The Atlanta Braves have once again made a move in waiver claims late in the regular season in order to set up for the offseason. Earlier this month, the Braves claimed Ha-Seong Kim off waivers almost immediately
after it was reported that he had even been available in the first place. Now, the Braves have taken a bit more time to hop on acquiring another intriguing piece for the offseason: RHP Alek Manoah has been claimed off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays and has been placed onto Atlanta’s 40-man roster.
Ozzie Albies has been moved to the 60-Day IL but that figured to be inevitable once the Braves figured out a way to make use of the open spot on the roster that moving Albies to the 60-Day IL would create. Acquiring Manoah figures to be the move. Manoah hasn’t pitched since the 2024 season and even then, he only got 24.1 innings under his belt across five starts before going under the knife for Tommy John surgery. Even before that, Manoah had a very disappointing 2023 season where he finished with a 5.87 ERA (138 ERA-) and a 6.01 FIP (138 FIP-) and -0.4 fWAR over 19 starts and 87.1 innings pitched. He was activated from the IL earlier this month and the Blue Jays simply stashed him in Triple-A instead of bringing him in to help contribute to their run to a potential AL East division championship.
What makes Manoah intriguing is that he does have a coiple of successful seasons under his belt. He made 20 starts and pitched 111.2 innings with an ERA of 3.22 (72 ERA-) and a FIP of 3.80 (89 FIP-) for 2.0 fWAR during a successful rookie campaign in 2021. He followed that up with what seemed like a breakout season where he nearly pitched 200 innings across 31 starts and finished with a 2.24 ERA (58 ERA-), a 3.35 FIP (85 FIP-), giving him 3.9 fWAR for the 2022 season. He also finished third in AL Cy Young voting that season, made the All-Star Game and even received MVP votes as well.
Obviously, the Braves are hoping that a change of scenery and new opportunities here could lead to him reclaiming the success from 2021 and 2022 that’s eluded him ever since then. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be in the rotation for next season, as he’s clearly in a position where he’ll need to compete and battle for a rotation spot during spring training next year. However, the Braves clearly think he’s worth the effort of a potential salvage job and that’s why he’s with Atlanta’s organization now.
