Braves recall Allan Winans, place Yonny Chirinos on IL with elbow inflammation

The Braves made an expected move earlier today, recalling Allan Winans to start against the Mets. Perhaps less expected: they haven’t cut ties with Yonny Chirinos, but have instead put him on the Injured List with elbow inflammation. Chirinos, of course, is not too far removed from returning from Tommy John Surgery, but this seems more like a way to generate roster space than a legitimate ailment, given that Chirinos was able to make a start a couple of days ago.

Winans has made two career starts to date, both coming earlier this season. Both have had good K/BB ratios and have kept the ball on the ground (zero homers yielded yet); the Braves dropped his debut and won the other game, where he ended up throwing seven innings without being charged a run against the Mets, whom he will also face tonight. Winans’ Triple-A performance (3.92 FIP, 4.14 xFIP) is notably worse than what he’s done in those two major league starts to date, which isn’t strange given that it’s been two starts, but it is somewhat quirky.

Chirinos will hit the inactive portion of the roster after putting up five starts with a 208 ERA-, 123 FIP-, and 86 xFIP- for the Braves. Though much maligned, he’s actually pitched pretty well on a K/BB basis, especially when you consider that through the first 18 batters of those five outings, he’s posted a more-than-fine 4.10 FIP and 3.56 xFIP with a 20/5 K/BB ratio. It’s only after that that things have gone south, with a 2/2 K/BB ratio and two homers allowed in just 15 batters faced after the 18th batter of the game. In any case, this move gives the Braves essentially a few starts in which to determine whether they want Winans or someone else to be grabbing turns in the rotation over Chirinos. It’s a pretty low-stakes move since we’re really just talking about which 0ish WAR guy gets to hang out on the active roster, but with the Braves being where they are, there isn’t much else to tinker with, either.