So that’s one left-handed reliever that likely won’t be making the

Opening Day roster"Who’s going to be in the Atlanta Braves bullpen come Opening Day 2019? I have no idea! But http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , I now have a better idea of who’s not going to be on it...At first glance, this might seem like a bit of an odd choice. The Braves stuck with Sam Freeman through all of 2018, a year in which circumstances led to him posting a goose-egged 0.0 RA9-WAR and a team-worst -1.21 WPA. Of course, that was all mostly context, as Freeman’s 0.3 fWAR, 91 FIP-, and 94 xFIP- on the year placed him pretty much in “generic relief human” territory. Even after he spent about three weeks on the shelf with shoulder inflammation, the Braves brought him back and continued to use him through the end of the year. He was, however, left off the roster for the NL Division Series, as part of a clean relief sweep where Jesse Biddle, Dan Winkler, and Shane Carle, each of whom pitched fairly well for the team, also failed to secure a spot for the playoffs.Still, it appears as though the Braves are aspiring for something more than “this guy is a reliever,” or at least contorting their roster into something different. Or, this might just be a case of too many lefties for too few slots, as Jesse Biddle, Max Fried, and Jonny Venters would have joined Freeman in potentially stuffing the bullpen with southpaws, to say nothing of A.J. Minter’s eventual return. In any case Lou Brock Jersey , it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Sam Freeman going forward. The Braves are his fourth major league team, and he’s now appeared in parts of seven seasons as a major league reliever. though 2018 was the first time in the 31-year-old’s career in which he didn’t spend a substantial chunk of time toiling in the minors. The Braves outrighted Freeman, and as he’s been outrighted already twice before (once with the Rangers in 2015, once with the Brewers in 2016), he has the option of becoming a free agent in lieu of accepting his assignment to Triple-A — no word on that just yet.For his career, Freeman has 0.7 fWAR, 2.2 RA9-WAR, and 1.41 WPA in 226 and 2鈦? major league frames on the back of an 89 ERA-, 98 FIP-, and 104 xFIP-. His 2017 season with the Braves was a revelation, as he didn’t make the Opening Day roster but still threw 60 innings of 58 ERA-/78 FIP- ball en route to 0.6 fWAR and a spot on the 2018 division-winning team. If Freeman does find a new club in the coming days, there may be the hope it’ll use him better than the Braves did: over the last two years, Freeman posted a 3.22 FIP / 3.42 xFIP against lefties but a 3.69 FIP / 4.27 xFIP against righties, yet faced 84 more righty batters than lefty batters in this span. (As a Brave, Freeman held the platoon advantage over just 41 percent of the batters he faced.)Earlier this year, the Braves avoided arbitration with Freeman, signing a one-year, $1.575 million deal with the team. Freeman had been doing okay in Spring Training, albeit walking too many: he issued four free passes to go with eight strikeouts in eight frames. Across his 33 batters faced, those amount to a 24 percent strikeout rate and a 12 percent walk rate, both of which are pretty much in line with his expectations and tiny bit little better than his career rates. DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire wasn’t going to accept the accolades for a move that made him look like a genius.Gardenhire gave Nicholas Castellanos a rare day off Sunday, and his best hitter rewarded him with the game of his life on Monday night.Castellanos had a career-high five hits Ken Boyer Jersey , including a go-ahead homer in the seventh inning, and drove in five runs as the Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 9-5.“I’m not sure how much credit I can take for not playing Nicky when he couldn’t walk yesterday,” Gardenhire said. “I think most managers could figure that one out on their own.”Castellanos had played in 113 of Detroit’s first 118 games, but a bruised foot earned him the rare rest. He hit .216 in his previous 32 games.“I think it was good for me,” Castellanos said. “It had been a minute since I had just watched a baseball game from the bench, and it gave me a chance to see a few things from a different angle.”Castellanos singled in the first, doubled and scored in the fourth, hit an RBI double in the fifth and hit a two-run home run off Jeanmar Gomez (0-1) in the seventh.He came up again in the eighth with the bases loaded and two outs, needing a triple for the cycle, but settled for a two-run single that put the Tigers ahead 9-5.“That was a great night,” he said. “There are times when I put extra pressure on myself, because I know this is a young offense, so it is fun to have a game like this one.”It was the sixth five-RBI game of his career, including one against the White Sox on June 16. He’s hitting .419 with four homers and 14 RBIs in 43 at-bats against Chicago this season.“He started doing this to us last season,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “We come to town and it seems like he comes to life.”Louis Coleman (4-1) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief. The Tigers are 9-1 against the White Sox this season.Detroit is 3-1 since returning from a winless six-game road trip. Chicago has lost six of seven.Detroit starter Artie Lewicki allowed three runs on six hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. Chicago’s Reynaldo Lopez gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings.It was 4-4 when Castellanos lined his 17th homer into the Tigers bullpen with one out in the seventh.Adam Engel made it 6-5 with a homer off Alex Wilson in the eighth, but Victor Reyes restored the two-run lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning before Castellanos’ fifth hit.Chicago took a 3-0 lead in the third.Engel led off the inning with a double, Lewicki hit Nicky Delmonico and Yolmer Sanchez put down a bunt single to load the bases with no one out. Jose Abreu made it 1-0 with a sacrifice fly, and Daniel Palka followed with an RBI single. Avisail Garcia drove home the third run with another sacrifice fly.The White Sox were outscored 9-2 from there.“We had more opportunities to add on runs, but we left them out there,” Renteria said.Jeimer Candelario’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1 in the bottom of the third, and Victor Martinez’s RBI double in the fourth scored Castellanos. The Tigers took the lead with two runs in the fifth. After loading the bases with no one out, Jose Iglesias hit into a double play to make it 3-3 http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , and Castellanos followed with an RBI double.“Nick is the heart of our offense, though, and when he starts hitting, it is contagious,” said James McCann, who had three hits and scored three runs.Omar Navarez led off the sixth with a homer off Drew VerHagen to make it 4-4, and the White Sox started the seventh with back-to-back singles, but Coleman got out of the jam with a shallow fly ball and a double play.TRAINER’S ROOMTigers: CF JaCoby Jones was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring, and OF Mikie Mahtook was recalled from Triple-A Toledo. Mahtook started in left field. … RHP Michael Fulmer, who has been sidelined since July 20 with an oblique strain, will make a rehab start for Single-A Toledo on Tuesday or Wednesday.THOUGHTS FOR LEONYS MARTINThe Tigers have been closely following the news about Cleveland Indians outfielder Leonys Martin, who was hospitalized last week with a life-threatening bacterial infection. Martin was Detroit’s starting center fielder until he was traded to Cleveland on July 31.“Everyone here knew it was a very serious situation, and Leonys is obviously someone we care a lot about,” Gardenhire said. “It has been great to hear the updates that he’s doing better, moving around and he’s got the tubes out. It has been a scary few days.”UP NEXTThe teams play the second game of their three-game series on Tuesday, with Detroit’s Blaine Hardy (4-4, 3.83) facing Chicago’s Lucas Giolito (7-9, 6.23).