Atlanta Braves Swing Trade with the New York Yankees for Lucas Luetge
The Atlanta Braves make more news as they announced a trade with the New York Yankees. The Braves acquired Lucas Luetge for Indigo Diaz and Caleb Durbin. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Braves designated Lewin Diaz for assignment.
The Atlanta #Braves tonight acquired LHP Lucas Luetge from the New York Yankees in exchange for minor-leaguers RHP Indigo Diaz and INF Caleb Durbin. To make room on the 40-man roster, Atlanta designated INF Lewin Díaz for assignment.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) December 29, 2022
The Braves acquire Luetge after the Yankees had DFA’d him last week. Luetge is a left-handed reliever that will give the Braves a third potential lefty in the bullpen. Can never have too many arms.
Luetgue was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 21st round of the 2008 draft. He would make his major league debut with the Seattle Mariners in 2012. He would remain with the Mariners organization for four seasons, bouncing between the majors and the minor leagues. He showed mixed results that never allowed him to consistenly stay in the majors. After electing free agency after the 2015 season, he would spend the 2016 through 2020 seasons as members of the Los Angeles Angels, Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Oakland Athletics minor leagues/taxi squads.
It was not until 2021 with the New York Yankees that Luetgue got another opportunity. He figured something out and was a reliable member of the Yankees bullpen for two seasons.
- 2021- 72.1 IP, 2.74 ERA, 3.32 xERA, 2.84 FIP, 3.66 xFIP, 1.13 WHIP, 25.9% strikeout rate, and 5.0% walk rate
- 2022- 57.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 3.57 xERA, 3.03 FIP, 3.95 xFIP, 1.40 WHIP, 23.9% strikeout rate, and 6.8% walk rate
The Braves send Indigo Diaz, the 23rd ranked prospect according to MLB pipeline and Caleb Durbin an infield prospect the team took in the 14th round of the 2021 draft.
Luetge is not guaranteed a roster spot just looking at the current construction of the Braves roster. However, he will be given an opportunity to compete for a spot as the team’s third lefty behind AJ Minter and Dylan Lee. The Braves did lose another lefty, Tyler Matzek, for the entire 2023 season.
Hopefully, Lucas Luetge becomes a valuable member in what looks to be a deep bullpen for the Atlanta Braves!