How Strikingly Deep Braves' Starting Pitching Woes Run

A historic routing that handed the Atlanta Braves another loss can unsurprisingly be traced to a root problem: starting pitching.

You’ve heard it before, and you’re likely not far from hearing about it again. 

Hurston Waldrep allowed seven runs on six hits, two of which were home runs, and five walks. He was out after an out in the fourth inning. Any choice out of the bullpen after him was damage control to minimize the number of arms needed to get to the end of the game. 

The odds of Waldrep going anywhere are slim to none right now. It may not matter if he isn’t proving to be the option many were hoping he would be.

Frankly, what choice do the Braves have? 

Their quickest solution for help was swapping out Connor Thomas for Víctor Mederos. That helps with long relief help, but as we’ve learned, it doesn’t help for long.

Someone is going to have to be moved again for more help. The sustainable route is more innings from starters, but those options have dwindled.  

Spencer Strider and Martín Pérez are on the injured list. JR Ritchie has already been given his fair shot to be immediate help, and Owen Murphy was already optioned back to Triple-A. The next time Murphy will be eligible for a call-up is after the break.  

No, I didn’t forget Didier Fuentes. He’s not stretched out to be a starter right now by any means, and he would essentially be just an opener for a good stretch. 

They caught some luck with Reynaldo López being ready to return to the rotation. But it’s also a sign that this team has reached the point that they’re just happy to get five innings, even if they’re quality. 

He should be their fifth arm in the rotation, and he’s their third by default. 

This is a team in a bind, and it’s one that goes very deep. Even the healthy players aren’t giving them the help they did earlier in the year. 

The last time a Braves starter covered a full seven innings in a game was on May 20, when Chris Sale did so.

That’s right - over a month ago. 

Sale has completed six innings just once since then. That puts pressure on the bullpen.

Bryce Elder’s stellar run earlier in the year feels like a long time ago now. That surely hasn’t helped either.

I was one of the first to say that he should get a fair chance, but course correction isn’t coming quickly enough

No, he’s not going anywhere. Why even ask? 

It’s become an everything problem to an extent. It's not just the injuries. It's not the lack of innings or the lack of effectiveness. Each of these issues can be found somewhere.

Before the season even started, alarm bells went off when the rotation wasn’t addressed during the offseason. The strong start to the season didn’t prove it was a non-issue, but it made it easy to overlook cracks. 

Winning makes it easy to overlook many cracks. Losing puts them under an intense microscope. 

There’s a solution, and it’s getting more help. That help will be available at the deadline, and the Braves need to be aggressive in getting it.

How any pitcher returning from an injury will look is up in the air. Getting proven, ready-to-go starting pitching is what will get this season back on track. 

Continuity is everything. They had it when the good of this season was happening. They haven’t since that time ended. 

They may be at the will of teams who want to wait as long as they can for the right deal in a sell. If they don't make a move right when you'd want them to, that's why. When you don't address this need over the offseason, you're more at the will of other teams at the deadline.

It means some waiting, which can be grueling. But they have to be in the hunt. 

By then, they’ll still have two months to make something happen. Which, as messy as the current situation is, is OK. It’s not ideal, but it’s OK. They aren’t going to find themselves out of it by Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. EDT.

The point is that if they don’t get the help by the deadline, they could be positioning themselves for a collapse. It’s possible. This is a team that has collapsed before. Other teams in the division have done it as recently as last season. 

What is good now is that it’s all still avoidable. 

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