BS Report: Good Enough for the Playoffs?

There’s a lot of angst in Braves Country right now, because the Braves were unable to get a significant starting pitcher before Monday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline. They got a starting pitcher, Tyler Mahle, from the San Francisco Giants, but he’s not viewed as anyone very significant. Now he’ll be in the rotation and we’ll see how he does. The Braves think they can make some changes to make him even better.

But for the most part, after Chris Sale, there is a big drop off. You have pitchers who are doing okay, like Bryce Elder and Martin Perez. Grant Holmes. They’re doing okay. Nothing special. Nothing great. And I don’t think we can call either one of those guys a number two or number three pitcher. So that’s the problem in the playoffs.

What’s going to happen after Chris Sale? Now look the Braves are in great shape when it comes to the current situation. They are seven and a half games up on the Phillies. They’re only a couple of games behind the Brewers and the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. So that’s great. They’ve been very good 12 and five since the All-Star break.

And they’re starting pitching, ironically enough, has done pretty good. Well, they’ve got a 3.01 earned run average since the All-Star break. That’s pretty good. But you still have to look at the playoffs and say, okay, after Chris Sale, what’s going to happen when you face some teams like the Cubs or the Padres or the Lord knows, the Phillies or the Brewers or the Dodgers, who have better starting rotations?

Are you going to be able to compete with them in October? That’s the problem. That’s why everybody thought the Braves had to have another pitcher behind Chris Sale. Now they tried to get Jacob deGrom from the Texas Rangers. And surprisingly, deGrom said no, he did not want to waive is no trade clause in his contract. And he decided to stay in Texas.

That’s a surprise because deGrom has before spoken pretty loudly about his desire to be an Atlanta Braves, the fact that he grew up a Bryce fan. But for whatever reason, he does not want to leave the Rangers. But after Alex and Thomas thought of the situation with the Rangers and tried to get him, he should have pivoted to someone else.

That was the problem I think a lot of Braves fans had with this situation is okay. If one pitcher tells, you know, what’s plan B? Tyler Mahle okay, that’s one plan. But you needed more. You needed someone else and they just did not get it done. One of the other things about this conversation is that the Braves farm system is much, much better, better than it has been in a long time.

Perhaps a couple of decades. It’s that deep. Well, did that scare Anthony List for dealing that talent from the farm system? Or it should have been an asset, right, where he could have had more prospects to be put on tables in conversations for trades. And instead, it really didn’t happen this year. They got Tyler Mahle for a quad, a pitcher, Anthony Molina.

They got a relief pitcher, Brant Suter, on Monday morning for Nacho Alvarez, who’s pretty much done with the Braves. He’s been hurt all year long. The only prospects they gave up was two mid-level prospects pitching prospects on Saturday night for Lane Thomas. That’s it. They’re great. Stocked farm system. Really did not help them get more players before the trade deadline, which is surprising.

So look there. There’s a lot of questions about this team. It’s very weird that here we are talking about a problem when they’re in first place with a big lead and they’re right behind the team. The best record in baseball. But everybody’s now thinking about October. Back to the All-Star break. It’s all about preparing yourself for the postseason.

And with the Braves only getting Tyler Mahle and not getting a more significant pitcher, that’s where everybody’s worried that they fell short.