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BRAVES NEWS
Game gets rained out once again
The Braves are going to be playing their second doubleheader in as many weeks after their scheduled tilt against the Rangers got rained out. As a result, the Braves have decided to do a day-night doubleheader. Game 1 will start at 1:35 PM ET, and Game 2 will start at the normal SunTrust Park time of 7:35 PM ET.
Gohara set to make major league debut today
The matinee game will be a special occasion for Luiz Gohara, as he’s been tapped to make the start in the second game of this series. It would’ve happened last night if not for the rain, but the Braves have not changed up the rotation, so he’ll still make the start. Our very own Matt Powers wrote up a scouting report on Gohara so that y’all can get caught up and get an idea of what to expect from the first Brazilian to don a Braves uniform.
Braves will go with six-man rotation going forward
Gohara’s start is indicative of the fact that the Braves’ rotation has become the land of opportunity, per se. Braves beat writer Mark Bowman is reporting that the Braves have decided to go with a six-man rotation for the rest of the season, and comments from Brian Snitker seem to indicate that they’re getting a head start on evaluating what their rotation may look like for 2018.
"Going forward into next year, we don't know where these guys might fit," Snitker said. "We look at them all as starters. But if it's a situation where we can better our team by having one of the young guys pitching out of the bullpen and getting experience, then that's what we'll do."
The Braves want to get a better feel for how their rotation might look if they enter next season without adding any external options. They will need to decide whether to exercise Dickey's $8 million option, but for now, they have a decent feel for how he, Teheran, Foltynewicz and Newcomb may fit in next year's rotation.
Over the next couple weeks, they'll get a better feel for Gohara and Fried, who allowed just one run over five innings in his first career start against the Cubs on Sunday.
Santana gets moved to 60-day DL
In order to make room for Luiz Gohara on the 40-man roster, the Braves also moved Danny Santana to the 60-day disabled list. This actually came about because Santana re-injured his quad on a rehab assignment. According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves decided that they didn’t want to risk doing further damage, so he’s been shut down for the rest of the season.
Freeman is one of the rare bright spots in bullpen
It’s been a rough year for Braves relievers. Going into yesterday, the Braves relievers had combined for 0.3 fWAR, which is good for 29th out of 30 MLB teams. However, one player who’s managed to do well has been Sam Freeman. Scott decided to put the spotlight on the reliever who’s been sneakily consistent this season.
MLB NEWS
Boston stole signs from New York and other teams with Apple Watch
Oh look, a sports team from New England got caught breaking the rules in a covert manner — what a shock! This time, an MLB investigation revealed that Red Sox staffers were helping the players by using Apple Watches to steal signs from the Yankees and other teams. Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski laughed it off and suggested that the Yankees leaked the story in order to make Boston look bad with the Commissioner in town. Yeah, that’s surely going to go over well with the Commissioner visiting!
Chicago gives Derek Holland his unconditional release
The White Sox didn’t have nearly as much drama going on, but they still made a pretty big move when they put Derek Holland on waivers with a view towards giving him his unconditional release. It’s been a rough season for Holland, as our friends at South Side Sox explained here:
Holland finishes 2017 with a record of 7-14 and a 6.20 ERA - the worst of his career. In 26 starts - the most made since 2013 - Holland allowed a career-high in walks (75) and was one home run allowed shy (31) of tying his previous worst in 2012 (32). At the halfway point, Holland was 5-9 in 17 starts with a 4.91 ERA. After the All-Star game, Holland's ERA ballooned to 8.93 while allowing 37 walks with 26 strikeouts in 12 appearances (nine starts).
It's hard to tell what Holland's future is in the majors moving forward. Will a team give him an opportunity to come out of the bullpen, which didn't work in-season with the White Sox? Or, will another team give Holland one more shot to start games in 2018?