.
In his first season with the Braves, Bummer was not one of manager Brian Snitker’s top options for big spots. But some of this had to do with the terrific relievers around him. On many other teams, Bummer likely would pitch in later innings more often.
The Braves acquired Bummer from the White Sox last offseason. He posted a 3.58 ERA over 55-1/3 innings in his debut season for the team. He struck out 69 batters and walked 18.
FIP – fielding independent pitching – is measured like ERA but instead focuses only on the events a pitcher controls, like strikeouts, walks, hit by pitches and home runs. Bummer’s 2.23 FIP, which is lower than his ERA, could signal some poor luck on batted balls.
In 2024, opponents’ average exit velocity against Bummer was 86.6 mph, which put Bummer in the top 9% of MLB. Bummer led all pitchers with a 1.3% barrel rate – which measures how often hitters are barreling up a pitcher. His 61.8% ground-ball rate was in the 98th percentile in baseball. And he also cut down on his walks, which were an issue in 2023.
What this means: Bummer did everything the Braves acquired him to do.
To the casual fan, it might seem Bummer was the weak link in a strong bullpen. This might’ve been because Snitker didn’t use him in many high-leverage spots, or because he allowed 36% of the runners he inherited to score. But Bummer, a lefty, could be valuable to the Braves’ bullpen in 2025 and 2026.
And remember: The Braves backloaded the two-year deal, so Bummer’s $3.5 million salary for 2025 will allow them some added payroll flexibility to address other areas if they so choose.
The Braves are set up well in the bullpen with closer Raisel Iglesias, and high-leverage arms Joe Jiménez and Pierce Johnson. They have Dylan Lee and Bummer. A.J. Minter, their setup man, is a free agent.
The Braves also received a pleasantly surprising season from Grant Holmes, who served as a long man and made spot starts. Daysbel Hernández is also a name to remember when thinking about the bullpen going forward.
By the end of business Monday, the Braves need to decide on the club options for Marcell Ozuna ($16 million), Travis d’Arnaud ($8 million) and Luke Jackson ($7 million). One would expect the Braves to exercise the options for Ozuna and d’Arnaud but decline Jackson’s option.
Ozuna and d’Arnaud were viewed as more of sure bets than Bummer, whose option case could’ve been debated either way.
The Braves wanted Bummer back. Instead of exercising his option, they gave him a new contract.
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