After a painfully quiet trade deadline, the Atlanta Braves are pretty much stuck with what they have for the rest of the season. The lineup is likely to remain unchanged unless there is (another) injury and the rotation is what it is until they get some starters healthy again. As for the bullpen, they remain mostly the same with the notable exception of trading Rafael Montero. Unfortunately, the bullpen being the same is a problem as the Braves found out against the Reds on Thursday and some changes are definitely warranted.
Atlanta should have been able to cruise to victory over Cincinnati. The offense decided to wake up in the eighth inning and gave the Braves eight runs to work with which, under normal circumstances, would be more than enough to secure an easy win. Instead, Dane Dunning and Dylan Lee combined to give up eight runs themselves and just like that, we had a ballgame again and Atlanta had to use Pierce Johnson and Raisel Iglesias in a game that should have been a rout.
The Braves did manage to win in extra innings at least, but it is clear that this bullpen is going to be a problem. If Atlanta wants to make progress towards fixing it, they need to give strong consideration towards promoting relievers Jhancarlos Lara and Hayden Harris.
If the Braves' goal is being respectable, they need to promote Jhancarlos Lara and Hayden Harris right now
Right now, the Braves are having to rely on relievers who are in the middle of rough stretches as well as some bandaid roster replacements that shouldn't be in the big leagues at all. In the short-term, that may work, but having to watch Dane Dunning and (formerly) Enyel De Los Santos struggle every single time they take the mound isn't something the Braves should do for the final two months of the season.
We have sung Lara's praises before and he has continued to pitch well for the most part in the month of July. He would instantly give the Braves a power arm in the bullpen which they sorely need at the moment.
In Harris, you would be getting a different profile with a guy that is very deceptive and can sometimes be described as effectively wild. He is going to walk more guys than you want, but that is true of half or better of the Braves' bullpen right now and at least Harris has shown success this season with a 0.74 ERA in 31 appearances this season. It will be curious to see if his fastball continues to fool opposing hitters like it has in the minors, but he has earned the right to find out. Being left-handed is just icing on the cake.
At this point, promoting Lara and Harris is the obvious next step. The bullpen is already terrible and there is nothing at stake the rest of the way, so there is no need to be overly concerned about 40-man roster management. Atlanta needs to know what they have going into the offseason and that should start with giving these two young relievers a shot now.