Hot stove season has officially arrived.
The Major League Baseball General Managers meetings are currently happening in Las Vegas, and the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers completed a trade on Wednesday.
The Rangers have acquired starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi and cash considerations from the Braves in exchange for pitcher Kolby Allard. Each organization confirmed that the trade is official.
The Atlanta Braves today acquired LHP Kolby Allard from the Texas Rangers in exchange for RHP Jake Odorizzi and cash.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) November 9, 2022
We've acquired RHP Jake Odorizzi and cash considerations from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for LHP Kolby Allard. pic.twitter.com/F5GVumKb9E
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) November 9, 2022
Odorizzi — who turns 33 next March — has pitched with the Braves, Houston Astros (the Braves acquired him from the Astros ahead of the 2022 trade deadline), Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, and Kansas City Royals. He made the American League All-Star team in 2019 with the Astros when he had a 3.51 ERA and 3.36 FIP over 159 innings pitched.
In 2022, Odorizzi had a 4.40 ERA and 4.28 FIP over 106 1/3 innings. The right-hander was much more effective with the Astros than Braves, registering a 3.75 ERA and 3.61 FIP for Houston over 60 innings (compare that to 5.24 ERA and 5.14 FIP with Atlanta). For his career, Odorizzi has a 3.99 ERA and 4.16 FIP over 1,253 1/3 innings.
Allard returns to the organization he came up with. The Braves drafted Allard with the 14th overall pick of the 2015 MLB Draft, and he pitched eight innings as a 20-year-old rookie with Atlanta in 2018. He was traded to the Rangers in July 2019 for well-traveled relief pitcher Chris Martin. The left-hander really struggled for Texas in 2022, putting together a 7.29 ERA and 7.87 FIP over 21 innings pitched, but he’s still young and with upside at 25 years old.
Odorizzi is owed $12.5 million as part of a player option that he exercised for 2023, but the Braves are sending $10 million to the Rangers, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.Com.
The Braves are sending $10 million to the Rangers in the Odorizzi trade, per source.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 10, 2022
The Braves followed up their World Series title in 2021 with a 101-win season in 2022. Meanwhile, the Rangers were one of baseball’s disappointments with 68 wins after a highly eventful offseason last winter.
