Christmas time is approaching. We've all made more gingerbread houses, and fresh baked cookies than we could possibly eat. We've spent way more time shopping than we would like to. And the baseball world has just kept on churning. As we inch closer to the holiday, the baseball transactions become less and less frequent.
However, the offseason never fully halts until opening day, and with the majority of us being busy partaking in those activities listed above, it is easy to miss out on some notable Braves news. That's why we have you covered.
Although there weren't many roster moves made during the past couple of days, the Braves still had a few news-worthy things pop up that you may have missed. We will get you caught up on each of those in this news roundup.
What will I do with my Matt Carpenter Braves' jersey?
The veteran power-hitting lefty, Matt Carpenter was brought in from San Diego in a multi-player deal just a couple days ago. The Braves made that trade for reliever Ray Kerr, knowing Carpenter didn't figure into their 2024 plans.
However, unlike Braves' legends Max Stassi and Marco Gonzales, the Braves were unable to flip Carpenter's bad contract into any kind of return. After those failed attempts to trade the veteran, Atlanta decided to outright release Carpenter yesterday morning.
Matt Carpenter has been released. The Braves initially hoped to be able to trade his bad contract like they had Stassi’s and Gonzales’.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) December 18, 2023
5 Braves make All-MLB teams
Award season has officially come to a close. Things ended a few short days ago, when Ronald Acuña Jr. was announced as the NL Hank Aaron Award winner, and the All-MLB first and second teams were announced. In total the Braves had five representatives among both teams, tying the Texas Rangers for the most in baseball.
The All-MLB first team was repped by three Braves, headlined by the NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. Alongside him is flamethrower Spencer Strider, and power hitting corner infielder Austin Riley. On the All-MLB second team, Matt Olson was selected after leading baseball in homers, as well as his infield buddy Ozzie Albies.
Congrats Ronald, Austin, Spencer, Matt and Ozzie!#AllMLB pic.twitter.com/h28iLuGlVV
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) December 17, 2023
C.J. Nitowski joins the booth
The last bit of news we have to recap for you is the addition to the Braves broadcast booth. It was announced yesterday that Braves broadcaster, Jeff Francouer would be reducing his schedule to about 20 games in 2024 to spend more time with his family.
As a result, yesterday the Braves announced the hiring of former MLB pitcher and Rangers analyst, C.J. Nitowski as a new member of Atlanta's broadcast team. He has spent the last seven seasons with the Rangers, and before that pitched ten seasons in the big leagues.
The broadcast will certainly sound different next year, but the change to Brandon Gaudin as lead play by play last year was a resounding success, so let's hope C.J. can follow in those same footsteps. He is at least trying to endure himself to Braves country by poking fun at himself on social media.
My contributions to @Braves baseball goes back nearly 30 years when #10 hit his 10th career HR vs. me in my 3rd career start.
— CJ (@CJNitkowski) December 18, 2023
It was his first career HR batting right-handed. I know this because he told me 9 years later in Braves Spring Training in 2004. I appreciated that. 😂 pic.twitter.com/ybrlI1dGmI