Nothing 10 runs won’t cure, usually.
The Braves scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st off Julio Teheran, and Bryce Elder went 7 innings, as the Braves reach double digits in runs for the 2nd straight game. Atlanta opened the game with 4 straight hits, a sacrifice fly, and 2 more hits. Eddie Rosario capped off the inning with a two run homer.
The Braves added on 2 more in the 4th, starting with an Orlando Arcia single. Michael Harris II then executed the Braves first successful sacrifice bunt of the season, moving Arcia into position to score on Ronald Acuna Jr.‘s home run. Marcell Ozuna accounted for the rest of the Braves runs, hitting his 20th homer of the season in the 5th and his 21st in the 7th, the latter a 2 run shot.
Ozuna ended the night 3 – 4 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs, and Acuna went 3 – 4 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs, and his 50th stolen base of the season. Arcia also added 3 hits.
Elder allowed only 4 hits and a run, while striking out 3 and walking none. Taylor Hearn was unimpressive in his Atlanta debut, allowing 4 runs in 1/3 of an inning, the big hit a 3 run homer by William Contreras. Daysbel Hernandez and Michael Tonkin finished up relatively uneventfully.
The Braves now lead the NL East by 11 games over the Phillies. A.J. Smith-Shawver will be recalled to start for Atlanta on Sunday at 1:35. as the Braves go for the sweep against Brewers scheduled starter Colin Rea. Let’s see if he shoves.
LOL Mets
It’s a 12:35 EST start for the Braves and Brewers today. In case you missed it, our arch rival got worse last night as they traded Max Scherzer to the Rangers.
From MLB Trade Rumors…
The Rangers and Mets have agreed to a trade that will see the star right-hander Max Scherzer head to Texas, with prospect Luisangel Acuña heading the other way. The Mets are paying down all but $22.5MM of the remaining money owed to Scherzer, who will waive his no-trade clause. He will also trigger his player option for 2024, forgoing his opt-out opportunity.
MLBTR’s Darrah McDonald
The unfortunate part is that younger Acuña is now headed to enemy no. 1, but the fortunate part is the we have the better Acuña.
Transaction a Day AA
It’s not much of a surprise that Taylor Hearn was the casualty for a SP, but it is a surprise that a struggling AJ Smith-Shawver is taking his place and starting. It also seems like a well-timed start considering the trade deadline is right around the corner. Hmmm…
The Mets’ return for Scherzer bothers me in three ways:
– They did well, imo, all things considered
– Ronald’s brother is now a Met
– The degree to which it’s a seller’s market is apparent, and we are buyers
I dare say throwing in a chunk of cash and Texas getting Scherzer to commit for 2024 helped to sweeten this deal
Yes, and Chase d’Arrnaud’s brother was once a Met as well. Have faith in the Mets’ ability to underproduce with what another team (hopefully our team) will ultimately do with him.
How often do the prospects in these prospects-for-stars trade wind up having really successful MLB careers? I always cringe when the Braves trade away touted prospects (remember Andy Marte?), but it seems like most of the ones are no better than Caratini/Brandon Drury/Nick Ahmed types, or Jace Peterson in the other direction, who may have some value over long careers but aren’t really players that a competing team would usually regret losing. Adam Wainwright is the only name that comes to mind as someone who made multiple All-Star teams. Contreras seems like he might wind up having a successful career, and I’m sure I’m missing a few, but I don’t remember the prospects we traded to get McGriff or Hudson doing much of anything (I guess Tony Tarasco got some attention when he didn’t catch the Jeffrey Maier home run ball), and it doesn’t look like we’ll regret what Oakland got for Olson. Looking at the other side, Smoltz, Fried, and Swanson are the only eventual stars I can think of that the (Atlanta) Braves have picked up in this kind of trade. Who am I missing?
Our Texas trade for Texeira gave Texas a World Series win. All of the return players contributed to their series win (Matt Harrison, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia). I always hoped we’d do something to trade for Luisangel but we’ll just have to wait for the Mets to ruin him.
The Doyle Alexander trade kinda worked out for both sides, eh? We gave away Evan Phillips – a guy some here said would be great – to get Gausman and O’Day. Phillips is pretty good now for the Dodgers. I remember thinking that trading Jermaine Dye for Lockhart and Tucker was a mistake. We traded away both Mercker and Stanton for not much. The Jason Schmidt trade was kinda a wash as we got Neagle.
It is all AA who has been able to mostly trade nothing for something.
Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Matt Harrison…
Texas made the World Series, but lost to the Cardinals. But the point about the big haul from ATL is generally well-taken.
@Roger, we may be using different definitions of successful careers, with yours being more generous than mine. I’m thinking of players who had 20-WAR careers or made a couple of All-Star teams. I’ll give you Schmidt, Andrus (forgot about that trade), Dye, Feliz (5 good years & an All-Star team, though only 7 WAR), and maybe Harrison, who really only had two good years and 8 WAR. Saltalamacchia, who accumulated 6 bWAR in 12 years, seems like he wouldn’t really have added much to the team in most of his years. Phillips had four years pitching a total of 67 innings for four teams before he became a contributor, so we would’ve almost certainly gotten rid of him anyway before he did anything. Mercker & Stanton were longtime Braves before they were traded, so not prospects.
Got to see Fried. Inconsistent, but at times dominant. I don’t understand how he doesn’t pick off every baserunner, that’s how good his move is.
My prediction is that Fried will come back for AJSS and Minter will come back for Heller. Seems like FG Roster Resource thinks Dalton Guthrie is not on the 40-man leaving a spot open for Fried.
I still like Chirinos/McHugh as a tag team 5th SP. Not sure who we’d replace for what’s left on the market. If Daysbel is as good as he seems he should stay. Chirinos is the only other guy with an option when and if Lee comes back. I’m not sure what AA might trade for that would improve the team.
I think AJSS goes down after the game to make room for Minter.
Yeah, doesn’t look like AJSS is just quite ready yet.
Austin’s power is just awesome. Seems like he figured something out, didn’t he?
Rea got robbed by the ump – ball 4 to Riley should have been strike 3, and Olson’s homer came after what should have been the third out.
Contreras yanked the ball up when he should have framed it where he caught it. I think that influenced the ump.
That catch by Albies was Andrelton-esque. There is no higher praise.
For the all the times Riley is saddled with terrible strike calls, I’m more than happy to see one go his and our way for a change.
It’s McHugh…what did we expect?
Eight is enough.
The one thing you can never complain about Snit is a Sunday give-up lineup. I’m not sure Snit is convinced that Pillar and Wall are on the team… and Culberson might as well be in witness protection.
I certainly laughed at that! Seriously, we might as well be playing with a roster of 24.
The best thing about this team is the way that they respond whenever we try to trade them, or move them down in the lineup, or send them to Gwinnett, or DFA them. It really makes me feel like we are making a difference.
Truth!
Well, Taylor Hearn was not a Brave for very long.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/07/braves-royals-trade-nicky-lopez-taylor-hearn.html
AA turns Taylor Hearn, a guy he picked up for pennies, into an elite defender and a player that’s controlled for years. AA is a cheat code.
Nicky Lopez is indeed an elite defender. In 2021, he led MLB in Outs Above Average (OAA) at +26 and is at +7 this year despite limited playing time. He’s a far better backup infielder than Culberson, but barring an injury, we won’t be seeing very much of him at all.
But that opens the door to DFA Culby so that Lee can return. If they keep Lopez in the majors, someone has to go anyway. I agree that AA is a wizard and this has to be a set up to either activate Lee or make way for another trade to come. Go AA, go.
Apologies for the delay. Recap up: https://bravesjournal.com/2023/07/30/braves-offense-reawakens-sweeps-brewers-out-of-town/