Reynaldo Lopez will face off against 22 y/o RHP Hayden Birdsong, who will be pitching his 2nd game in the bigs. When I saw the lineup tonight and it contained a Zack Short at SS, I immediately thought trade. Unfortunately, I was wrong as the real story is not so exciting:
Now that we are all prepared for the Zack Short SS experience, we can now pray that the lineup 1-6 can score some runs, because that 7-9 is bleak:
Braves Lineup and Reynaldo Lopez, SP
Transaction a Day AA
A.J. Minter has officially been activated and Daysbel Hernandez was the unfortunate victim to be sent to AAA, due to the fact that he has options. Daysbel has been a real asset to the team as he’s still carrying a 0.00 ERA through 9 appearances and 9.2 innings. And, as of now, the results don’t seem too fluky as his K/BB rate is 4. I hope he gets back up quickly.
Eddie Rosario Reunion? Tim Anderson Backup Solution?
Earlier this week, the Washington Nationals DFA’d Braves folk hero Eddie Rosario. At this point, Eddie is definitely heading toward the end of his career, but is he a possible solution for an Adam Duvall platoon? If the Braves can wait until he passes through waivers to pick him up, I’d be down with a 1-2 week trial to see if he could find the magic once again. If it doesn’t work, it’s a drop in the bucket cost for the Braves and they can keep the same plan for the trade deadline.
Tim Anderson was also DFA’d by the Marlins and has been bloody awful since the Jose Ramirez punch:
While I don’t know Tim Anderson personally, I cannot imagine that he’s worth a roster spot for the Braves, but Orlando Arcia is pure torture to watch on the offensive side, and it could be in the Braves best interest to see if Tim Anderson would want a MiLB deal just in case. Times are tough, people. We need all the help we can get. For me though, I’m ready for the Nacho experience.
Let’s go Reynaldo Lopez! We need ya!
Christian, you’re a great man! Thanks for joining in on the Braves Journal journey!
I was JC’ed:
Tim Anderson was just DFA’ed, and I’ve already predicted the Braves might take a look at him, a bit like they looked at Gordon Beckham when his career was nearly over. Again, I am not saying I think that’s a good thing – he seems totally and utterly cooked – but it’s possible that, like Brandon Phillips, he might have a slight upswing in him, which might be fuelled by the combination of coming home to a playoff team and the chance to silence a whole lot of doubters. And he’d pretty much be free.
(So would Eddie Rosario, who has just about zero upside, as far as I can tell, but both of them could still outhit Luke Williams.)
A more interesting target – albeit likely totally unrealistic – would be Jordan Walker. His career has stalled over the past couple of years. It’s unlikely that the Cardinals would move him unless he has another couple of iffy up-and-down Quad-A type years – like Jarred Kelenic – but Alex Anthopoulous loves post-hype sleepers. (And so do I!)
Obviously, Anderson and Walker are both southerners; Anderson’s from Tuscaloosa and Walker’s from Decatur. Maybe the most realistic post-hype player would be Jazz Chisholm, who’s definitely available, and who has massively underachieved in South Florida but is still only 26. He’s from the Bahamas, which is south of the South, but he’s probably the best example of high-risk upside on the market.
(The Cardinals also have one more true post-hype sleeper, Dylan Carlson, but he kind of seems like he might just be a bad prospect bust.)
Chisholm would be a clear upgrade over the Duvall/Wall/Williams combo.
However, he has a few years of control left and would be more expensive in terms of prospects.
I posted in the last thread that Jesse Winker would be a perfect candidate if Washington decides to sell. He is only on a one year deal, is having a good year, and is left handed. I can’t remember us making any deals with Mike Rizzo, though.
Hell no to Tim Anderson. He doesn’t even look like an upgrade over our current guys.
Bowman posted yesterday that the Braves aren’t interested in trying Nacho in the outfield. Doesn’t seem like he has the range to play shortstop at the major league level. And it seems to me like the Braves are handling him similar to the way they handled Vaughn Grissom — keeping him at shortstop as long as possible to enhance his trade value.
I think if they thought he had a real chance of of playing shortstop for us, they would have called him up by now.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed they trade for a shortstop at the deadline like Amed Rosario or Paul DeJong.
After his homer Murphy is up over a .700 OPS for the first time this season.
Lopez battling his command some tonight.
Ozuna has gone into a slump.
Jarred Kelenic, superstar.
I’m in love. I think you switch Acuna over to LF and put Kelenic in RF when Harris and Acuna come back. Kelenic has a glove.
Damn, great catch by Kelenic.
Oye. Eventually continuing to pitch from behind tonight was going to hurt Lopez. His control has just been off tonight.
Trying to squeeze another inning out of Lopez who had been battling command issues and had a high pitch count wasn’t the best idea.
Like trying to get Schwellenbach through the order a 3rd time
Duvall has had 2 good plate appearances tonight.
Poor time for a bad AB, Kelenic.
Kelenic essentially gave away that entire at bat by not really swinging at one strike
Lessee, Braves get a K and then a fly; Giants get a hard grounder then a K. That pretty much describes the whole damn season.
Olson has also gone into a slump.
Is Arcia hurt or just regular rest? Playing Short is bizarre with the way this lineup hitting on a normal day.
He has a tooth abscess. Ryan said it in the post.
Along comes Bummer to remove all doubt.
Oh sorry. Didn’t see that.
Leave it to Bummer to give the Giants Reitsma Room.
4 runs against didn’t used to be an automatic loss but,only 2 runs off a dude with a 4.66 ERA is a much bigger issue than giving up 4 runs.
Sigh. Lots teams can get a guy home from third with less than two outs. We are not one of them.
It’s been so disappointing. A combination of bad luck and bad approach. It doesn’t “seem” like we have changed our philosophy at all even with the dead ball conspiracy.
I don’t hate the idea of Tim Anderson instead of Arcia but especially instead of Short. At least Anderson was good offensively at one point
We’re stuck with Olson for how many more years?
I still can’t watch a whole game. The current team is a lot of things, but first and foremost they are really boring.
In AA I trust.
We had no business losing that game. So many wasted chances. If we score one of those runners with less than two outs, we probably get Minter and Iglesias instead of Bummer and Chavez. Kelenic struck out and then hit a double in the next AB. It’s not that they’re boring; it’s that they’re infuriating.
Are we worried Olson is going to turn into Chris Davis or is that just me?
I have been wondering the same thing but I don’t think it will happen.
recapped: https://bravesjournal.com/2024/07/03/where-have-you-gone-tony-cloninger-giants-5-braves-3/