Luetge was designated for assignment by Atlanta on Tuesday.
This move clears out space on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters for young right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver, who is joining Atlanta's bullpen ahead of Tuesday night's game against the Athletics. Luetge had yielded 11 earned runs through 9.2 innings this season with the NL East leaders.
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Braves' Lucas Luetge: Activated from IL
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Luetge (biceps) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list Friday.
Left bicep inflammation forced Luetge to the injured list April 17, but he is now ready to return to Atlanta's bullpen. The 36-year-old looked rather unimpressive prior to his injury, surrendering six earned runs in 6.2 frames across five appearances. However, Luetge struck out three batters over 1.2 scoreless innings during his lone rehab outing with Double-A Mississippi, so perhaps he can return to form quickly.
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Braves' Lucas Luetge: Set for rehab assignment
Rotowire
Luetge (biceps) will begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Mississippi on Tuesday.
Luetge has been sidelined for the last month with left biceps inflammation but has been cleared to test things out in game action. He figures to need at least a couple rehab appearances before rejoining Atlanta's bullpen.
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Braves' Lucas Luetge: Hits IL with bicep injury
Rotowire
Atlanta placed Luetge on the 15-day injured list Monday with left bicep inflammation.
So long as Luetge's injury isn't anything more than the minor inflammation and he's able to resume throwing within a few days, he should be in store for a brief stint on the shelf. He had given up at least one run in all but one of his five relief appearances on the campaign, pitching to a 8.10 ERA and 1.80 WHIP across 6.2 frames.
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Braves' Lucas Luetge: Snags win in opener
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Luetge (1-0) picked up the win Opening Day against the Nationals, allowing one run on two hits over one inning of relief.
The southpaw replaced Max Fried (hamstring) in the fourth inning with Atlanta ahead 4-1, and the Nats never came close to tying the score. Luetge is expected to begin the season in middle relief -- even with Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) on the shelf, A.J. Minter and potentially Dylan Lee are still ahead of Luetge on the depth chart from the left side. Atlanta's offense is potent enough that Luetge could vulture some wins, something the 36-year-old did eight times over the last two seasons with the Yankees.
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Braves' Lucas Luetge: Clean outing Thursday
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Luetge struck out one in a perfect eighth inning during Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Mets.
A.J. Minter worked the ninth, as manager Brian Snitker perhaps offered a preview of how he intends to deploy his bullpen lefties while Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) is on the shelf. Luetge, who has a 7:1 K:BB this spring through 5.2 innings, posted strong numbers for the Yankees the last two seasons in middle relief but managed only nine holds in 107 appearances. He could wind up seeing more high-leverage work for Atlanta in 2023.
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Braves' Lucas Luetge: Gets $1.55 million from Atlanta
Rotowire
Luetge signed a one-year, $1.55 million contract with Atlanta on Friday to avoid arbitration, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
Luetge was just picked up via trade from the Yankees a couple weeks ago. The left-hander holds a 2.71 ERA over the last two seasons and is expected to fill a middle-relief role.
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Braves' Lucas Luetge: Shipped to Atlanta
Rotowire
Luetge was traded by the Yankees to Atlanta on Wednesday in exchange for Indigo Diaz and Caleb Durbin.
After being designated for assignment by the Yankees last week, Luetge will get another chance to contribute to a major-league bullpen in Atlanta. Coming off the heels of a 2.67 ERA season through 57.1 innings, the veteran lefty has seemingly revived his career since joining the Yankees in 2021. However, Luetge will turn 36 in March, so it's worth wondering how long it will be before he starts to decline.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Notches third win
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Luetge (3-3) earned the win over the Orioles on Friday, allowing one hit and striking out three batters over 2.1 scoreless innings.
Yankees starter Jameson Taillon struggled through 2.2 innings, and Luetge was brought in to relieve him with the bases loaded and two outs in the third. Luetge got Austin Hays to foul out to end the threat, and he went on to pitch two more clean frames, allowing just one baserunner. The southpaw has gone at least two innings in three of his past seven outings and has allowed only two earned runs while posting a 17:2 K:BB over 12.1 frames during that stretch.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Collects three-inning save
Rotowire
Luetge recorded his first save of the season in Friday's 12-5 win over the Red Sox, allowing a hit and a walk over 3.1 scoreless innings while striking out six.
The Yankees held a 9-5 lead when Luetge took the mound and they just kept adding to it, so the 35-year-old was left in the game to notch a rare three-inning save. Luetge has been scored upon only once in 12 appearances since the beginning of June, posting a 0.51 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 15:5 K:BB through 17.2 innings over that stretch while also chipping in a win and two holds. Despite that success, he remains in a fairly low-leverage role in the New York bullpen.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Win in relief
Rotowire
Luetge (2-2) earned the win Tuesday against the Twins. He allowed zero runs on one hit and zero walks over 1.2 innings.
After an early exit from starter Jameson Taillon, Luetge took over and pitched well, despite not accruing any strikeouts. He pitched well enough to earn the win -- his first since April 9 -- but his ERA still sits at 5.14.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Notches hold Wednesday
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Luetge earned a hold against Baltimore on Wednesday, allowing one walk and striking out one batter over two-thirds of an inning.
Luetge handled the top of the eighth inning for New York and retired two batters around a walk to Trey Mancini. The left-hander finished with his third straight scoreless outing and his fourth hold of the campaign. He has appeared in four games over the past seven days after making only three appearances across the first 18 days of May.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Earns win in relief
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Luetge (1-0) was credited with the win over Boston on Saturday, pitching a scoreless inning during which he walked one and struck out two batters.
The southpaw entered the contest with the score tied in the sixth inning and retired Boston on 16 pitches. He earned his first win of the campaign when the Yankees scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Luetge figures to be a key middle-relief arm for New York this season after posting a 2.74 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 78:15 K:BB across 72.1 innings in 2021.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Agrees to one-year deal
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Luetge signed a one-year, $905,000 contract with the Yankees on Tuesday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.
Luetge saw his first big-league action since 2015 last season and pitched well for New York with a 2.74 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 78:15 K:BB over 72.1 innings. The 34-year-old should have a spot in the major-league bullpen to open 2022 with a decent showing in spring training.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Secures first save since 2012
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Luetge earned the save against the Red Sox on Wednesday by retiring the only batter he faced.
Aroldis Chapman started the ninth inning with the Yankees holding a four-run lead, but the team turned to Luetge after the veteran closer gave up a homer along with two additional baserunners. Luetge battled Kevin Plawecki for nine pitches before inducing a groundout to end the game. The save was Luetge's first since his rookie 2012 campaign. Per Max Goodman of SI.com, the left-hander went 3,284 days between saves.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Covers two innings as opener
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Luetge allowed a run on two hits and struck out one in two innings in a no-decision versus Kansas City on Wednesday.
Serving as an opener in his first major-league start, Luetge gave up a hit in each of his two innings and allowed Whit Merrifield to score on a Salvador Perez groundout. Luetge has been an effective bullpen arm for the Yankees this year, pitching to a 2.82 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 61:9 K:BB through 54.1 innings overall. He's added three holds and two blown saves, but he has yet to see a large run of high-leverage work.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Opening Wednesday's game
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Luetge is slated to serve as the Yankees' opening pitcher in Wednesday's game against the Royals, Meredith Marakovits of YES Network reports.
With six starting pitchers currently residing on the injured list, the Yankees will turn to Luetge to lead off a bullpen game in the series finale. Luetge has maxed out at four innings this season, but since he hasn't covered more than two frames since April, the Yankees may not ask him to go more than once through the batting order. Brody Koerner -- who had been starting at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before being called up Aug. 3 -- could be a candidate to fill multiple innings behind Luetge.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Tagged with second loss
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Luetge (4-2) allowed two unearned runs on two hits and a walk while striking out two in one inning to take the loss against the Mariners on Sunday.
Luetge was somewhat unlucky in his outing, as Abraham Toro reached on a fielding error to lead off the inning before he gave up a walk and a double. However, the runs that came across during the inning were the only two runs of the game, so the southpaw was forced to settle for his first loss since June 30. Luetge hasn't allowed any earned runs in 10.2 innings across his last nine outings, and he's posted a 2-1 record during that time.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Fans four, earns relief win
Rotowire
Luetge (4-1) earned the win in relief Saturday against the Marlins after tossing two scoreless innings, giving up one hit and fanning four.
Luetge has been pitching very well of late and extended his streak of scoreless appearances to six outings, a stretch in which he's posted an excellent 12:1 K:BB while also going more than one inning three times. The left-hander posted a strong 2.00 ERA and an excellent 12.0 K/9 across eight July appearances, but a concerning 1.44 WHIP suggests he outpitched his ERA during that same span.
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Yankees' Lucas Luetge: Pitches two perfect frames
Rotowire
Luetge struck out four without allowing a hit or a walk over two innings in Wednesday's win over Tampa Bay.
After Nestor Cortes gave New York five strong innings as the starter, Luetge came on for the sixth and seventh frames with the score tied 1-1. The left-hander retired all six batters he faced, collecting two punchouts in each of his frames. Luetge hasn't pitched in many high-leverage spots but is putting together a strong campaign after a six-year absence from MLB, posting a 3.06 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 51:8 K:BB across 47 innings.
