The Atlanta Braves made a lot of trades this offseason.
The most notable deal was trading two pitchers, Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips, to the Seattle Mariners for a three-player package headlined by former top prospect Jarred Kelenic, who Atlanta is installing as the everyday left fielder.
After the news broke last month that Phillips, a 2nd-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, needed a second Tommy John surgery and wouldn't be available to pitch in 2024, Seattle was placing their hopes onto Kowar and his transition to a reliever to get some sort of contribution out of the deal.
Well, about that.
MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that Kowar will need Tommy John surgery and is expected to miss the entire 2024 season.
It's a tough break for Seattle, who was undoubtedly happy to shed the salaries in the deal - $12.25M owed to starter Marco Gonzalez and $17M owed to Evan White - but could have used Kowar in 2024.
(Atlanta subsequently traded both players, with Gonzalez joining the Pittsburgh Pirates and White joining the Los Angeles Angels. Atlanta does still have some lingering monies owed to both players on their CBT calculations for 2024.)
Seattle's dealt from their strength of relief pitching in recent seasons, with Prelander Berroa (Chicago White Sox), Justin Topa (Minnesota Twins), Isaiah Campbell (Boston Red Sox), Paul Sewald (Arizona Diamondbacks), and the duo of Trevor Gott and Chris Flexen (New York Mets) all leaving the organization since just last summer.
Combining those deals with the injuries to current reliever Matt Brash (elbow) and Gregory Santos (teres major) means that Seattle could potentially suffer a relief crunch to start 2024, but both relievers are expected to return to spring training action soon.
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