Braves claimed Lucas Williams, place Max Fried on 60 day IL and option Michael Soroka

Well then, we definitely had a bit of roster madness from the Atlanta Braves on their off day. Going into a pretty important series against the division rival Mets, the Braves made a series of roster moves on Monday.

Lets take care of the waiver claim first as, oddly enough, it is the move of least consequence. The Braves gain a bit of minor league depth at Triple-A, but it seems unlikely that Williams is going to see much time in the big leagues anytime soon. Pure depth move which is just fine.

Max Fried to the 60 day injured list, Michael Soroka optioned back to Triple-A

There are going to be some folks that think that Max Fried being moved to the 60 day injured list is going to mean something, but honestly it feels very much like a procedural move. By all accounts, Fried wasn't going to return until at least July anyways, so moving him to the 60 day gives the Braves some room to move with their roster while making it highly likely that it doesn't adjust his return timeline at all.

However, the move to option Michael Soroka is the bigger news here. Soroka has struggled to get back into his peak form in the majors since getting called back up as he has posted an 8.38 ERA in 9.2 innings (admittedly a very small sample). This move is a real bummer for Soroka fans (and there are many), but this move allows him to continue to try and get right and also allows the Braves to pivot to AJ Smith-Shawver whose was recently called up and had a very successful debut against the Diamondbacks.

With Soroka headed back to Triple-A, it would be tough imagine anyone other that AJSS making the start when Soroka's turn in the rotation comes as Smith-Shawver has been a starter his entire minor league career and is already stretched out. Weirder things have happened, but betting on AJ to make the start seems pretty safe.