BS Report: August 1st

Well, we asked for Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos to fix the bullpen – and he did. After watching his team almost blow a 10-run lead Tuesday night, and then watching them blow the lead Wednesday afternoon, Anthopoulos made three trades to revamp the Braves bullpen. We no longer have to worry about Luke Jackson as the closer for this team. Now, Shane Greene, who was acquired from Detroit, can take over as closer. Greene has closed for the Tigers for the last two years – and he’s been good at it. He had an earned run average of 1.18 this season with 22 saves – for a team that has won only 31 games all year. Greene was an All-Star this season. Another former All-Star, another former closer – Mark Me-lan-son – will also join the Atlanta bullpen Thursday night when they face the Reds. Me-lan-son was dominant for the Pirates a few years ago, but when he signed a big-money contract with the Giants he floundered. This season, as a setup man, Me-lan-son has done well again. Finally, on Tuesday night the Braves got Chris Martin from the Rangers. The biggest number from Martin – four walks in his 38 innings pitched. We’ve seen the Atlanta relievers walk too many hitters the last few weeks. We’ve seen too much trouble from the walks. And now, hopefully these three will make a difference. We’ll see if Luke Jackson and Anthony Swarzak can move down into middle relief roles and be effective. We may need to see if both of them are healthy, as they’ve been horrible in the last week. Sure, it’s a shame the Braves didn’t get a starting pitcher before the deadline. But let’s hope that if Julio Teheran keeps pitching well, it might not matter. If the Braves can go with Dallas Keuchel, Mike Soroka, Teheran and Max Fried in a playoff rotation, they may be just fine. And since Atlanta didn’t get another starter, they may rely once more on Mike Foltynewicz, who might be almost ready to come back from Triple-A. Don’t forget about Ian Anderson, Atlanta’s top pitching prospect – who was not traded. He’s been tremendous in Double-A this season, and he could be on the radar if he continues to dominate the Southern League. Here’s the bottom line with these moves: The Braves are a better team now – at least on paper – than they were before the trades were made. And it’s really not even close. Give credit to Anthopoulos. We’ve all screamed for better relievers, and in the last 24 hours, he found three. The Braves have a much better shot of doing something special in October with the excellent trades he made Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. And at least, we won’t have ole Luke Jackson to blame anymore when a Braves reliever blows a save.