*Photo from the San Francisco Chronicle*
The Atlanta Braves have signed LHP Drew Smyly to a one year, $11 million deal, according to a statement by the team released today. Smyly, on a one year deal, is the low risk, high reward one year signing that the Braves seem to have a niche for recently, as Josh Donaldson and Marcell Ozuna are the proof of that.
Smyly spent the short 2020 season with the San Francisco Giants. He posted a record of 0-1 with a 3.42 ERA in 7 appearances for the Giants, with 5 of those being starts. Smyly allowed just two homers all season, as well as just 9 walks, striking out 42 hitters. In his 7 year major league career, Smyly has an even 35-35 record with a 4.13 ERA in 188 appearances, with 111 of those being starts. Smyly has spent his time in the majors with the Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Giants.
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos commented on the signing of Smyly, saying that "This is an upside play, no doubt about it, obviously, we'll find out eight months from now, 10 months from now how it worked out. But we think Drew has tremendous upside. He's only scratched the surface. We feel like he's just about to really emerge to have the best years of his career. Once we made that determination, we signed him to a healthy, strong deal. Hopefully all sides will win and he'll have a great year."
Smyly will bring some critical depth to a battered Braves rotation, as Mike Soroka is working his way back from a season ending injury, and Cole Hamels was only able to make one start in an Atlanta uniform before hitting free agency once again. The Braves also buried Mike Foltynewicz in the minors after a mysterious velocity drop in his first start of the year, resulting in a bad outing. As of right now, Ian Anderson and Max Fried appear to be the only two locks for the Braves starting rotation.
Comments
Post a Comment