Braves Release Tyler Kinley

The Braves have released right-hander Tyler Kinley, reports Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Kinley had been designated for assignment earlier this week. He will be a free agent as soon as he clears release waivers, if he hasn’t already.

Kinley was designated for assignment a few days ago when AJ Smith-Shawver was recalled to the big league roster. Once a player is in DFA limbo, a team only has three options. They can trade the player, put him on outright waivers or put him on release waivers. A trade of Kinley this week was not an option since the deadline has already passed. Atlanta could have gone for outright waivers but Kinley has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping his money, so the club has decided not to bother with that path.

Atlanta acquired Kinley from the Rockies at last year’s deadline. He had a great finish to the year, posting a 0.72 earned run average in 25 innings after that deal. He got a lot of help from a .156 batting average on balls in play and 96.4% strand rate but even his 2.74 FIP and 3.80 SIERA suggested he would have had good results even with more neutral luck.

Despite that strong run, Atlanta turned down a $5.5MM club option, opting instead for a $750K buyout. In January, they re-signed him with a new deal, a one-year pact with a $4.25MM guarantee. That came in the form of a $3MM salary and $1.25MM buyout on a $5.5MM club option for 2027.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been having his best season. This year’s 4.01 ERA doesn’t look too bad but Kinley is again getting a lot of help from the baseball gods. He has a .245 BABIP and 81.1% strand rate. His 5.41 FIP suggests he deserves far worse, though his 4.17 SIERA isn’t quite as bleak. Kinley’s 23.5% strikeout rate this year is decent but he is walking 11.2% of batters faced. The club decided to move on.

Unless some club claims Kinley off release waivers, Atlanta will remain on the hook for what’s left of the salary and the buyout on the club option. Assuming that Kinley is a free agent now or becomes one shortly, another club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what Atlanta pays.

He has a decent track record, with a 4.67 career ERA despite playing for the Rockies for most of that time. Since the trade deadline has passed and it’s hard to find roster reinforcements at this time of year, he should garner interest.