Atlanta Braves sign Josh Outman, DFA Tyler Pastornicky, finalize two other deals
Today the Atlanta Braves continued their wild offseason by announcing a trifecta of offseason signings, including a deal unheard of until now: a one-year contract for left-handed reliever Josh Outman.
In tandem with the Outman news, the team made deals with catcher A.J. Pierzynski and right-handed reliever Jason Grilli.
#Braves announce the signing of 3 free-agent players; RHP Jason Grilli (@GrillCheese49), LHP Josh Outman and catcher A.J. Pierzynski.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) January 7, 2015
Pierzynski signed a one-year deal with the club, while Grilli signed a two-year $8.25 million contract with a $3 million club option for 2017.
These moves created the need for space on the 40-man roster for Atlanta, and according to MLB.com reporter Mark Bowman, Tyler Pastornicky is going to be DFA’s to make that space available:
The #Braves will DFA Tyler Pastornicky to create a spot on their 40-man roster for today's three signings.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) January 7, 2015
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The best thing Outman brings to the table for the Braves is easily his name, which is undoubtedly an 80-grade name for a pitcher (likely a 20-grade name for a hitter). Aside from that, there’s not too much to get excited about with this signing.
Outman is a 30-year-old LOOGY who is coming off of the worst season of his career, splitting time with the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees. He finished the 2014 campaign with a 2.86 ERA, 4.83 FIP and 4.13 xFIP in 28.1 innings of work. He actually struck out more batters (8.26) per nine innings last season than his career mark (7.41), but walked batters at a career-high rate (5.08 per nine) and gave up more homers per nine innings than any season aside 2012 with the Colorado Rockies.
Adding a lefty to the pen has been a need for the team this offseason, but Outman likely isn’t the caliber of player many were hoping for. If the team’s eyes are set for the future though, I’ve got no problems with the deal and signing him a year after his worst MLB season might lend a bit of value to the team this season if he can figure things out again.
According to Chris Cotillo, Outman’s contract has a base salary of $925,000 with $475,000 in potential bonuses based on appearances.
Aside from Outman, it is a bit disappointing to see Pastornicky get DFA’d for me personally. The 25-year-old infielder was one of the first Atlanta prospects I ever wrote about, and I’ll admit that I was pretty high on him four years ago.
The move from a baseball standpoint makes sense though, as Pastornikcy has been worth a combined -1.4 WAR in 124 total major league games. His hit tool has never really played in the bigs and even though he can play multiple positions, he can play none of them at an above-average level and is likely a below-average defensive infielder.
Hopefully Pastornicky can figure things out at some point, because he still has the tools to be a useful player off of the bench for someone.