Atlanta Braves news: Sean Kazmar added; Freeman’s extension

After optioning a pitcher on Monday, the Atlanta Braves filled the vacant 26-man roster spot with another bench bat, Sean Kazmar.

As Sam wrote yesterday, the Atlanta Braves optioned Nate Jones to Gwinnett but didn’t announce a corresponding move. As David O’Brien told us yesterday, the Braves played a bench-bat short against the Jays and corrected that today by filling the roster vacancy with Sean Kazmar.

The recall of Kazmar points out the lack of depth in the system. Kazmar is a reliable utility man, but with Adrianza already in place, an outfielder would make more sense – if they had another healthy outfielder on the roster.

We’ve heard repeatedly that the club believes Waters’ high strike-out rate in the minors would get a lot worse in the majors and hesitate to promote him until that improves.

None of the other outfielders signed to minor league forced their way onto the roster, so until Heredia returns, Adrianza remains the fourth outfielder.

Many fans expected Orlando Arcia to join the team quickly, but he’s yet to make an appearance, and the Braves continue to shuttle Johan Camargo up and down. David O’Brien addressed that question in a tweet early this morning.

Good news for the Atlanta Braves

The imminent return of Max Fried to start against the Nationals probably means Jesse Biddle departs after tonight’s game. Chris Martin starts the year at Gwinnett to get some rehab innings in after being sidelined for a month. Both of those tidbits are a boost for the Braves staff.

Catcher Travis d’Arnaud had surgery to repair the ligament damage to his left thumb. Technically he could come off the IL the first week in July; practically, he might not return before September, if then.

Unsettling speculation

I’ve seen speculation on Twitter – which, as we all know is the absolute truth – that the Atlanta Braves failure to extend Freddie Freeman might mean it doesn’t happen at all.  I didn’t consider such a huge faux pas could become a reality until David O’Brien tweeted this.

"Each day that passes w/out a leak of anything positive on Freeman extension front, I’ve started to wonder — for the first time — if team might actually screw this up waiting, and upset him to point where he rethinks his desire to stay."

Players who enter their walk year almost always test free agency. Unlike Marcell Ozuna, teams like the Yankees and Angels would line up early, with their checkbooks open, to sign Freeman, who may see winning a ring with Atlanta becoming more fantasy than reality.

That’s a wrap

The Atlanta Braves pitching should improve this week and continue to get better over the next two weeks.

If Austin Riley can hit good pitching the way he’s beaten up on mediocre pitching recently, his stay in the fifth spot could precede a move to the cleanup role behind Ozuna.

No excuses will pacify Braves fans if the club fails to extend Freeman. If they fail to keep the face-of-the-franchise in Atlanta, Alex Anthopoulos and Terry McGuirk might as well pack their bags and leave town.