NORTH PORT, Fla. — Jesse Chavez returned to the Atlanta Braves once again, and he got right back to work.
The 41-year-old Chavez pitched two innings Sunday in a spring training game against the Baltimore Orioles. The right-hander allowed two runs (one earned) and three hits.
Chavez was reassigned to minor league camp after the game, which came one day after he agreed to a minor league deal with the Braves. He was released by the Texas Rangers on Friday.
Atlanta also traded right-hander Ian Anderson to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday for left-hander José Suarez. The 27-year-old Suarez is 20-29 with a 5.47 ERA in 99 career games in his MLB career, all with the Angels.
Chavez appeared in regular-season games with Atlanta in 2010 and every season from 2021-24. He faced a similar situation a year ago, when he was released by the Chicago White Sox near the end of spring training and agreed to a minor league contract with the Braves.
He was first acquired by Atlanta in a December 2009 trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. Chavez also signed minor league deals with the Braves in April 2021 and November 2022. He also was traded to Atlanta by the Chicago Cubs in April 2022.
Chavez is 12-9 with a 3.09 ERA in 186 career games with the Braves. He is 51-65 with a 4.24 ERA in 653 games overall, also playing for the Angels, Cubs, Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays.
Atlanta has been active with personnel moves leading up to Thursday’s regular-season opener against the host San Diego Padres, the same team that ended the Braves’ 2024 season by sweeping a best-of-three series in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Braves signed outfielder Alex Verdugo to a $1.5 million, one-year contract on Thursday. Former Braves closer Craig Kimbrel and catcher James McCann also agreed to minor league deals with the team last week. Veteran reliever Héctor Neris agreed to a minor league deal on March 3, then made the team’s opening-day roster.
Kimbrel and McCann were reassigned to minor league camp Sunday, and right-hander Bryce Elder was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
The traded Anderson had a 2.65 ERA and a whopping 18 walks over 17 innings this spring for the Braves, including four starts. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in early 2023, but he was fighting for a spot on Atlanta’s roster this spring.
The 26-year-old was the third overall pick in the 2016 draft by Atlanta, and he is 22-13 with a 3.97 ERA over parts of three MLB seasons. Anderson reached the majors in 2020 and won a championship ring in 2021 after pitching in four postseason games, most notably throwing five hitless innings in Game 3 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.
Anderson, though, struggled in 2022 before getting sent down, and he made 15 minor league starts last season after returning from surgery.
Suárez was signed by the Angels out of Venezuela as a teenager in 2014. He started 34 games for them from 2021-22 and became a key part of their rotation.
However, he struggled badly in early 2023, and he spent the past two years moving through the Angeles’ rotation, their bullpen and the minors while unable to recapture his previous form.
The Angels and the Braves have now made four trades during the current offseason. Los Angeles general manager Perry Minasian worked for Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos with the Blue Jays and the Braves before the Angels hired him four seasons ago.