Over the winter, the Braves’ front office and President of Baseball Ops Alex Anthopoulos added six notable pitchers to the roster via free agent signing or through trades and to this point, those six guys have given the Braves incredible production over the first 6 weeks of the 2024 season.
The six pitchers are:
1. SP Chris Sale
2. SP Reynaldo Lopez
3. RP Joe Jimenez
4. RP Pierce Johnson
5. RP Aaron Bummer
6. RP Ray Kerr
Sale, Bummer and Kerr were all brought over via trade with Sale coming from Boston for Vaughn Grissom, Bummer coming from Chicago for a package of 4 players, and Kerr coming from San Diego in a salary-dump trade. Lopez, Jimenez, and Johnson were all free agents this winter and all three obviously signed with Atlanta. Jimenez and Johnson were both acquired for the 2023 season, Jimenez before the season and Johnson during, but both were 1-year rentals at the time and both needed to be signed back as free agents for a 2024 reunion.
How good have these guys been?
So far in 2024, the “Alex Six” as we’ll call them have combined to pitch 135 innings over 61 total appearances, including 15 starts, have produced a 2.20 ERA, a 2.58 FIP, and a 2.98 xFIP. They’ve struck out 154 hitters in those 135 innings, 10.27 K/9, only walked 39 or a 2.60 BB/9, posted nearly a 50% groundball rate, and 3.5 fWAR.
Sale and Lopez have been particularly valuable in the rotation with other issues emerging. A week into the season Opening Day starter and staff ace Spencer Strider was lost for the year to elbow surgery and fellow ace Max Fried got off to a brutal start. Combined that with the inconsistency out of the 5-spot in the rotation and the spotty play of the offense for most of the year, and the Braves would be in serous trouble if someone else hadn’t stepped up.
All Sale and Lopez have done in response is make 15 starts, average 6 innings per start, combine for a 2.00 ERA and a 2.69 FIP, all with a 29% strikeout rate and just a 7% walk rate. Two guys who were supposed to help the middle and back of the rotation when the year started, have instead been the aces the team desperately needed while waiting on other parts of the team to pull more weight.
And the contracts these two are on are maybe more incredible than acquiring them at all. Boston sent over $17M in the trade for Sale, and after Sale re-structured his contract, he’s only making $16M for 2024. That of course means the money Boston sent over is covering the entirety of Sale’s salary in 2024, and then some, and the only money Atlanta is on the hook for is the $22M guaranteed for 2025. Lopez signed a more traditional free agent contract, inking a 3-year $30M deal. But it’s back loaded. He only makes $4M in 2024 and $11M in 2025 and 2026 with a club option for 2027. That means in 2024, the Braves are paying Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez a total of $4M. Tremendous stuff, Alex.
On the reliever side, the four additions have been nails. The Braves signed Joe Jimenez to a 3-year $26M deal this winter and Jimenez has done nothing to make anyone regret that. So far in 2024, Jimenez has a 1.69 ERA and a 1.92 FIP in 16 innings of work, striking out almost 10 per nine innings and walking just two per nine. Pierce Johnson signed a 2-year $14M deal this off-season and has been very good in his own right. Johnson for the season has a 3.00 ERA with a 2.78 FIP and a 2.63 xFIP, striking out more than 12 per nine innings over 12 innings of work. He’s been dealing with an arm issue the last 2 weeks but is set to come off the IL on Friday. These are two of the very best relievers Atlanta has and both have been deployed in high-leverage situation after high-leverage situation since the year began.
For the left-handers, it’s been just as impressive. Aaron Bummer was acquired from the White Sox in a 4-for-1 swap for Michael Soroka, Nicky Lopez, Jared Shuster, and Braden Shewmake. On top of all of those guys being pretty awful for Chicago, they’ve combined for -1.2 fWAR so far, Bummer has been tremendous for Atlanta despite some bad luck. Bummer is currently supporting a 3.86 ERA but with it a 2.82 FIP and a 2.50 xFIP over 14 innings and his sweeper is one of the nastier pitches you’ll ever see.
Ray Kerr started the year in Gwinnett, so fans weren’t entirely sure why the Braves took on Matt Carpenter’s dead money to acquire him. That is, until they finally saw him in Atlanta. He throws 96-97 from the left side with a hammer curveball and so far with Atlanta, has a 1.50 ERA and a 1.11 FIP, while striking out 9 per nine innings and has yet to issue a walk. Kerr might be the odd man out when Johnson returns on Friday but make no mistake, his impact on the team is just beginning.
All toll, those 4 relievers have covered 48 innings for the Braves in 2024 and posted a combined 2.63 ERA and a 2.30 FIP.
Over the off-season, it was clear the front office wanted more depth in the pitching staff and more nasty stuff in the bullpen and to this point, the moves they made have worked out beautifully. Still a long season, of course, and pitchers are pitchers so we’ll continue to monitor how all Alex’s moves work out for the season but so far, he has to be thrilled.
