Well, it didn’t take long after declining Tyler Kinley’s option for the Braves to go ahead and do the same thing to Pierce Johnson.

Like Kinley, Johnson was also acquired from the Rockies in a Trade Deadline deal, back in 2023. He was lights out after the trade (17/66/48 ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-), and because he checked a lot of boxes the Braves like (or liked?) including z-whiff and a hard breaking pitch, they locked him up on a two-year deal that paid him $7 million in each of 2024 and 2025, and also came with a club option for another $7 million for 2026. Well, he probably isn’t getting that $7 million for 2026, at least not from the Braves at this point.

Johnson’s 2024 was pretty good — 0.5 fWAR, 89/91/90. Not dominant stuff, but basically your sort of generic better-than-average reliever guy

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