Now that the Atlanta Braves have themselves a bona fide winning streak on their hands, we can get back to wondering how they are going to settle this roster. Most of the offensive pieces are in place other than Ronald Acuna Jr. who making news for other reasons and is still rehabbing his knee. As for the pitching staff and specifically their bullpen, there are a lot more moving pieces.
The Braves have clearly been trying to put together a bullpen they can have confidence in, but have struggled to settle on specific arms for specific types of situations. Raisel Iglesias is the closer, but little is understood beyond that right now.
That process continued on Easter Sunday as the Braves swung a trade for Scott Blewett with the Orioles. To make room for him on the roster, Jose Suarez was designated for assignment.
Braves trade for Scott Blewett, designate Jose Suarez for assignment
The timing of designating Suarez for assignment is a bit strange, but still has some logic to it. Coming over to the Braves in the Ian Anderson trade, Suarez's 2.45 ERA in 7.1 innings of work this year has been extremely fortunate as his walk rate has been terrible. Things had worked out okay for now, but using Suarez in close games seemed like it was asking for trouble.
As for Blewett, he has clearly been an interesting option for a number of teams the last few years despite having a truly terrible name for a reliever. In two appearances with Baltimore this year, he has not given up an earned run and struck out six batters in 4.1 innings of work. A slider/fastball/splitter reliever, Blewett gets really good extension on his pitches and generally throws a lot of strikes.
Again, this move isn't likely to make or break the Braves' season, but adding a new arm to Atlanta's bullpen certainly can't hurt at the moment. There is a decided lack of upside in the relief corps right now and Suarez wasn't helping much long-term anyways. This trade is low-risk with only some cash at stake and could end up being exactly what the Braves need right now.