The MLB deadline to tender new contracts to major leaguers without guaranteed contracts passed on Friday night. Here we’ll take a look at the Atlanta’s decisions and other recent transactions.
- 11/13 – 11/15/2024: Atlanta Braves sign RHP Enoli Paredes, 3B Charles Leblanc, and 2B Kobe Kato to minor league contracts
Paredes and Leblanc are major league veterans and will serve as depth at triple-A Gwinnett. Paredes is coming a good 2024 season in the Brewers and Cubs system, pitching to a 1.66 ERA (3.35 FIP) in 21.2 innings at the major league level and a 1.99 ERA in 31.2 innings in the minors. The 29-year-old originally came up with the Astros and made his major league debut with them in 2020. The knock on Paredes has been a poor walk-to-strikeout ratio, but he tends to limit damage by missing the barrel of the bat with his fastball/sinker/slider combination. Expect him to start the spring on a major league camp invitation with a solid shot at putting in middle-innings duty in the majors at some point.
Leblanc is a versatile infielder who has logged innings at first, second, and third and will likely move around a bit with Gwinnett. His longest look in the majors was in 2022 when he hit .263/.320/.404 in 48 games with the Miami Marlins. Last year he made it back to the show for 11 games with the Angels, but he was mostly toiling for the triple-A Salt Lake Bees where he hit .254/.379/.437 in 98 games. Leblanc probably shouldn’t play more than fill-in at second or third at the major league level, but won’t embarrass anyone either so he could make a decent bench fill during the season with his on-base skills.
Twenty-five year old Kobe Kato was a standout at the University of Arizona and a 2021 draftee by the Houston Astros who missed all of the 2022 season due to shoulder surgery. After putting together a solid 2o23 in A-ball, the Astros cut him loose at the very beginning of the 2024 season. Kato signed with the independent league York Revolution and hit .255/.385/.424 in 64 games before the Mariners came calling, signing him to a deal to finish out the season. Kato hit .267/.354/.361 in 25 games at double- and triple-A in the Seattle organization to finish out an eventful year before becoming a minor league free agent. Kato will likely start the season at double-A Columbus for the Braves, but will also get looks in Gwinnett.
- 11/18/2024: Atlanta Braves selected the contract of RHP Rolddy Muñoz
Muñoz, the twin brother of former Braves prospect Roddery Muñoz, took a little longer to climb the organizational ladder, but the extra time has helped turn him into a more legitimate prospect, with a slider that is among the best in the organization. Muñoz still has some development to go through, especially regarding his command, but he is a potential shutdown middle reliever.
Selecting his contract means he is now on the 40-man roster and will not be eligible for December’s Rule 5 draft. It also means he will likely be ticketed for a triple-A assignment to start the season rather than returning to double-A, where he concluded the 2024 season.
- 11/22/2024: Atlanta Braves decline to tender contracts to OF Ramón Laureano, LHP Ray Kerr, and RHPs Griffin Canning, Huascar Ynoa, and Royber Salinas
The decisions here can roughly be divided into two buckets. The first bucket here contains Laureano and Canning, two nominally useful players who are set start making decent money in the arbitration process (projected for $6.1 and $5.1 million respectively). Shedding both of these players means $11.2 million in expected 2025 salary is freed for the club to reapply elsewhere.
The second bucket contains Kerr, Ynoa, and Salinas. All three are talented arms with injury questions. There is a good chance that Kerr and Salinas will not pitch at all in 2025 on the heels of elbow and shoulder surgeries respectively. I would also say there’s a decent chance that both players may sign back with the Braves on minor league contracts to keep continuity in their rehab process. Ynoa is a different and possibly sadder tale. One of the last acquisitions of the rebuild era, Ynoa showed flashes of being a possible cornerstone player, especially in 2021 when he started 17 games for Atlanta. Ynoa’s season ended after he broke his hand in a clubhouse incident. He returned in 2022 but blew out his elbow early on, requiring TJS. Ynoa pitched on two separate rehab assignments in 2024 and neither showed that he was close to regaining the explosiveness on his pitches he showed back in prospect days. He also could be a candidate for bringing back on a minor league deal, but there’s a chance he may just be done.
Three arbitration-eligible players were tendered contracts, outfielders Jarred Kelenic and Eli White and left-handed reliever Dylan Lee. Lee has emerged as a key part of the Atlanta bullpen and was in no danger of being non-tendered. Kelenic had an up-and-down first season with Atlanta, but in his first year of arbitration won’t be commanding a big salary to question if Atlanta would bring him back. As for White, the versatile speed/defense specialist likely won’t make much more than league minimum even if his case went all the way to an arbitration hearing.
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- 11/23/2024: Atlanta Braves sign outfielder Carlos Rodriguez to a non-guaranteed major league contract
Rodriguez was a Brewers farmhand who hit .284/.368/.374 between double- and triple-A last season while playing all three outfield spots. There was apparently a lot of interest in Rodriguez’s minor league free agency as reported by The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli, prompting Atlanta to give him a spot on the 40-man roster to differentiate themselves. Rodriguez will come to big league camp but seems likely to start the season with triple-A Gwinnett.
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