Atlanta Braves news and notes from Saturday
The Braves lost as their pitching, primarily Bryce Elder got shelled on Saturday night. Elder continues to struggle to miss bats, issue far too many walks, and allow far too many home runs for his profile as a pitcher, so it remains a question of how viable he is at the major league level. That being said, even with a good pitching staff, which they have, this team cannot expect to win as many games as they are hope to win if the offense continues to be sputtering the way it has for weeks now. This team should have the best offense in baseball and the offense has simply not played well of late. Since April 10th, the team has a wRC+ of 97. This team is constructed to be dominant on offense first and foremost. The team’s players up and down the lineup are not playing to their level at the moment and an extended stretch of below average offense has only avoided being worse than it has been due to some incredible pitching. Part of this is that MLB seems to once again have altered the composition of the ball, which is an absurd and incredibly under-discussed issue of scandalous proportions that has been continuous for years now. The ball appears have significantly more drag, dramatically reducing home run rates leaguewide. Separately from that, the Braves have simultaneously underperformed offensively and gotten unlucky with barreled outs. The team has to start scoring lots of runs again to get back on track. I think they will do so, but let’s hope it’s sooner than later and before they dig themselves a hole in the standings.
Braves News
Pierce Johnson is hitting the 15-day IL with right elbow inflammation, which is something that could easily turn into a much longer absence than 15 days. Jackson Stephens came up to replace him on the active roster.
The Braves got blown out by the Dodgers on Saturday night, as the offense continues to scuffle and Bryce Elder had a brutal outing.
MLB News
Trea Turner is hitting the IL with a hamstring injury and is expected to miss around 6 weeks. That’s significant time for the Braves’ biggest division rival.
Alek Manoah is returning from the IL for Toronto. He hopes to bounce back from his catastrophic 2023 season in the majors.
Patrick Bailey hit the concussion IL for the Giants after leaving Friday’s game early with blurry vision as a result of a foul ball to the facemask.
The Marlins are paying for essentially all of Luis Arraez’ salary this season, after trading him to San Diego. This helps explain the package they got in return, but still trading away a player this early in the season is a pretty rough move for the franchise that has had a cataclysmic start to the season.