Braves Designate Joey Wendle For Assignmen

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The Braves announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating catcher from the injured list and recalling outfielder . In corresponding moves, outfielder was placed on the 10-day injured list and infielder was designated for a signment. Wendle, 34, was just signed three days ago to serve as a depth infielder for the club. However, Atlanta was delivered a devastating blow yesterday when Merrill Kelly Jersey Acua in his left knee. He will undergo surgery and mi s the remainder of the 2024 season. With Acua out of the picture, Atlanta was left with just , and for the outfield. They have recalled Martnez today to give them a fourth outfielder, which quickly nudged Wendle off the roster shortly after being added. Atlanta will now have a week to trade Wendle or pa s him through waivers. The Mets are on the hook for the majority of his $2MM salary since they released him last week. That means any club that brings him aboard would only have to pay the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay. Wendle has had some good years as a solid bat who can competently play multiple positions, but hes been in a rough skid at the plate for a while now. He hit just .259/.297/.360 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 84 and has been even worse since then. Dating back to the start of 2023, hes hit .213/.247/.300 for a wRC+ of just 47. But hes still capable of bouncing around the diamond, with experience at the three infield positions to the left of first base and the outfield corners. Even without much offensive output, hes capable of being a glove-first bench piece. He also hit .275/.330/.416 from 2017 to 2021, 106 wRC+, which could lend some hope to a bounceback at the plate. For the moment, Atlantas roster depth is tenuous and it wouldnt be a surprise if further moves were coming. Murphys activation gives the club three catchers, alongside and . The club could have optioned Tromp to the minors but perhaps felt that would have left them thin behind the plate. Murphy is just returned from mi sing around two months due to an oblique strain while dArnaud mi sed some time this week after taking a foul ball to the mask and experiencing some dizzine s. Perhaps they opted to keep Tromp around while they make sure both Murphy and dArnaud are healthy enough to play regularly. In the meantime, that leaves them with no real backup infielder. hasnt played in about two weeks due to some side sorene s but the club hasnt placed him on the injured list. That has forced to step in as the regular third baseman. As of now, Atlantas bench consists of Riley, two catchers and one outfielder, at least until Riley is able to return. Perhaps Tromp will be optioned out for another infielder shortly, or Riley will return to the lineup and nudge Short back to the bench. How the club decides to play the outfield will also be interesting to monitor. Kelenic and Duvall have been in a platoon this year, since Kelenic is a lefty who hits better against righties and Duvall is the opposite. Kelenic has hit .220/.298/.401 against righties in his career but just .189/.254/.309 against lefties, leading to respective wRC+ numbers of 96 and 60. Duvall has hit .235/.307/.474 against southpaws and .230/.285/.468 otherwise, producing respective wRC+ tallies of 104 and 95. With Acuas injury, they will likely give regular playing time to those two, with Martnez in the fourth outfielder role. The 28-year-old Martnez was acquired from the Rangers in January. He has a line of .265/.337/.394 in Triple-A this year, 90 wRC+, stealing 14 bases in 20 tries. Double-digit steal totals have been a regular feature for him for a long time, including 41 in the minors last year. He also hit .298/.418/.543 in Triple-A last year, for a 133 wRC+, but hasnt maintained that here in 2024. Like Kelenic, Martnez hits from the left side and has been better against righties this year. He has a .260/.348/.415 line against righties and .277/.306/.340 against southpaws this season. Kyle Lewis Jersey