The Atlanta Braves lost the series finale yesterday against the Tigers, and although the offense was to blame for only scoring two runs, Joel Payamps was partly to blame as well as he came in and blew a one run lead in the eighth inning, and then to add insult to injury José Suarez came in the game and also gave up two runs.
The Braves’ bullpen has been one of the best in MLB in terms of ERA, but the writing was on the wall for both Payamps and Saurez who were the two odd men out that have struggled more than anyone else. After Payamps’ blown save yesterday, his ERA rose to 8.22 on the season. Suarez is not too far behind him with is ERA raising to 6.61.
It now becomes clear that yesterday was their last chance to prove that they earned another chance to stay on the roster after today the Braves announced that they will both be DFA’d and replaced with Hunter Stratton and Anthony Molina.
We have not seen Anthony Molina yet this season for the Braves. He pitched 94.1 innings for the Rockies over the past two seasons and struggled to a 6.96 ERA, but if we know anything about the Braves’ front office, they love to take struggling relievers from the Rockies and turn their careers around. Molina has pitched 14.0 innings in at Gwinnett this year of 4.50 ERA ball but has had the best WHIP of any minors season of his career of 1.357. He also pitched 2.0 innings for Venezuela in the WBC.
Hunter Stratton was very good in his limited 16.1 innings so far at the MLB level for the Braves last season with a 2.20 ERA and 1.102 WHIP. It was honestly a bit puzzling when he was not part of the plan for the season to begin with.
With this move, the Braves have undoubtably improved their bullpen.
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