Braves place Chris Martin on injured list with esophageal constriction, claim Robbie Erlin off waivers

The tenure of Chris Martin with the Braves has been largely good with a couple notable exceptions. Last year in the playoffs, Martin was injured early in the series against the Cardinals while warming up and a lot of people think that if he had been healthy for that series, the Braves would have moved on to the next round. Such is life.

Martin had himself quite the 2019 season as a reliever. With the Rangers and Braves last year, he posted a 1.1 fWAR season with a 2.25 ERA while striking out 10.51 batters per nine innings. Martin was expected to play a big role in the Braves’ bullpen yet again.

However, we have arrived at another speed bump.

I am going to be completely honest and say that I don’t know what an esophageal constriction is beyond what can be easily Googled, although the first thing that pops to mind was the injury that old friend Erick Aybar suffered when he was a Brave that involved a chicken bone getting lodged in his throat....so lets hope that isn’t what happened. Chad Sobotka will replace Martin on the roster in the meantime.

The Braves also made a move to claim lefty reliever Robbie Erlin off of waivers from the Pirates. Before his time with the Pirates, Erlin spent six seasons with the Padres with middling results.