{"id":94592,"date":"2025-01-26T17:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T22:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=94592"},"modified":"2025-01-26T19:20:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T00:20:38","slug":"braves-cubs-linked-reliever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/26\/braves-cubs-linked-reliever\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves and Cubs Linked to High-Upside Reliever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to Mark Bowman, the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs are pursuing New York Mets high-upside reliever and free agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stanery01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryne Stanek<\/a>. The right-handed reliever split time in 2024 between the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/30\/mariners-trade-for-chargois\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Seattle Mariners<\/a> and the Mets, sporting a 7-3 record with a 4.88 ERA. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/26\/ryne-stanek-trade-mets-mariners\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Stanek<\/a> was traded to the Mets on his 33rd birthday on July 26th. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/player\/market-value\/_\/id\/21195\/ryne-stanek\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spotrac&#8217;s<\/a> market values Stanek on a one-year deal worth $2.6 million, making him a low-risk and high-upside piece for both the Braves and Cubs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Braves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Braves<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Cubs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Cubs<\/a> are among the teams with interest in free-agent RHP Ryne Stanek, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mlbbowman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@mlbbowman<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AKLCOS2xq7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/AKLCOS2xq7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB Deadline News (@MLBDeadlineNews) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLBDeadlineNews\/status\/1883318102253076744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Braves and Cubs Linked to High-Upside Reliever<\/h2>\n<h3>What Stanek Offers as a High-Upside Reliever<\/h3>\n<p>Both the Cubs and Braves are searching for bullpen help. While Stanek did showcase struggles in 2024, he still brings a lot to the table. His label as a high-upside reliever comes from his pitching repertoire. Stanek has a reliable fastball and slider. His fastball contains a high velocity that touches the high 90s. His slider is dominant and assists with striking out opponents when he&#8217;s on point. Stanek also has postseason experience and has pitched in key situations. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/mlb\/ask\/ryne-stanek-career-postseason-stats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">StatMuse<\/a> indicates that in his career in the postseason, he&#8217;s put up a 4-0 record with a 2.89 ERA and 29 strikeouts. Stanek also won a World Series in 2022 when he pitched for the Houston Astros.<\/p>\n<p>All these elements make Stanek a high-upside reliever who would help with the Braves and Cubs&#8217; bullpen needs. Stanek needs to work on his pitching mechanics and build his confidence while improving his surrendering home runs. Over the past couple of seasons, the number of home runs he has given up has doubled. However, his ability to reduce contact makes him a strong candidate for the Cubs and Braves.<\/p>\n<p>This is something that he has demonstrated over the past couple of seasons. In addition, he would help amplify their bullpens with his solid career 3.65 ERA, and 3.7 bWAR. Also, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/ryne-stanek-592773?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Baseball Savant<\/a>, Stanek showcased a solid whiff\u00a0 (33.2 %) and chase (32 %) last season. So far this offseason, the most significant moves from both clubs have been the addition of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/23\/all-star-outfielder-jurickson-profar-signs-braves\/\" target=\"_self\">outfielder<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/profaju01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jurickson Profar<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/10\/colin-rea-one-year-deal-cubs\/\" target=\"_self\">signings of veteran starter Colin Rea, <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/22\/cubs-add-utility-man-jon-berti\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">utility infielder<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bertijo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-01-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jon Berti, <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/26\/cubs-land-ryan-pressly-following-no-trade-clause-waiver\/\" target=\"_self\">reliever Ryan Pressly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Mark Bowman, the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs are pursuing New York Mets high-upside reliever and free agent Ryne Stanek. The right-handed reliever split time in 2024 between the Seattle Mariners and the Mets, sporting a 7-3 record with a 4.88 ERA. Stanek was traded to the Mets on his 33rd birthday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4831,"featured_media":94599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1071],"tags":[48,3886,246,4956,1138,164,2961],"class_list":["post-94592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mets","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-colin-rea","tag-houston-astros","tag-jon-berti","tag-jurickson-profar","tag-new-york-mets","tag-ryne-stanek"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94610,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94592\/revisions\/94610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}