News roundup: Braves add Davis Daniel, see depth options sign elsewhere
The Atlanta Braves continue to fill out the fringes of the roster
The Atlanta Braves continue to work around the fringes of the roster, adding several players on either minor league deals or via minor trades.
Let’s break down all the news you’ve missed from the week in another news roundup!
Braves add Davis Daniel via trade
The Braves sent lefty pitching prospect Mitch Farris to the Los Angeles Angels for Daniel, who was drafted out of Auburn in 2019’s 7th round and DFA’d earlier this week.
(As a Braves fan that’s wearing an Auburn baseball hoodie as I type this, this is a transaction directly solely at me. )
Daniel hasn’t had a ton of high-level success in his professional career, pitching 42.2 MLB innings with a 5.06 ERA and 7.8 K/9 rate. But in the minors he’s shown more promise than the surface stats would show, striking out 122 batters in 118 AAA innings with the Salt Lake Bees in 2024.
Playing in the Pacific Coast League, where ERAs are inflated in a heavily-offensively-slanted environment, his 5.42 ERA looks terrible but it’s backed by some decent peripherals: a 9.31 K/9, a 2.59 BB/9, and a 66% strike percentage.
I’m looking forward to sitting down and doing a patented1 deep dive into what the Braves saw in Daniel over the weekend.
Atlanta inks ancillary broadcast deal for 2025
Gray Media, who broadcasts to 36% of US television households across 113 markets in the Southeast, has signed a multi-year deal with the team to simulcast 15 regular season games alongside the existing rightsholder partner, FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports Network). Gray will also produce ten spring training games as the exclusive broadcaster for that slice of Grapefruit League action.
In the Atlanta area, it’s the return of Braves baseball to Peachtree TV, while in other markets, it’s on either local broadcast systems or an ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC/CW affiliate owned by Gray. (Know how you sometimes see a 13.2, 12.3, etc on your broadcast TV listing? That’s where these games will be.)
The big deal here: This is likely a test of distribution capability for the next few seasons, when Atlanta will have their broadcast rights returned to them from FanDuel Sports Network. The league’s goal is to have as many local rights available for packaging by 2028, when the league’s national tv deals with ESPN, Fox, and Turner also expire.
The expectation is that a national package (or multiple national packages) will be available for bid by streamers and traditional broadcasters alike - by allowing a simulcast for the next few seasons, Atlanta can increase distribution of their games (as all of these simulcasts are available for free over the air with an antenna) as well as collect valuable info for the league on the production quality and feasibility of a local OTA partnership in the future.
The quotes from both the Braves and Gray talk about making the broadcasts more accessible to the fans, which…yeah, that should be the goal. Those 2028 packages that Manfred wants to bid out are going to be blackout-free, which also helps.
I’ll be curious the end game of how this plays out - would Gray be able to partner with a streamer to get a package and then broadcast the games locally? Would they need to be in all of the deals to get a full schedule, as this is supposedly going to be modeled off of the NBA’s broadcast deals where inventory is split among multiple networks and destinations, depending on what team you’re watching on what day?
Braves add minor league arm
RHP Enyel De Los Santos has some interesting fun facts:
Born on Christmas Day in 1995
Has been in eight different organizations in his professional career
Has been traded three times
Atlanta’s his ninth team after news came out on Friday that he signed a minor league deal with organization and was assigned to AAA Gwinnett.
Just 28-years-old, De Los Santos pitched for three MLB teams last season, starting the year in San Diego with the Padres before being traded to the Yankees and then claimed off of waivers by the Chicago White Sox. His stretch in Chicago was by far his best of the season from an ERA perspective, pitching to a 3.63 ERA in 17.1 innings with 13 strikeouts, albeit with nine walks and five homers, while his opening stint in San Diego had the best peripherals of the three (a 10.7 K/9 and a 2.9 BB/9).
Having pitched 64 relief innings last season, this is an obvious depth piece for Gwinnett that could be used out of the Atlanta pen if he can harness his 95.5mph fastball a little more effectively - the velo’s good, but he left it in the zone a lot and it allowed 10 homers, a .311 batting average, and a .622 slug.
Potential value signings come off the board to division rivals
Two players that I’ve advocated for in either podcast or written form both went off the board this week to NL East foes.
Old friend Michael Soroka is getting $9M to try starting again, this from the Washington Nationals. As a reminder, he was dreadful as a starter last season for the White Sox (0-5, 6.39 ERA in 9 starts) but moved to the pen and was pretty good (2.75 ERA in 36 innings), including a dominant last three outings where he allowed only two hits and no runs across 7.1 innings while striking out 13.
$9M’s either a shock to some or a bargain to some, which gives you a great glimpse into how much some folks truly know ball.
(Spoiler alert: I actually did write an essay on why the Braves should bring Soroka back in November.)
The other signing was of outfielder Max Kepler, who is getting $10M to move from the Minnesota Twins to the Philadelphia Phillies.
When healthy (and he wasn’t last year, dealing with knee issues), the big German’s a solid defender and decent offensive performer that raises the floor of your lineup. Sticking him in left field on an everyday basis is a good thing for Philly because it gets the duo of Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas out of both getting everyday ABs, minimizing the ineptitude of Rojas’ bat.
Dave Dombrowski has signaled that Kepler’s mostly it on significant adds for the Phillies this offseason, deciding that its not worth blowing up his roster after one bad week in the playoffs.2
I can’t help but shake the nagging feeling that Atlanta’s mostly done, as well - sure, Alex Anthopoulos said that he’s open to exceeding the luxury tax for the right move, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s eager to do it. While the Braves may still add a starter or a leftfielder (or both) before spring training gets going, it definitely feels like the Braves are content to run it back with a healthy lineup that’s one of the best in baseball and make adds at the deadline if needed.
And while that’d be frustrating, I understand - sportsbooks right now have the Braves with some of the best odds of making the World Series, coming in right behind the Dodgers (and the Mets, depending on the book) and being the favorites to take the National League East.
Not actually patented
Some Braves fans need to hear that message, too.