Atlanta Braves fans were heartened by the news that Spencer Strider is progressing well in his rehab from a hamstring injury and could return to the mound very soon. With Strider's return, the Braves will have to do a bit of roster shuffling to accommodate his return and could provide the team the opportunity to end what has been a frustrating bullpen experiment in Rafael Montero.
Normally, a guy like Strider coming back would mean whichever rotation arm was filling in for him just gets sent back down to the minor leagues or out of the organization altogether. However, the exact positioning of the Braves' roster suggests that jettisoning a bullpen arm may be more likely and that arm should probably be Montero.
Braves' lack of arms with minor league options could (and should) cost Rafael Montero his job once Spencer Strider returns
As things stand right now, the Braves have Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Bryce Elder in their rotation. Sale and Schwellenbach are obviously not going anywhere. Smith-Shawver can be optioned, but he has also been pretty great since coming back to the majors and Elder continues to defy logic with quality starts. So where does that leave the Braves once Strider comes back?
Well, one option is moving Holmes back to the bullpen from the rotation. This would add some depth to the relief corps and give Atlanta another multi-inning option to help preserve their other arms. Such a move would then create the need to shed a bullpen arm. Daysbel Hernandez and Dylan Lee have minor league options that would allow them to get sent down, but the Braves need both of them too much. That leaves Montero who was acquired as a diamond in the rough type, but has proven to be quite the adventure with his issues with walks in almost every appearance.
With all of these moving parts, it is starting to feel like the Braves will just take their time bringing Strider back while they assess all of their options. Doing so would allow them to get a better handle on where Strider is at the moment instead of just assuming he is fine after a couple bullpens. The roster crunch IS coming, though, and hopefully that means Atlanta takes the chance to improve the quality of their bullpen instead of sending a quality arm to the minors.