The Atlanta Braves front office is easily in the conversation for the best in baseball. Whether it is the past trade-deadline hauls pushing the team towards a World Series or locking up their young talent early. Braves fans have very little to complain about when it comes to players the team chooses to move on from.
One obvious recent exception to that has been Texas Rangers closer Kirby Yates. Yates was an All-Star for the Rangers and one of the prized bullpen arms expected to be moved at the deadline. Yates has posted a 1.05 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 34.1 innings. Calling this level of production anything less than elite is disingenuous.
Adding Yates back to the Atlanta bullpen is beyond tempting. Despite it being an already strong unit a reunion with Kirby would give Atlanta an elite group of arms to deploy in the postseason. Despite this, there should be a zero percent chance the Braves correct their mistake.
Kirby Yates is far out of Atlanta's price range when it comes to possible bullpen additions
The resources that Atlanta would need to spend to bring back Yates make the move implausible for two reasons. The first is the obvious fact those resources are far better spent on shortstop or in the outfield. Even if the Braves were to spend on pitching there is an easy argument to be made an addition to the rotation makes more sense.
This takes the pressure off your young arms and helps keep Max Fried and Chris Sale healthy and fresh deep into the season. What resources it would take to land Kirby Yates back in Atlanta would be better spent elsewhere and the Rangers could also help the Braves differently.
Aside from this, you have the embarrassment of spending players to add an arm you paid to leave. Errors from the Braves' front office are rare but there isn't any avoiding this one. Atlanta bought out Kirby's deal spending $1.2 million to allow the reliever to walk away. If the Braves had picked up the contract it would have been for $5.7-million for the 2024 season.
It's clockwork for Kirby. #AllStarGame pic.twitter.com/oqKcanTHqh
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) July 17, 2024
This figure now appears a bargain considering Yates' level of production. While Atlanta's decision appeared informed at the time it has aged poorly. Spending prospects on a player you willingly walked away from is a bad look. Mistakes are hard enough to admit in this business attempting to go back and overcorrect one of the few Atlanta has made doesn't line up with this team's history.
Yes, Kirby Yates back in the Atlanta pen is an obvious fit in a perfect world. However, the optics of the potential move and far greater needs rule out any possible reunion.