When the Atlanta Braves traded for Joe Jimenez, the hope was that he would bring his impressive swing and miss stuff and that the dramatic reduction in his walk rate during his last year in Detroit was going to stick. It wasn't a move without risk as they had to send highly touted hitting prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy to get him and Jimenez was dealing with a back issue at the time. Given all of that and his track record with the Tigers, there was no guarantee that he was going to be worth what the Braves gave up to get him.
Fortunately, Jimenez soon became a key arm in the Braves' bullpen, Sure, he would have outings that weren't perfect and he wasn't the Braves' guy for the highest leverage situations, but he was just very solid in that 7th/8th inning role. Atlanta seems to agree with that and decided to bring him back on a three year deal.
#Braves Sign RHP Joe Jiménez: pic.twitter.com/pHtIbPtFVR
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) November 2, 2023
Braves sign Joe Jimenez to three year, $26 million deal
Giving over $8.5 million a year for three years ($) to a non-closing reliever is a non-trivial amount of money, but Jimenez certainly worth that. In 59 appearances in 2023 for the Braves, Jimenez posted a 3.04 ERA with 73 strikeouts in 56.1 innings of work. Occasionally he was bit by giving up some loud contact to be sure, but he throws a lot of strikes and misses bats. Having him in the Braves' bullpen again is win, plain and simple.
Getting this deal done early along with Pierce Johnson's deal gives the Braves some certainty going into the meat of the offseason. Alex Anthopoulos is notorious for striking early on extensions and in free agency and it looks like he knows what he wants to do this offseason and getting the bullpen solidified is the first step towards that.