Well, this feels painfully familiar. The Atlanta Braves have been dealing with some of the worst injury luck you will see for the better part of two years now. The hope was that the Braves would be able to enter the 2026 season (mostly) healthy for a change, but those dreams were shattered by the news of Ha-Seong Kim's finger surgery that will keep him out until at least May in all likelihood, if not longer.
Thankfully, the Braves are not totally screwed by Kim's injury as they did trade for Mauricio Dubon earlier this offseason and there are a few internal candidates that could see some playing time as well. As for what the Braves' lineup could look like on Opening Day now that Kim is out, there probably aren't going to be as many changes to what was expected from their lineup as you might think.
RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
1B Matt Olson
3B Austin Riley
C Drake Baldwin
DH Jurickson Profar
2B Ozzie Albies
CF Michael Harris II
LF Mike Yastrzemski
SS Mauricio Dubon
After Ha-Seong's injury, the bottom of the Braves' lineup looks pretty sketchy
This is a first guess as to what the Braves will do based on previous tendencies as well as handedness. There are good arguments for moving Matt Olson up or down, you could swap Austin Riley and Drake Baldwin depending on matchups, and hitting Ozzie Albies this high might be a bit optimistic. All of those arguments are fair and we wouldn't fault anyone for making tweaks.
What we do know, though, is that Kim was likely to be hitting 8th or 9th if he were healthy. Again, reasonable people can disagree about exactly where he would have hit, but if Dubon is playing every day (and all signs are that that is the plan), he would be hitting at the bottom of the order. There are worse positions to be in as Dubon is a solid-ish contact hitter, but this is certainly a downgrade offensively over a lineup with Kim in it.
With so little time left before the start of spring training and the fact that Kim will return at some point this season, it isn't likely that Atlanta will go out and sign another shortstop. The team may add another utility option just to cover their bases, but it looks like it is going to be the Dubon Show at short to start the season. Hopefully he plays well enough for the Braves to survive until Kim is back in there.