Atlanta Braves Still Searching to Improve, Sign Motte

With a bullpen ERA hovering around 6 over their first 6 games, John Coppolella is still looking for upgrades, and is bringing in another bullpen option for a interview at Gwinnett.

Even the best of the Atlanta Braves‘ bullpen haven’t been able to escape damage.

Until Sunday, three members of that group had yet to give up an earned run.  Two of them did so Sunday afternoon and the third – Arodys Vizcaino – yielded one after an error by Jace Peterson gave the Pirates an extra out.

It’s fair to suggest, then, that some jobs may be on the line, and there was a shot across the mound fired Sunday evening.

Early bullpen issues – while not entirely directly attributable to their performances – are nonetheless reminiscent of the issues that plagued Fredi Gonzalez at the start of the 2016 season.

Jason Motte thus represents the next attempt to change out the dirty laundry.

Mottely Crew Member

Right-hander Jason Motte will be 35 in mid-June and was judged by the Rockies to be a lost cause – even as he hadn’t even gotten started on the second year of his 2-year, $10 million pact with Colorado.

The Rockies released Motte on April 5th without getting him into a regular season game.  He did not impress during Spring games, though, pitching to an 8.31 ERA over 8.2 innings (8 earned runs, 1.85 WHIP, 14 hits).  He did limit hitters to 2 walks while striking out 5 in that small sample size against unknown competition.

Motte got to the majors with the Cardinals in 2008, and he’s been a career reliever.  His major league ERA is 3.28, which explains how the Rockies gave him a $10 million deal.

2016 was respectable for Motte – by Denver standards – with a 4.94 ERA, but MLBTR reported that he had “rotator cuff issues” that led to reduced velocity and impacted his performance.  Along with that, both BABIP and his homers-allowed rate blew up well out of his norms.

That said, just 3 outings looked to be ‘bad’ for him, with 2, 2, and 4 earned runs allowed. In 27 other appearances, it was 1 run or less (in the vast majority of cases).

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Motte’s fastball has typically flown in the 95-96 mph range, but he managed 93.5 in 2016.

It’s unclear whether he’s fully healthy now, given Spring numbers, but it should be relatively straightforward to figure out whether he can help Atlanta or not.

It’s another low-/no-risk move by the Braves, who will owe him minor league rates while he’s at Gwinnett and only the major league minimum if he gets promoted to the majors.  Colorado is still obligated to honor the rest of his contract.

Next: What Did Everyone Think?

There are never any guarantees with such things, but this move seems to be a direct response to early bullpen concerns.  If nothing else, struggling incumbents – namely Ian Krol and Chaz Roe – ought to be keenly aware that things need to change.  Soon.