Braves designate former All-Star Shane Greene for assignment

The Braves announced that right-hander Shane Greene has been designated for assignment. Southpaw A.J. Minter has been called up from Triple-A to take Greene’s spot on the active roster.

It has been a tough season for Greene, who didn’t land a contract in free agency until May, when he agreed to rejoin the Braves on a one-year, (prorated) $1.5M deal. Since Greene didn’t have a proper spring training, he worked out at Triple-A for a month before joining Atlanta’s bullpen, but the results simply weren’t there. Greene posted an 8.47 ERA over 19 innings for the Braves, striking out only 20.5% of batters faced and allowing five home runs.

Greene’s strikeout ability has tended to be more “above average” than elite, yet even without a blazing fastball or a big K-rate, the 32-year-old has generally posted quality numbers out of the Tigers and Braves bullpens since the start of the 2017 season. Atlanta first acquired Greene in a deadline deal in July 2019, and he pitched well for the club both in the regular season and in the last two postseasons — Greene had a 2.39 ERA over 90 1/3 innings with Detroit and Atlanta from 2019-20.

It isn’t out of the question that Greene can regain this form in 2022 with the benefit of a full spring training, though it remains to be seen if his next contract will come this winter or if another team could potentially obtain him now before his DFA period is up. Claiming Greene would require a new team to take on his remaining 2021 salary, so the likelier move is an interested club would either work out a trade with Atlanta or just wait to see if Greene is released. If Greene clears waivers, he might also accept an outright assignment to Triple-A and remain in the Braves organization.