The Atlanta Braves regular season kicks off in one week and there was a lack of clarity with the bullpen up until the last few days. There has been a flurry of moves that provide a better idea of what the Opening Day bullpen will look like.
Atlanta surprised everyone on Tuesday evening after it announced the team was signing former closer Craig Kimbrel on a minor league deal. The plan is to have him in the bullpen if things go well for him over the next month in minor league games.
Brave cut ties with lefty veteran Jake Diekman as Opening Day looms
There are still a couple of question marks but the bullpen seems to be taking shape. There was more clarity given on Wednesday afternoon as the Braves released lefty reliever Jake Diekman just days after re-assigning both he and Buck Farmer to minor league camp.
Jake Diekman's full 9th-inning duel with Aaron Judge 🔥 pic.twitter.com/eWbWpgR05P
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 24, 2024
Diekman was a non-roster invitee so there was always a good chance this would happen just as it did with catcher Curt Casali after the team signed James McCann.
He appeared in seven Grapefruit League games and pitched 7.1 innings with four runs on six hits, including a 4.91 ERA, four walks, eight strikeouts, and a respectable 45% ground ball rate. It was on par with how inconsistent the veteran has been in his career.
The main concern here was his command. Diekman has always struggled with walks and that's evident with a career 13.4% BB rate in just over 600 innings. He's been able to stay afloat thanks to a decent career strikeout rate that's around 29% and the aforementioned ground ball rate.
This likely means Aaron Bummer and Dylan Lee will be the only left-handers in Atlanta's bullpen at the start of the season. Angel Perdomo was recently traded to the Angels which made room for Kimbrel. Releasing Diekman just shows how much confidence Atlanta has in Lee and Bummer to handle a decent workload.