More Atlanta Braves’ Roster Moves: Ramirez DFA; De La Cruz Promoted

Braves’ Bullpen Shuffle Continues:  Jose Ramirez Out; Joel De La Cruz In

Thanks go to the Atlanta Braves for delivering its roster moves in dribs and drabs this afternoon, but this move smacks of the desperation suggested this morning.  At the same time, though, it removes Jose Ramirez, who likely would never have made the roster out of Spring Training except for the fact that he was out of options.

At this point, however, I frankly don’t know that there’s a lot of concern about losing him on the waiver wire – either way.  But here’s the formal news:

We had previously noted the arrival of Hunter Cervenka.  His promotion is definitely earned.  I am struggling to say the same for De La Cruz, though there is a substantial amount of ‘unknown’ about his Spring work, given that stats for the minor league games are not tabulated for our consumption.

Jose Ramirez

Acquired from Seattle in the off-season in exchange for Ryne Harper, Ramirez showed promise with solid mid-90’s speed on his fastball, but has definitely struggled in a Braves’ uniform.  In Spring he pitched 11 major league game innings to a 4.09 ERA, though much of that was against the lesser competition that you’ll see in the later innings of such contests.

The 10 strikeouts he recorded were good; the 5 walks were not.  Unfortunately, he’s now been exposed at the major league level and despite 4 K in 2 innings, he’s been hit hard.  Yesterday was the capper:  5 ER and 3 hits with 3 walks.  Very ugly.

Hopefully he can get a AAA assignment to rebuild some confidence and command for a return trip, though a ‘Designation for Assignment’ removes him from the 40-man roster and allows other clubs to come shopping – essentially for free.

Joel De La Cruz

Signed as an International free agent by the Brewers at 16 years old in 2006, De La Cruz has been a minor league journeyman:  2006 with the Brewers, but released quickly in 2007.  Likewise he was signed and released by Washington in a period of 5 months in 2009.

The Yankees picked him up in 2010, where he stuck around until becoming a minor league free agent at the end of the 2015 season.  Atlanta then snagged him.  As is the case with Mallex Smith and Hunter Cervenka, this will be his major league debut.

Over the past 4 seasons, De La Cruz has managed to keep his ERA totals in the 3’s and 4’s as both a starter and reliever.  It is this history that likely made him the call-up choice today:  Atlanta needs a ‘long man’ in the pen after the departure of John Gant.

De La Cruz is not going to overpower hitters, but it does appears that he’ll throw strikes, which would certainly be a refreshing change.

At Gwinnett, he only saw 2 innings of action thus far in 2016, and was tapped for 2 earned runs.

The Roster Part

Mark Bowman points out that ‘another move’ will have to be made to make space for Jhoulys Chacin tomorrow as he is slated to start Tuesday evening.  The 40-man roster does not need to be impacted, for there are candidates for the 60-day DL, but the 25-man list is another matter.

Next: Braves Call Up Southpaw Cervenka

Stay tuned.