Atlanta Braves one of many teams in a postseason arms race
By Fred Owens
Acquiring pitchers at the deadline is always difficult; the short-season and expanded postseason plan make it doubly hard this year.
The Atlanta Braves began looking to add starting pitching when the summer camp started without success, and as the season moved forward, the reasons became clear.
Teams are unwilling to trade right now because they feel they still have a shot at postseason play or can get a more significant return closer to the deadline, and pitchers are dropping like flies.
According to The Ringer, pitcher injuries are way up this year. The cause is likely the starting and stopping of spring training, and the forced rapid ramp-up required with a short summer camp and lack of time to build up arm strength,
"MLB also seems to have a pitcher injury epidemic on its hands—and its elbows, shoulders, and assorted other barking body parts."
When you look at the list of pitchers injured, in such a short period, the magnitude of the problem is evident. According to Spotrac, there are currently 196 players on the IL, and 121 of those players are pitchers.:
| Starters | Relievers | |
| Achilles | 1 | |
| Arm | 9 | 8 |
| Back | 1 | 3 |
| Biceps | 2 | 2 |
| Calf | 1 | |
| Covid-19 | 8 | 14 |
| Elbow | 2 | 8 |
| Tommy John | 10 | 6 |
| Finger | 1 | |
| Groin | 1 | 3 |
| Hamstring | 2 | |
| Hip | 1 | |
| Illness | 4 | |
| Knee | 1 | |
| Leg | 1 | |
| Neck | 2 | |
| Oblique | 1 | 1 |
| Shoulder | 10 | 12 |
| Stomach | 1 | |
| Thumb | 1 | |
| Throat | 1 | |
| Undisclosed | 1 | 2 |
| 56 | 65 |
Teams are reluctant to trade pitching when they might end up like Houston, whose bullpen depth chart boasts only three players with Major League service time on their BBR page, and one of them has just 77 days.
With the Yankees going through some pitching woes, I asked around who may be available come 8/31. The two most common names I heard were Mike Minor and Johnny Cueto. One source told me even those two will be "expensive."
— Dan Federico (@DanJFederico) August 12, 2020
"No one is giving players away this year."
The point is, everyone has pitching issues, making this trade season a seller’s market with a paper-thin inventory.
The players I’ll discuss don’t constitute an all-inclusive list of trade targets, and I’m not advocating for or against any pitcher. I’m merely showing that there’s no perfect answer, and asking you to consider whether the risk is worth the reward.