The Atlanta Braves had been abnormally quiet during the offseason until the news broke that they had agreed to terms with free-agent outfielder Jurickson Profar.
Profar fills a hole in Atlanta’s outfield, but he doesn’t exactly solve the problems the Braves have on the mound. They’ll need to sign a few other free agents to shore up the pitching staff.
FanSided’s Chris Landers predicted the Braves to follow up the Profar signing by stealing a free agent from the Philadelphia Phillies. Landers predicted the Braves would sign former Phillies pitcher Spencer Turnbull. Spotrac projects Turnbull to sign for right around $9 million.
“The Braves could use some more depth in both the starting rotation and the bullpen. Fortunately, Turnbull would provide both, having been effective in both roles with the Phillies last season,” Landers wrote. “Really, the righty has been effective whenever he’s been healthy, but he’s thrown more than 60 innings in a season just once at the big-league level.
“But the Braves don’t need Turnbull to be a workhorse. They just need him to be a cog in their machine, someone who can be called upon to reliably eat up innings either starting or in middle relief. He’s exactly the sort of swingman they need to plug holes up and down the pitching staff, and he likely won’t be too expensive.”
Turnbull was a valuable piece of the Phillies when he was healthy last season.
The righty may be exactly what the Braves need.
Last season, Atlanta ran into depth problems in the starting rotation. The Braves would have been much better off if they had an additional innings eater to trot out every fifth day. Turnbull could fill that role and mix into the bullpen when the starting five is all healthy.
More MLB: Giants Listed ‘Likely Landing Spot’ For $152 Million Slugger Pete Alonso
\
\Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
\\
\
‘;uncommonKnowledgeItems[0].insertAdjacentHTML(‘afterend’,uncommonKnowledgeContainerHtml);let uncommonKnowledgeContainerElement=document.getElementsByClassName(‘uncommon-knowledge’);let itemsContainerElement=document.getElementById(‘uncommon-knowledge-items-container’);uncommonKnowledgeContainerElement[0].style.display=’block’;uncommonKnowledgeItems.forEach((itemUncommon)=>{document.getElementById(‘uncommon-knowledge-items-container’).insertAdjacentHTML(‘beforeend’,’
‘+itemUncommon.innerHTML+’
‘);itemUncommon.remove()});jQuery(‘.start-slider’).owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on(‘changed.owl.carousel’,function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery(‘.owl-prev’).addClass(‘disabled’)}else{jQuery(‘.owl-prev’).removeClass(‘disabled’)}if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery(‘.owl-next’).addClass(‘disabled’)}else{jQuery(‘.owl-next’).removeClass(‘disabled’)}})}})})
