Braves’ bullpen forecast calls for a season of ‘churn’

You could interpret Anthopoulos’ assessment as “Frankly, we’re not sure what to expect out of the bullpen. We signed a bunch of pitchers that might be able to get people out and are hoping some of them can. Hey, young man in the back. You look like a strapping gent. Are you a lefty?”

Here’s the situation with the Braves as spring-training games approach. The Braves had a fine bullpen last season; it ranked third in the majors in ERA (3.58).

However, of the eight pitchers who made the most appearances last season for the Braves out of the bullpen — Joe Jiménez, Raisel Iglesias, Pierce Johnson, Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee, Jesse Chavez, A.J. Minter and Grant Holmes — five of them are in uniform this spring (Iglesias, Johnson, Bummer, Lee and Holmes).

And Holmes is competing with Ian Anderson for the fifth spot in the starting rotation and appears to have the early lead. If Holmes were to win the job, it essentially would leave manager Brian Snitker with four returnees and a lot of “opportunity.”

Further, the Braves did not make a move to address the loss of Jiménez, who is out at least until late June and possibly the entire season after offseason knee surgery. Jiménez arguably was the Braves’ second-best reliever (2.62 ERA in a team-high 69 appearances) after Iglesias, the standout closer.

If fans want to be frustrated that the Braves weren’t more active in free agency, their ire probably is most justified over the lack of moves in the bullpen. Anthopoulos bolstered the lineup by signing left fielder Jurickson Profar. The Braves did actually reach an agreement with free-agent reliever Jeff Hoffman in November with the intent to give him a shot at starting, just as they successfully did with Reynaldo López in 2024, but the deal fell through after the Braves had concerns about his shoulder.

But the Braves didn’t sign a free-agent reliever to a major league contract and let Minter leave for the rival New York Mets for a two-year deal worth $22 million. In not signing a reliever to a major league deal, they either couldn’t afford the going rate, didn’t believe they could receive fair return on it or both.

So the Braves are left with the back half their bullpen awash in uncertainty. And if you want to know how important an effective bullpen is, consider this: Of the top eight bullpens (by ERA) in each of the past three years — a total of 24 teams — 20 made the playoffs, including the Braves twice. In short, a high-performing bullpen goes a long way toward getting teams into the postseason.

Consider three of the relievers who figure to be on the opening-day roster along with Iglesias, Lee, Bummer and Johnson — Daysbel Hernández, Angel Perdomo and Anderson Pilar.

Hernández did well in limited chances for the Braves (2.50 ERA in 18 innings), but that’s about the most that can be said for him. Perdomo struck out 44 in 29 innings in 2023 for Pittsburgh but is coming back from Tommy John surgery that kept him out all of 2024. (Remember that Snitker and Anthopoulos often talk about how much better pitchers fare when they have had a routine offseason as opposed to one dedicated to rehab.)

Claimed from the Marlins in December in the Rule 5 draft, Pilar has yet to pitch in the majors and only this past season got higher than High-A ball, although he did pitch well in Double-A and Triple-A. Anthopoulos raved about Pilar’s performance in the Dominican winter league this past offseason, but that’s not much of a barometer and says something when that’s a selling point. Of the league’s two leading home run hitters this winter, one hasn’t been in the majors since 2015 and the other has never made it.

Can the Braves count on all three turning out to be effective relievers?

Anthopoulos’ churn advisement strongly suggests they do not.

Who else is in the pool?

Anthopoulos’ latest addition is former Reds reliever Buck Farmer, signed Sunday to a minor-league contract. (Farmer is from Georgia Tech and Rockdale County High and, unrelated, grew up in a family of actual farmers.) On the plus side, Farmer had a 3.04 ERA last season in 71 innings last season. However, his career ERA over 11 seasons is 4.71.

Let the churn begin.

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Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. reacts during the first full-squad spring training workouts at CoolToday Park, Tuesday, February 18, 2025, North Port, Florida. (Hyosub Shin / AJC)