{"id":48433,"date":"2025-04-15T08:11:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T08:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=48433"},"modified":"2025-04-15T08:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T08:12:42","slug":"report-braves-last-minute-signing-could-prove-to-be-move-that-turns-their-season-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=48433","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Braves&#8217; last-minute signing could prove to be move that turns their season around"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_128,y_0,w_5872,h_3303\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/17\/01jrt9vr20nz8h7sdhgm.jpg\" alt=\"World Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees - Game 5\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">When the dust settled from last offseason, the biggest move the Atlanta Braves had made was to\u00a0sign Jurickson Profar. Profar was coming off a very strong 2024 season and signing him seemingly address their critical need in the outfield.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">However, the Braves later hedged their bets a bit when they went out and\u00a0surprisingly signed Alex Verdugo.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Given his name recognition, few thought that Verdugo would linger on the free agent market as long as he did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">While last season was a down year at the plate for him, Verdugo still graded out as a plus defender in the outfield and has a pretty decent track record overall of hitting in the big leagues. In short, Atlanta adding him on the minor league deal was not something many had on their offseason bingo cards.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Now,\u00a0with Profar suspended for PEDs\u00a0and most of the Braves&#8217; outfield struggling, signing Verdugo may prove to be THE move that could begin to turn their 2025 season around.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Alex Verdugo could join Braves as soon as Monday with outfield in shambles<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Over the weekend, there were increasing whispers that\u00a0Verdugo could get an opportunity\u00a0in the big leagues sooner rather than later. For everyone that has been watching Bryan De La Cruz, Jarred Kelenic, and co. so far this season, this makes loads of sense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Braves insider Mark Bowman even hinted on Monday that Verdugo could be joining the team from the start of their series with the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n<figure><em>I\u2019m not saying Verdugo is going to be the answer, but he definitely won\u2019t be any worse than Kelenic. That change could come as early as today. Acu\u00f1a should be back within the next 2-3 weeks.\u00a0https:\/\/t.co\/gckfBcRgHD<\/em><em>\u2014 Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman)\u00a0April 14, 2025<\/em><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">While expecting Verdugo to play like an All-Star may be asking too much, the Braves don&#8217;t really need him to be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">If he can be a .270 hitter with some power and good defense, that would represent a massive upgrade over what the Braves have been getting from most of their outfield. If he is just that guy, a lot of these rallies that have continuously died to start the season would probably have kept going.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Figuring out what do with guys like Kelenic and De La Cruz is a problem for another day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">The Braves need offensive help now and Verdugo&#8217;s hot start in the minors gives hope he could provide such a boost. If he can just help hold things down until both Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. return, that would represent a huge step towards the Braves finally getting back on track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the dust settled from last offseason, the biggest move the Atlanta Braves had made was to\u00a0sign Jurickson Profar. Profar was coming off a very strong 2024&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Braves&#039; last-minute signing could prove to be move that turns their season around - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=48433\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Braves&#039; last-minute signing could prove to be move that turns their season around - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the dust settled from last offseason, the biggest move the Atlanta Braves had made was to\u00a0sign Jurickson Profar. 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