In case you missed it, the Atlanta Braves officially re-signed Joe Jiménez to a three-year deal this morning, guaranteeing him $26M over the next three years to continue to pitch out of the pen.
(And all credit to our own Jake Mastroianni for calling this right after the Pierce Johnson signing was official, nailing the three years and coming within $2M of the total contract value.)
I'm fine with the deal - I've been on the record as wondering how Atlanta would replace the six relievers hitting free agency, who accounted for around 250 innings last year. Johnson and Jiménez are the two best of that group, so locking them down early is a good move in my eyes.
But there's a disconnect here: His value is obviously different to the front office and coaching staff.
President of Baseball Operations Alex Anthopoulos obviously valued Jiménez highly - Atlanta gave up a quality asset to get him from the Tigers, sending organizational top ten prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy to Detroit in the deal. Malloy, who made the MiLB Futures Game in 2023, spent all season in AAA Toledo where he batted .277/.417/.474 with 23 homers, walking 110 times and spending time at third base and both corner outfield spots.
As we discuss how to replace Kevin Pillar as the platoon mate in left field with Eddie Rosario, it's worth noting that Malloy could have been heavily in the mix for that left field role in 2024 as well as providing quality corner infield depth on a roster that didn't really have any notable corner infield depth until the late season add of Luke Williams.
But also - it feels like manager Brian Snitker and pitching coach Rick Kranitz don't value Jiménez as highly as Alex Anthopoulos does. Seven different relievers got an opportunity to earn a save for Atlanta in 2023, yet Jiménez wasn't one of them. And that's despite him doing well in save situations - he pitched to a 2.08 ERA, allowing only three runs and striking out thirteen in the thirteen innings he appeared in which it was a save situation.
(To clarify: There's a difference in a save situation and a save opportunity. A save situation is where you enter the game as a reliever that your team is either leading by no more than three runs o the tying run is either on-deck, at the plate, or on the bases. This can happen in the ninth, or the eighth, seventh, sixth, etc. A save opportunity is pitching in a save situation and potentially being the final pitcher for your team with the ability to finish the game, so in either the ninth inning or in extras.)
Joe Jiménez performed at his BEST in save situations, allowing only a 2.08 ERA in those thirteen innings.
Despite that, do you know how many save opportunities he got?
If you guessed none, you'd be correct. He pitched in the 9th inning only eight times, and five of those were with Atlanta leading by more than five runs. He was most frequently used in the 7th (23 total appearances) and 8th innings (21 total appearances), and just as often when Atlanta was losing as when they were winning.
Now, is it possible that the coaching staff deliberately brought him along slowly, as he had a back injury that ended his 2022 season? Of course. But for a bullpen that was missing Raisel Iglesias early and saw AJ Minter struggle in the closer's role, to not give Jiménez a single save situation was an odd move indeed.
It'll be interesting to see how Jiménez is used next season in this pen - he's one of four "big money" relievers in the pen now, with the trio of closer Raisel Iglesias, Johnson, and Jiménez making a combined $31M this season and $32M in 2025. Setup man AJ Minter, in his final year of arbitration, is projected to earn $6.5M (via MLB Trade Rumors projections).
Does Atlanta use him in higher leverage situations, or do they keep him in that middle-leverage 7th & 8th inning role? Or is this a future play? As we mentioned, Minter's in his final year of arbitration. Is the plan for Atlanta to potentially move Jiménez into that setup role if Minter walks in free agency after 2024?
The re-insertion of Tyler Matzek into the mix gives you five relievers you potentially feel good about in higher leverage situations, so it'll be interesting to see the deployment next season for the Braves out of the bullpen.
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