At this point, one has to wonder if the Atlanta Braves earned the ire of a witch or some other hellspawn. The Braves lost Spencer Strider for the season after two starts, Ronald Acuna Jr. went down after just 49 games, and both Max Fried and Ozzie Albies are currently dealing with injuries. All of a sudden, the once formidable Atlanta roster has looked very ordinary especially with other key contributors in prolonged slumps.
One of the bright spots (along with the play of rotation mate Chris Sale) has been how good Reynaldo Lopez has been for the Braves in 2024. There was some initial skepticism about the Braves converting Lopez back to the rotation, but Lopez went out there and forced his way into the Cy Young discussion with a 2.12 ERA in 18 starts this season.
All of that may have changed in a blink of an eye as Lopez left his start against the Mets early with what has been termed the dreaded "forearm tightness".
RHP Reynaldo López was removed from today’s start as a precaution due to right forearm tightness. He is day-to-day.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 28, 2024
Braves News: Reynaldo Lopez leaves start early with a forearm injury, but not all hope is lost yet
There is no denying that this is bad news. One of the only reasons the Braves have been able to stay afloat this season was because of the starting pitching staff playing their brains out and Lopez was a huge reason for that. Him missing any amount of time is bad news especially considering that the Braves next two probable starters are Grant Holmes (huh?) and TBA (wat).
That said, there is some cause for optimism with how the Braves worded this release. Normally, you wouldn't see the phrase "as a precaution" in these sorts of releases if the injury is initially thought to be serious and adding the "day-to-day" clause at the end is noteworthy as well. None of those things matter as much as the inevitable exams and scans Lopez will have to check his arm, but those are small silver linings. Lopez is currently headed back to Atlanta for further evaluation.
Lopez is en route to Atlanta for further evaluation
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 28, 2024
If Lopez is going to miss a significant amount of time, the Braves may have to pivot in their trade deadline plans. Initially, it was thought that the team wouldn't target starting pitching much at the deadline with Fried coming back soon and were focusing their efforts on an outfield bat. All of a sudden, they may not have yet another roster spot to shore up.