Ervin Santana rejects Qualifying Offer, Braves sign Chien-Ming Wang

The #SMELLBASEBALL era of the Atlanta Braves is over almost as suddenly as it began, as Ervin Santana is expected to reject the Braves qualifying offer of $15.3 million and test the free agent waters.

Santana’s only year in Atlanta, and only year as a National League pitcher, saw him finish with a 14-10 record, a 3.95 ERA (the fifth time in his career he finished a season with an ERA under 4.00) in 196.0 innings pitched. Santana, if you’ll recall, was added to the Braves rotation late in the spring to make up for the losses of Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy, so, in essence, he did what he was brought in to do. He finished as the second-highest ERA among Braves’ starters (Mike Minor owns that distinction, finishing 2014 with a 4.77), but was still effective and was tied with the team-high in wins, along with Julio Teheran.

Santana’s whole reasoning for coming to the Braves was to pitch in the National League, so it’ll be interesting to see if he liked it enough to land elsewhere, or if he goes back to the American League.

With the subtraction also comes an addition, as the Braves also announced the signing of Chien-Ming Wang to a minor league contract, and an invitation to big-league spring training. Wang last pitched in a major league game in August of 2013 with the Blue Jays, and will be 35 if he makes it to the Opening Day big league roster. He has a career 62-34 record, 4.37 ERA in just over 792 career innings pitched.