The Braves have made and will make several roster moves on Monday and Tuesday. A rundown on the latest decisions, moves and injuries:
> Utilityman Micah Johnson was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett and utilityman Adonis Garcia was reactivated from the disabled list Monday, as expected.
> Infielder Johan Camargo will be activated Tuesday. He was initially scheduled to return Monday, but after speaking with Gwinnett manager Damon Berryhill, they felt Camargo was “rusty,” so he’d get another day of work. The infielder went 0-for-3 with a walk in Gwinnett’s season finale.
> Utilityman Danny Santana is a possibility to be reactivated Tuesday, but Snitker said Santana’s health is still “iffy.” He may wait another week.
> One of the more prominent questions for the Braves as September approached was how the infield surplus would play out. That mystery has been partly solved. Snitker said Rio Ruiz will receive the bulk of the starts at third base. Johan Camargo, who will be activated Tuesday, will spell him and play sparingly.
“He’s probably not going to split time,” Snitker said of Camargo. “He’ll be worked in. He’s another one that’s not physically able to go out and play five games in a row, three games in a row. So probably just pick and choose. There will be no structure. He’ll get time at the end of a game, double switches, defensive moves, stuff like that, pinch-hitting. But right now, to say he can come in and play every day is a probably a little bit far-fetched.”
That said, Snitker stopped short of calling Ruiz the everyday third baseman.
“I don’t know about primary,” he said. “We can afford to give Camargo a start here and there, and Adonis if we wanted to could go out and start. Just kind of mix it up, probably go day-to-day, see how everyone’s feeling, the matchups, things like that.”
> Starter Max Fried shined in his first major-league start, going five innings and allowing four hits and run while defeating the defending world champion Cubs at Wrigley Field Sunday. The Braves will determine his role for the rest of September in the next few days.
> Catcher Tyler Flowers was nicked on the wrist by a foul ball on Aug. 30, placing him on the disabled list. He's ahead of schedule in his return.
“I saw him out there throwing just now,” Snitker said. “He’s actually coming around a little quicker, with all the bruising he had. We’ll see him sooner rather than later, see him hitting a bit. With the number of bruises he had in that hand and wrist, I think he’s coming around a lot better than what he anticipated in the beginning.”
> Garcia’s role is undefined moving forward. Snitker said he’ll be available off the bench starting Monday, and his playing time will be dictated by the situations.
“Again, there’s a guy, he’s starting over, pretty much,” Snitker said. “He was down so long and really didn’t have enough minor-league rehabilitation to really get his body in condition to play a whole lot. So it’ll be sparingly, but he played left, right and third base in his rehabs that he did have. But he’s still kind of getting in shape, getting his body back. That’s a guy who had surgery on his hand. I’d venture to say the strength in his hand is about 80 percent right now. But he doesn’t’ have any pain, he’s healthy, everything is structurally good. It’ll be good for him, we have that pitching machine that can amp up, do breaking balls, things like that. It’ll be good for him to get here every day working out and pinch-hit.”
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