There is no doubt Alex Anthopoulos and the Atlanta Braves will be chasing pitching entering the off-season. The pursuit of arms will consist of searching for starters and relievers. Vacancy for these candidates came into place on Tuesday with two relievers electing free agency.
Relief pitchers Lucas Luetge and Dereck Rodriguez have elected free agency. This is not exactly a huge loss for the Atlanta Braves since neither one of these players made many appearances and struggled when they did see the mound.
Luetge appeared in a total of 12 games for the Braves. He posted an ERA of 7.24 across 13.2 innings pitched. Command was a big issue of Luetge's in his time with Atlanta as he issued a total of 7 free passes in those 13.2 innings.
Rodriguez appeared in only three games. He allowed eight earned runs across just 4.2 innings pitched. This equals out to an ERA of 15.43. Much like Luetge, throwing strikes for Rodriguez did not come easy in 2023. He walked four batters in his 4.2 innings of work.
Both of these relievers only spent the 2023 season with the Atlanta Braves. Alex Anthopoulos took a risk on these arms in hopes of improving the bullpen but it unfortunately did not pan out.
The good news is that both of these individuals were low-risk, high-reward players. The Braves gave Luetge a 1 year/$1.5 million dollar deal and Dereck Rodriguez was on the league minimum contract of $720,00 for 2023.
The Atlanta Braves may not be missing too much with the loss of either player come 2024 but we still wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Both of these pitchers have potential and have been on a Major League Baseball mound for a reason. The Atlanta Braves were just not the organization for them to find success.