The Braves announced that they have reacquired an infielder Brett Wisely from Misebe to get money. Atlanta pitched a reliever Joe Jiménez on the 60-day roster with what they call a “left articular cartilage injury” to make room on the 40-man roster. Atlanta made a smart trade for Tampa Bay a month ago.
Finished the ’25 season brilliantly in Atlanta. The Braves had promised him that he would not be waived by the Giants as there are a few weeks left in the season. He appeared in four games, starting three of them at second base, and went 0-6 with three walks. Wisely’s other MLB career came in San Francisco, where he hit .217/.263/.324 in 457 plate appearances over three seasons.
The left-handed hitter has a better minor league record. He is a .275/.372/.433 hitter in over 800 Triple-A plate appearances. Concept-wise he showed decent contact skills and reasonable plate technique but didn’t have much power on a 5’9″ frame. His exit velocity is at the bottom of the league and he has seven home runs in 168 career games.
Defensively he was stretched shortstop but logged nearly 300 career innings there. He has experience all over the infield and in both left field and center field. Second base is his natural position, and both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average place him well over 700 innings.
The 26-year-old is out of the minor league roster, meaning the Braves need to keep him in the big leagues or send him back to DFA limbo. They designated him for assignment last month and flipped him to the Rays, the team that started him back in 2019. Tampa Bay waived him during the outfielder trade. Victor Mesa Jr. last week.
Intrusive detection of the player being used Ben Williamson of Brendan Donovan trade made it difficult for Wise to break camp. There is a better opportunity in Atlanta with Ha-Seong Kim to start the season on the injured list. That pushed Mauricio Dubón at the starting shortstop position. Jorge Mateo their top option for use, but Wisdom can push Nacho Alvarez Jr. at the end of the bench.
The corresponding move ensures that Jiménez will be out for a long time again. The big righty missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee last November. President of baseball Alex Anthopoulos announced earlier this season that Jiménez needed another procedure. Anthopoulos called that a “cleanup” but didn’t provide any kind of timeline for the recovery.
Jiménez apparently won’t be available before the end of May at the earliest. He’s making $9MM in the final season of a three-year free agent contract that started well but was plagued by injuries. The Braves also fielded a starter Spencer Schwellenbach on the 60-day IL this morning after revealing he dealt with elbow inflammation while preparing for Spring Training. AJ Smith-Shawver, Danny Young and Kim are 60-day IL candidates themselves, so the Braves will likely be busy with a waiver wire and potential DFA trade in the next few weeks.
