Braves: The Case for Keeping Nate Jones in the Bullpen

The Atlanta Braves have a very big decision upcoming on whether or not to add reliever Nate Jones to the 40-man roster. They certainly should. 

It’s pretty clear Alex Anthopoulos and the Atlanta Braves are trying to save money this offseason where they can.

They made big splashes in going out and signing Charlie Morton, Drew Smyly, and Marcell Ozuna for a combined $38 million towards the 2021 payroll.

But then they didn’t do anything else to improve the bullpen or back-up catcher situation.

Instead, they’re hoping those more minor areas can be held together a lot cheaper.

Anthopoulos brought in a couple of veteran relievers on minor league deals hoping they could bounce back and replace the likes of Mark Melancon, Darren O’Day, and Shane Greene in the bullpen.

By the way, Greene is still available to anybody who wants him.

But Carl Edwards Jr. and Nate Jones are in camp trying to reclaim the magic that made them really good big-league relievers in the past.

Both have pitched very well in Spring Training, but likely only one of them makes the Opening Day roster.

Will Smith, Chris Martin, A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek, and Josh Tomlin are locks for five of the eight spots available.

Jones and Edwards are in competition with Luke Jackson, Grant Dayton, Huascar Ynoa, Jacob Webb, and Sean Newcomb for those final three spots.

Jackson and Dayton are out of options and I’d personally have no problem letting either of them go, but the Braves will probably at least stick with Jackson.

Webb is the best of that bunch, but he has options, which might make it easier for the Braves to let him start the season in Triple-A until he’s needed.

I think they’ll carry either Ynoa or Newcomb as another long reliever to start the season.

The Braves could also carry an extra bullpen arm for the first week, giving Jones and Edwards the possibility of both making the Opening Day roster.

Honestly, both have pitched well enough in Spring Training to deserve a roster spot.

Edwards Jr. has allowed just 1 earned run on 5 hits and 5 walks in 7.1 innings with 6 strikeouts — three of those walks came in one outing.

Jones hasn’t given up a run or walked a batter over 6.1 innings and has allowed just 2 hits. He’s also only struck out two batters, but he primarily relies on getting weak contact with a 46 percent groundball rate throughout his career.

The Braves have until Thursday (March 25) to decide if they want to add Jones to the 40-man roster or allow other teams to pick him up.

Yes, the Braves may already have some worthy candidates for those last three spots, but I like having options.

If you can start the season with Jones in the bullpen and send some of those young guys with options to minor league camp, it just deepens your depth.

You know there will be injuries and ineffectiveness at some point, and then you can call all some of those others to fill in.

The biggest key to this season for any team will be pitching depth, and by adding Jones — and possibly Edwards — to the roster it greatly improves the pitching depth of the Braves going into 2021.