Braves add LHP Danny Young on split deal

Things the Braves love: 1) reunions; 2) relievers with roster flexibility. On Tuesday morning, the Braves were able to, if not outright kill two birds with one stone, at least lightly wound them, or something.

Let’s get the main thing out of the way, first: Danny Young had Tommy John Surgery in May, so this is not a guy that’s being added to be immediately available as an Opening Day option. Instead, it’s more of a, “Hey, maybe he comes back and is still effective, and with a split deal, we don’t even have to worry about whether or not he has option years remaining, since he lacks the service time to retain any extra salary we’ve tacked on to the contract if he rejects an outright assignment.” Ah, the hint of benefit from an added tickle of roster flexibility is the sweetest ambrosia one can taste, or something. The Mets non-tendered Young earlier this offseason, and so, the Braves are now scooping him up.

Anyway, the whole Tommy John Surgery and lengthy rehab and questions about effectiveness going forward aside, the Braves are neither unfamiliar with Young, nor should they, or anyone, look askance at his potential production. He’s appeared in small parts of four MLB seasons to date, two of those parts with the Braves, and has a combined 101 ERA-, 80 FIP-, and 80 xFIP- in 60 2/3 career innings. Over half of those innings came with the Mets in 2024, when he put up 0.2 fWAR and a 114/90/84 line that’s probably emblematic-ish of the kind of pitching he’s capable of when the sample size increases.

Young is very much a LOOGY in a league that doesn’t really have space for them any more, which is why his numbers are comparatively overlooked. He has a career 1.82 FIP and 2.45 xFIP against lefties, but those numbers increase to 4.35 and 3.90, respectively, against righties. As such, he kind of comes with a “handle with care” tag sticking out. Then again, this is sort of a tertiary concern given that before the Braves can even think about using him in games, he needs to complete his rehab and show enough to be worth calling up and using in big league action.