The Braves are on a heater right now and the pitching staff is showing off, only giving up 2 earned runs in the last 3 games. Jarred Kelenic is thriving in the leadoff spot and the team is back to hitting dingers. Tonight, Charlie Morton will take the mound against Marcus Stroman. And if you didn’t catch it, as always, Jonathan’s recap was brilliant.
Deserved Shoutouts
As the owner and “Chief Editor” (still makes me laugh), when I’m in a bind, I text Christian first to see if he’s available to cover a game thread. If he’s not available, I send a group email to Jonathan F., TFloyd, and Alex. Jonathan was able to cover this time and I greatly appreciated it. I was, once again, driving cross country with a 1 year old, a 6 year old, an 8 year old, my wife, and a blind dog. I know that you guys are sooo envious of my situation. We stayed at a hotel in Tupelo then made the trek to St. Louis today. My father-in-law got us tickets for 2 Braves/Cardinals games this week, one of which are box seats, which I’ve never experienced.
But the biggest surprise of the day was that Alex turned me down for the game thread. What a jerk, right? I mean, he has a pretty good reason as he’s getting hitched, but Braves Journal should always come first, right? Mac would be disappointed that Alex let something so silly as his wedding get in the way of game #74 of the season.
Seriously though, let’s dedicate this thread to Alex and his big day! He’s done so much for this place! Give him your best and worst advice. I’m sure he needs it all.
Braves Transactions and Lineup
A.J. Minter is starting a rehab assignment tonight and it’ll likely be a quick one as he’s starting at Gwinnett.
![[Insert Overworn Phrase]: Braves 1, Fish 2](https://i0.wp.com/bravesjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/f2iaq37tjo3p13o5ezxf.jpeg?resize=440%2C264&ssl=1)
Best advice: Always say, “yes, dear”
Worst: Never say “I need you to help me move this body”
The argument can be made that Morton is clearly our 5tb starter. He shouldn’t be anywhere near a playoff start.
This is why his option should’ve been declined. What I said at the time was that picking up Morton’s option was fine unless it meant we couldn’t sign a starter. In fact, that was more or less what it meant. We did go after Nola, but there’s a good chance that we could’ve had Stroman or Gray or Imanaga if we’d been aggressive and still had Sale. All had more upside. Morton isn’t terrible value for $20 million, but he’s an innings-eater at this point in his career, and that was what we knew we were getting for $20 million when the budget was thin.
Morton has been shaky more often than not.
Can’t walk guys in front of Soto and Judge. He has already walked 3 men and struck out none.
I’d be happy if Charlie was our fifth starter. That would mean someone other than Fried, Sale, or Lopez has distinguished himself. But no one in the cast of thousands who so far have filled the fifth and sixth spot in the rotation has shown they should start a playoff game.
I think you can count on a level of inconsistency with Morton. From my perspective, he hasn’t been a whole lot different than he was at this time last year. Management will be keeping a close eye on strike out numbers.
As far as 4th/5th starter other than Morton, Schwellenbach is showing some good signs. I think we’ll be looking for a pitcher at the deadline if he doesn’t establish himself in the next month. It is still all about the playoffs.
The grybo with the stuck landing by Bummer. He is really adept at that move and we might need to eventually name something for him
Charlie and Bummer,
No pairing is glummer
To start the summer
Also, why waste Chavez, who’s actually good — at least in this uniform — now that Bummer has removed all doubt? Let the useless reliever stay in and take it for the team.