Braves re-sign Joe Jimenez to 3-year, $26 million contract.

The Atlanta Braves brought back another key bullpen piece Thursday, signing right-hander Joe Jimenez to a three-year deal worth $26 million.

Jimenez, 28, enjoyed a solid first season with the Braves, posting a 3.04 ERA in 59 appearances with 73 strikeouts over 56⅓ innings. He emerged midway through the season as one of Atlanta’s most reliable relievers and posted a 2.27 ERA over his final 41 appearances.

The Braves announced Jimenez’s new deal eight days after also re-signing Pierce Johnson, another key reliever who returned to Atlanta on a two-year, $14.25 million deal.

Jimenez and Johnson had been among a group of Braves relievers who either had 2024 options on their contracts or were set to become free agents.

Atlanta still must decide on options for left-hander Brad Hand ($7 million with a $500,000 buyout) and right-handers Kirby Yates ($5.75 million with a $1.25 million buyout) and Collin McHugh ($6 million with a $1 million buyout) before the start of free agency next Monday.

Jimenez, who agreed to donate 1% of his salary to the Atlanta Braves Foundation, spent his first six seasons with the Detroit Tigers before being traded to Atlanta last December. An All-Star with the Tigers in 2018, he is 19-22 with a 4.86 ERA in 356 career games.

Read More: Players who may not return for Atlanta in 2024.

The Atlanta Braves list of non-tender candidates was released as the deadline for non-tender contracts looms.

The MLB offseason is underway for the Atlanta Braves and they’ll have some very important decisions to make with the 2024 roster. Following up a team that was one of the best in baseball’s history will be no small feat.

To do so, they will have to make some tough decisions including non-tendering contracts to some parts of that 2023 team.

MLB Trade Rumors released their list of non-tender candidates for this offseason and there are a few Braves on that list. Some of them definitely seem like they will be non-tendered by Atlanta but there are a couple that may be kept.

There were three position players on the list for Atlanta including Nicky Lopez, Andrew Velasquez, and Sam Hilliard. The six remaining players are pitchers and include Kolby Allard, Yonny Chirinos, Ben Heller, Michael Soroka, Michael Tonkin, and Huascar Ynoa.

Nicky Lopez is a player I’d love to see the Braves retain but they may want to try and save that almost $4 million to go after another player. Lopez seems like a great fit for the team, however, Sam Hilliard could also be someone the team opts to bring back as well.

As for the pitchers on this list, Atlanta likely will non-tender all of them. Soroka may have a case to come back but with how much he’s struggled, the Braves may have run out of patience with the young right-hander.

It’s a shame because Soroka is one of the players I have been rooting the most for and hoped could return to form. He’s just been horribly unlucky over the last few years.

The failure of the Braves to win in the playoffs will certainly help determine some of the decisions made by the front office. Their starting pitching health once again affected them. They’ll want to look to free agents like Sonny Gray or Aaron Nola to add a third dependable arm to the rotation, especially with doubt surrounding Charlie Morton’s future.

Even if Morton returns, adding one of those two names could really help add some cushion to the rotation, especially around playoff time. The offense really doesn’t need much tweaking other than maybe finding someone to play left field if they don’t want to bring Rosario back. I suspect most of the focus will be on pitching for the most part.

The deadline to non-tender contracts is set for November 17, 2023. Whatever decisions the Braves make, we will be here to report them as they occur.