The Braves introduced Wednesday that right-hander Luke Jackson underwent Tommy John surgical procedure this morning. It was a extensively anticipated transfer after Atlanta’s prior announcement that their longtime reliever had been identified with a broken ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. The Braves had already positioned Jackson on the 60-day injured listing, however at present’s surgical procedure formally closes the guide on his 2022 season and, probably, on his time with the group. Jackson will probably be a free agent at season’s finish.
Jackson’s loss is a notable one for the Braves, because the 30-year-old righty bounced again from a career-worst marketing campaign in 2020 to put up a career-best season in 2021. In 63 2/3 frames out of Brian Snitker’s bullpen final season, Jackson logged a a career-low 1.98 ERA with a 26.8% strikeout price in opposition to an 11.1% stroll price. He yielded simply six house runs on the season and racked up 31 holds on the 12 months — second-most in all of Main League Baseball (behind Los Angeles’ Blake Treinen).
Notably, the Braves and Jackson haven’t even agreed on the right-hander’s wage for the 2022 season. A wierd wrinkle from the 99-day lockout this offseason, there are nonetheless a handful of gamers all through the league who exchanged figures with the workforce however haven’t but settled on a deal. Jackson is amongst them, submitting for a $4MM wage in opposition to the Braves’ submitting of a $3.6MM sum. Arbitration salaries are based mostly totally on prior efficiency — they’re usually sorted within the offseason — and a possible arbitration listening to would solely think about Jackson’s prior efficiency quite than his present harm standing.
After all, one would possibly wonder if the Braves would attempt to now reengage on the opportunity of a multi-year deal aimed toward holding Jackson at a lower cost level in 2023 (and maybe into 2024) than he’d have in any other case commanded. That’s purely speculative, however the Braves did put collectively a equally structured deal for veteran reliever Kirby Yates this previous winter.
If Jackson certainly merely reaches free company as scheduled, he’d hit the open market at a time when groups know he might very effectively miss a month or two of the 2023 season. That doesn’t essentially cease a Tommy John pitcher from securing a stable contract (as Yates and lots of others have proved), but it surely’d be an apparent dampener on what might’ve been some notable incomes energy for Jackson.
Even with out Jackson, the Braves nonetheless should have a powerful bullpen. Newcomers Kenley Jansen and Collin McHugh will be a part of holdovers Will Smith, Tyler Matzek and A.J. Minter as skilled late-inning choices. The aforementioned Yates is predicted to rejoin the membership in some unspecified time in the future this summer time, including one other All-Star-caliber arm to the combination. That’s to not diminish the significance Jackson held, however the Atlanta entrance workplace is definitely glad to have bolstered the aid corps over the winter now that final 12 months’s high setup choice is finished for the 12 months.
