Atlanta Braves may need to get a quick prognosis on multiple pitchers; pivot swiftly to avoid a big stumble.
The timing of today’s news is not good, but the Atlanta Braves may have an opportunity to wriggle out of their new dilemma… if they choose to act quickly.
Under normal circumstances, there might be a few days to wait and evaluate fully before panicking… this is probably not one of those times.
Believe it or not, in this bizarre economics-of-MLB-world we’re living in, everything seems to continue being wrapped around… yes: Bryce Harper.
Depending on both these pitching injuries and Harper’s ultimate choice, the available options could very well change.
The Phillies are pursuing Harper. So are the Giants. Maybe the Dodgers and Padres as well.
So let’s play a little chess and see how all of this could work out.
Note: All of the speculation below is premised on the expectation that perhaps at least 2 of the group Foltynewicz, Gausman, and Gohara can’t open the season on time… and could miss maybe a couple of months at minimum.
When it comes to elbows, tendonitis, etc… there’s definitely a non-zero chance of that being the case, but while the extent of each injury is unknown at present, this bit below is unabashedly looking at the “we’re doomed!” case.
The War Plan?
The worst-case scenario, of course, is that all three pitchers hop in a car and motor up to Pensacola to see Dr. James Andrews together, but let’s not quite jump off that ledge yet… today’s news is annoying enough, but let’s not go that far yet.
So here are the possibilities if the Braves don’t move quickly:
1. IF PHILLIES GET HARPER
This is actually the best-case scenario, for the assumption would be that they would not wish to completely destroy their 2019 draft pool by signing multiple Qualifying Offer players, and thus Dallas Keuchel would likely still be available.
However, given recent rumors (i.e., that Harper doesn’t want to go to Philadelphia), this seems most unlikely.
[ UPDATE: Okay, that didn’t age well! Feel free to disregard points 2 through 4 ]
2. IF GIANTS GET HARPER
In this case, there’s 2 different angles of remedy that flip polarity against the Braves: in this scenario, the Giants would want to keep Madison Bumgarner around since their team just got better, and thus he would be completely unavailable to the Braves – now and possibly also at the trade deadline as well (even though they could be on pace to lose 90 games by then).
Correspondingly, the Phillies – being spurned by Harper – would go out and nab one or both of Keuchel and Kimbrel. It’s unclear which one would be their priority… they frankly need both, though. They can easily outbid the Braves, and probably would.
3. IF DODGERS GET HARPER
That part in #2 where the Phillies are spurned and then pounce on Keuchel? Yeah, that part happens here as well. The only real difference is that MadBum might become an option to pacify the fact that the Giants will now lose 100 games.
Oh, and the Braves might consider trying to trade for a spare Dodger outfielder, which would be fine except for the fact that Joc Pederson can’t pitch.
4. IF PADRES GET HARPER
This looks a lot like the ‘Dodgers’ scenario except for the fact that it’s total fantasy.
5. THE CHEAPSKATE OPTION
Remember Gio Gonzalez? Yeah – Atlanta used to mess up his days while he was a National. But he’s also available on the free agent market… just like Dallas Keuchel.
Just keep telling yourself that he had a 2.96 ERA over 201 innings in 2017.
6. THE REAL CHEAPSKATE OPTION
Braves enter the season with Julio Teheran, Sean Newcomb, Max Fried, Kyle Wright, and either Bryse Wilson or Touki Toussaint as the rotation… and very limited backup possibilities (Kolby Allard, maybe Ian Anderson)… while praying that the others will return ASAP.
Oops… Touki just gave up 5 runs… so far… in the 1st inning. Against the Tigers AAA team.
Of course, Alex Anthopoulos can eliminate all of these concerns by calling – gulp – Scott Boras today and discussing Keuchel.
Just that name alone might cause him to flip the rolodex (does anybody use these anymore?) over to the ACES agency and the Levinson brothers.
Either way, while the early reports SEEM to be good on these injuries, the Braves don’t really have a lot of time to figure out if things is going to play out that well.
My expectation? They take a couple of days to assess the injuries and then figure out if Gio needs to be signed. If things are tolerable, then maybe it’s Gio. If the news suddenly turns for the worse, then it’s Keuchel.
Either way… Kimbrel might end up in Philadelphia, and today’s news is probably the worst for him, for now the Braves probably can’t go get the closer since they might have to buy a starter.