#relief-pitching

#relief-pitching

The Atlanta Braves have added right-handed reliever Ian Hamilton on a non-guaranteed deal. The team announced the transaction earlier this evening. Hamilton spent the last several seasons working out of the New York Yankees bullpen. Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2016, Hamilton made his MLB-debut in 2018. After bouncing around multiple organizations, Hamilton found regular work in the Yankees bullpen in 2023, appearing in 39 games and picked up two saves.

Rogers, whose free-agent contract includes a $12 million vesting option ($1 million buyout) in 2029, had spent his entire professional career with the San Francisco Giants before being traded to the New York Mets ahead of last season's trade deadline. His '29 option will become guaranteed if he meets at least one of these two criteria: log 110 appearances combined from 2027-28 or 60 in '28.

But there's another level the Blue Jays 'pen can reach and Toronto seems ready to dish out some cash to make it happen. They have previously been linked to Edwin Diaz, while they were also in talks with Raisel Iglesias before he re-signed with the Braves. Now, a Blue Jays beat reporter says Toronto is interested in a reliever who was one of their targets at the trade deadline this past season.

Iglesias, 35, is a right-handed pitcher from Cuba who has pitched at the backend in the backend of the rotation for years. Over his 11 big league seasons, Iglesias has a 2.90 ERA and 3.20 FIP in 736 innings pitched, picking up 253 saves in 291 opportunities. His most recent season was with the Atlanta Braves, where Iglesias posted a 3.21 ERA and 3.31 FIP in 67.1 innings pitched, with a 27.4 K% and 6 BB%.

Back before the 2025 season, I wrote an article that the 2025 bullpen could look a bit different than the bullpen of the three most recent Braves seasons. Basically, that article had a table that indicated: Braves' bullpen preseason projected rank was top four or better from 2022-2024, top eight the two seasons before that, and then dropping to ninth ahead of 2025; Braves' bullpen finished in the top ten in fWAR each year from 2020-2024;

The Braves will decline their $7MM club option on right-handed reliever Pierce Johnson, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He'll receive a $250K buyout and become a free agent. Johnson is the second affordable reliever whose 2026 option has been declined by Atlanta today. The Braves also opted for a buyout over exercising Tyler Kinley's $5.5MM option. It's a fairly surprising decision regarding Johnson, who's pitched well in two-plus seasons with Atlanta - particularly in 2025.

Shortly after the Dodgers won Game 6 of the World Series, Yoshinobu Yamamoto approached his longtime personal trainer. Lowering his head, Yamamoto said to Osamu Yada, "Thank you for everything this year." Yamamoto figured his season was over. He'd thrown 96 pitches over six innings, and he half-joked in the postgame news conference that he wanted to cheer on his team rather than pitch again the next day. Manager Dave Roberts had the same thought, saying Yamamoto would be the only pitcher unavailable in Game 7.

If this postseason has proved anything, it's that the Toronto Blue Jays made the right decision by signing Jeff Hoffman. His career as a starter didn't work out, and in 2021, he joined the Cincinnati Reds as a bulk reliever who could make a start every once in a while. Hoffman's 2022 with the Reds was solid, but it wasn't until 2023 with the Philadelphia Phillies that Hoffman became a high-leverage reliever.