Atlanta Braves news and notes from Wednesday
The big news of the day for Atlanta was signing a two year contract with Pierce Johnson to keep the veteran reliever in Atlanta for $7 million per year, with the Anthopoulos Special: 1% to the Braves foundation and a club option for another year at the end. Johnson has pretty much been a good reliever since 2020, except for when he was with Colorado before being traded to Atlanta this season. He was great for Atlanta down the stretch and has a really nice curveball. This is a solid deal and essentially what the Braves gave Chris Martin in an almost identical scenario a few years ago. It is real money for a reliever, but nothing crazy like what Will Smith got or what Raisel Iglesias is getting. Johnson appears set to be the Braves’ top non-Iglesias right-hander in the bullpen and he should be good in that role. Nice to see Atlanta being proactive (as per usual) in bringing Johnson back on a pretty reasonable deal.
Braves News
The Braves signed Pierce Johnson to a 2 year deal with an additional club option.
We took a look at an Atlanta 40-man roster that will need some decluttering.
Kris took us back to look at the Braves’ top 10 exit velocities of the season (with clips).
Darius Vines was named AFL pitcher of the week.
Ernie Johnson Jr. was named a finalist for the Ford Frick award.
MLB News
The Yankees and Padres have reportedly had exploratory talks about a Juan Soto trade.
Astros’ Dusty Baker is expected to retire per Bob Nightengale.
Boston hired Craig Breslow as their chief baseball officer.
The Mets will interview Craig Counsell to be their new manager.
The Giants hired Bob Melvin to be their new manager.