The holiday season has arrived and we at House That Hank Built hope all of you enjoy safe travels and have lots of gifts waiting for you on Christmas morning. However, the Atlanta Braves seem to never sleep as they continue to try and round their 2025 roster into form right up until the start of the holiday break.
The Braves' roster needs in the outfield, rotation, and at shortstop have gotten most of the attention this offseason, they do need to add some bullpen depth as well. AJ Minter is still a free agent and has some outstanding health questions, Jesse Chavez might be gone for good this time, and Atlanta unexpectedly lost Joe Jimenez for at least most of the 2025 season if not all. That is a lot of innings to cover.
Atlanta has been busy combing the bargain bin this offseason looking for low-cost solutions to their bullpen needs and it appears they have added another arm into the fold in Enyel De Los Santos.
Braves Sign Enyel De Los Santos To Minor League Deal https://t.co/BnN0dpWtRe pic.twitter.com/b0KboOHlSc
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) December 24, 2024
Braves News: Atlanta signs reliever Enyel De Los Santos to minor league deal in another bullpen depth move
De Los Santos might be familiar to some Braves fans as he spend the first few years of his career with the Phillies before bouncing around the league since 2021. Most recently, he saw time with the Padres, White Sox, and Yankees in 2024 with extremely wide ranging results including some rather brutal struggles in New York.
The good news here is that De Los Santos throws reasonably hard (mid 90's) and has typically done a decent to good job generating whiffs in his career. However, he has struggled to replicate his breakout campaign with the Guardians in 2022 as issues with walks as well as maddening inconsistency when it comes to limiting hard contact have limited his effectiveness. Some years, he can keep the ball on the ground and avoid barrels. In others, opposing batters tend to square him up more than you would want.
Ultimately, there is little risk for the Braves here. De Los Santos signed a minor league deal, so Atlanta can pretty easily cut bait if things don't work out. However, if he can cut the walks down and be the sort of mid-3's ERA reliever he has been in the past that limits hard contact, he could be a sneaky good addition.