The Atlanta Braves seem content to let the bullpen market come to them while they wait for news of Joe Jimenez’s knee. The wisdom of that strategy is open for debate, but the urgency in the Braves’ search for bullpen help has declined in the wake of their reunion with Raisel Iglesias. However, just because the Braves aren’t making plays for the top names at the moment does not mean that they aren’t staying busy.
On Tuesday, the Braves brought back reliever Danny Young on a split contract and earlier in the offseason, Atlanta came to terms with Joel Payamps as well. Neither reliever are guys you want to use in high leverage spots unless there is an emergency, but both have also had some success in the big leagues before which makes gambling on them a little easier.
However, you have to squint your eyes a little more to get excited for their latest signing. On Wednesday, it was revealed that the Braves signed Austin Pope to a minor league deal.
Braves add Austin Pope to their growing list of bullpen overhaul candidates
Before anyone has a strong reaction to this move: stop it, stop it right now. Pope’s deal is a minor league deal with no real downside for the Braves. The amount of money involved here is scant and teams make these sorts of depth moves all the time and no one notices or gets upset (most of the time).
That said, Pope is not uninteresting as a bullpen project. His ERAs in the minor leagues the last couple of years have looking pretty ugly thanks to some pretty brutal batting average against stats. However, what Pope does bring to the table is the ability to get strikeouts and, importantly, he doesn’t appear to have insurmountable command problems as his walk numbers are actually quite good.
With the Winter Meetings coming up fast, it is likely we will get some clues as to the Braves’ plan for the bullpen the rest of the offseason. Whatever their big picture machinations may be, fans can fully expect to see more moves like the Pope signing the rest of the offseason. At the end of the day, Alex Anthopoulos loves a good bargain.