Braves Add 4 to 40-Man Roster

by gondeee on Nov 20, 2008 7:51 PM EST in Minor League News Comment 5 comments

Per a Braves press release:

The Atlanta Braves today have added four players to their 40-man roster. They purchased the contracts of infielder Diory Hernandez and right-handed pitchers Todd Redmond and Stephen Marek. They also claimed left-handed pitcher Eric O'Flaherty off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

No suprise on the first three, and it's a good sign for each that they are on a clear path to the majors. This O'Flaherty character on the other hand. He's your typical LOOGY, but has an emerging three-pitch mix highlighted by a good fastball. Still, this is a fairly weak move, similar to the T.J. Bohn pickup from Seattle in November 2006.

I'm excited to see Marek get a chance in the pen, though I think he'll need some time at triple-A. Diory, on the other hand, will likely turn some heads in spring training and push for a backup job. Redmond is still a year away, but injuries and a thin major league staff could push up his arrival time.

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I love the O’Flaherty pick-up. He’s already shown he can be a solid bullpen arm and he came free. Can’t beat that.

By my count that leaves us three spots left with Matt Diaz being really the only guy I can see getting rid off barring a trade.

by 17843 on Nov 20, 2008 8:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Matt Young

See that Matt Young was left off. He had a very good year at Miss and was outstanding in the AFL. We may loose him.

by braves99 on Nov 21, 2008 10:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

That’s a good point, but I’d say the thing with Matty is, where does he fit? He’s a decent left fielder, but not a great one, he’s fast, but not really fast, he can hit, but ultimately he’s pretty close to Matt Diaz, but with less power.
I love him as a ballplayer, but I see the reasoning behind leaving him off the roster. The Braves have Gregor Blanco, Josh Anderson, Brandon Jones, and Matt Diaz currently in the mix for the outfield (Francoeur, whatever your opinion, is the right fielder) and plan to add a big bat to play left. Right now, they don’t have the room for another player to compete, particularly when that player probably wouldn’t be expected to outproduce the other players.
If he is plucked in the Rule 5 draft, he could have value off the bench to a team, particularly if he plays some 2nd base again. Hopefully, though, he slips through and comes to big league camp with the Braves and proves people wrong like he has his whole career.

by cbwilk on Nov 21, 2008 12:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

O'Flaherty

I like the O’Flaherty pick-up as well. I have a feeling that the Braves look closely at the Mariners’ system to see who the latter will mishandle. After all, between the Braves landing Campillo (who the Mariners released), Soriano (at the cost of HoRam) and then watching the Mariners draft Sean White, they have rightly concluded that the Mariners cannot evaluate their own players….

by Stephen in the UAE on Nov 22, 2008 11:11 AM EST reply actions 0 recs