As has happened far too often lately, Tuesday's game against the Pirates was not the Atlanta Braves' finest hour. The offense was unable to capitalize against Paul Skenes despite the fact that he VERY clearly did not have his best stuff, Hurston Waldrep imploded at the hands of Ryan O'Hearn, and the bullpen didn't perform much better. Unfortunately, only one of those issues got addressed with the Braves' latest roster move.
Atlanta called up Connor Thomas on Tuesday as part of a series of roster moves designed to bolster the bullpen. The good news is that Thomas found himself useful straight away, as he threw 3.2 innings against Pittsburgh the same day. The bad news is that he also gave up four earned runs and threw 60 pitches, so his roster spot was immediately in jeopardy.
That proved correct on Wednesday when Atlanta promptly sent Thomas back to the minors and recalled RHP Victor Mederos to replace him.
The #Braves today recalled RHP VÃctor Mederos to Atlanta after optioning LHP Connor Thomas to Triple-A Gwinnett following last night’s game.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 8, 2026
Braves' bullpen strategy is clearly running out of options after Connor Thomas was optioned and Victor Mederos was called up
In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor move. Even if the Braves were convinced that he would rebound from the tough appearance, throwing 60 pitches means that he wasn't going to be available for multiple days anyway. By calling up Mederos, Atlanta gets a fresh arm that they can use in a pinch, even if he isn't exactly exciting as an option.
The revolving door in the Braves' bullpen is starting to become a real problem, though. Atlanta is basically having to carry multiple long relievers at the moment because they don't have the personnel to fill the usual bullpen roles right now, and they have multiple starters (Reynaldo Lopez, Bryce Elder, Waldrep, etc.) who can't be trusted to pitch deep into games. That has meant the "regular" relievers are seeing heavy use and has forced the Braves to keep calling up fresh arms.
That strategy is just not sustainable. Atlanta desperately needs not only some true stability in their rotation, but to add a couple relievers that they can trust in well-defined roles. Unfortunately, this patchwork system they have been rolling with, especially while Robert Suarez has been out, just isn't getting the job done.
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