As good as the Atlanta Braves have been under him, Brian Snitker can be infuriating when one looks at some of his micro-level decision-making. Over the years, Snit has made significant improvements, but he still can make some really questionable bullpen decisions and can, at times, communicate in a way that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence with Braves fans. Unfortunately, Snitker’s bullpen management was once again on trial on Tuesday when it comes to Rafael Montero.
Ultimately, the decision to stick with Montero against the Diamondbacks in the ninth inning didn’t really end up mattering as the Atlanta’s offense went quietly as they have done too often this season. However, keeping Montero in for a second inning resulted in a two-run deficit becoming a five run one and effectively ended the game on the spot. When Snitker was asked after the game about that decision, his comments were…enlightening.
Let’s, for the moment, ignore that Atlanta does need to be chasing wins right now as they are falling further and further behind in the playoff race and having a well-rested backend of the bullpen does not matter if you finish outside the wild card race. What Snitker’s response does tell us is that Alex Anthopoulos and the Braves front office need to save Snit from himself and get rid of Montero.
Getting Rafael Montero out of the Braves’ bullpen needs to be a priority
While the goal when the Braves traded for Montero was to “fix” him and hopefully get a high-end reliever for essentially nothing, his performance has lagged behind that aspiration. In 19 appearances with Atlanta in 2025, Montero has posted a 5.39 ERA and 4.13 FIP while giving up 14 hits and a shocking 13 walks in 17 innings of work. In short, if you are averaging giving up roughly two baserunners every time you take the mound, bad things are likely to happen.
If this was a player that was normally reliable going through a rough stretch, exercising some patience would make some sense. However, the Astros couldn’t wait to get Montero off their books after famously stinking ever since he signed a big money deal with them. However, despite having a track record of being unreliable and doing little in his time with the Braves to change that perception, Snitker just keeps running Montero out there in close, winnable games in the name of preserving the bullpen and having strictly better arms throw in lower leverage situations.
Clearly Snitker has his ideal way he wants to utilize this bullpen and it doesn’t exactly line up with what the numbers at least suggest he should do. Why even put Snit in this position of having a guy that shouldn’t be on the roster period, let alone contributing? At this point, getting Montero off the roster and putting an option that at least has some real upside (internal or external) would be better than continuing to have to run the white flag up every time Montero comes out of the bullpen.
