Atlanta Braves closer options
By Fred Owens
Alex Colome
Colome’s having a very good, if not outstanding, year. He’s appeared in 19 games and thrown 18 2/3 innings with an ugly 4.34 ERA. Most of those bad numbers arise from the first six games of the season.
In his last 13 games Colome’s pitched to a 1.98 ERA,1.62 FIP and 0.95 WHIP with a 28% K rate striking out 9.9 per nine innings pitched. So far this season he has eight saves in just 10 opportunities.
His contract is relatively inexpensive (about $3M left now) and he has two more arbitration years.
While the Rays are unlikely to need a top-notch closer this year, Colome’s two years of control will make his acquisition price rise. The shortage of staring pitching in Tampa means they’ll be looking for major league ready or near ready arms. Max Fried,
Ricardo Sanchez and another player might be enough.
Raisel Iglesias
The Reds recognized his Iglesias’ potential and locked him up in a seven-year $27M contract back in 2014. Since that time he’s be more than worth the money.
In 2017 the tall righty racked up 28 saves in 30 save opportunities posting a 2.49 ERA, 2.72 FIP and 1.11 WHIP. He appeared in 63 games throwing 76 innings and striking out 92 (11 per nine IP – 30%) and walking 27.
As well as being under contract for the next two years there’s an arbitration year there after that. The Reds don’t need a closer but they will ask a huge price for him. I suspect he’s going to cost more than I or the Braves would pay
The Mets
At some point the Mets will figure out they are in the hunt and want to move the players in their walk year. Two of those are or were closers; AJ Ramos and Jeurys Familia.
Ramos closed for the Marlins before the Mets grabbed him to back up Familia.
Ramos’ numbers don’t look great this season and he gave up three runs today but in 17 of his 22 games he allowed nothing at all. He’d probably not a player the Braves would be interested in because he does walk batters as well.
Familia saved 51 games for the Mets two years ago then ran into domestic violence issues and received a 15 game suspension last season though no formal charges were brought by authorities.
He returned to the team on April 20 but on May 11 found he had an arterial clot in his right shoulder that required surgery. Familia returned to the team again in late August and appeared in 15 games before the season ended.
This year he’s back to his closer form, pitching to a 1.89 ERA and saving 11 games in 14 opportunities. Familia makes just under $8M this season and has about $3.7M left. I expect the Mets would want more for Familia because the Braves are in the same division. His availability at the deadline might make getting one of the other options easier.