When Ronald Acuna Jr. went down the first time with a torn ACL — then in his right knee — the shopping list for Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos was much easier: find Acuna's replacement. Four years later, the answer isn't so easy.
Immediately upon seeing Acuna fall to the ground in the Pittsburgh Pirates home of PNC Park, most feared the worst. A “sore knee” quickly went to a torn left ACL and with it another season of the Braves superstar, reigning National League MVP, was wiped away in a flash.
That was just 10 days ago, and the Braves are still likely collecting themselves as a team, hoping to still have a team good enough to accomplish their dreams of playing for their second World Series in four years. Meanwhile, the man in charge of fortifying this Atlanta roster is Anthopoulos, who has obviously been in a similar situation, yet nothing still could prepare him on how to replace a perennial superstar player like Acuna.
So while the comparisons have been something for Braves fans to sort of hang their hats on, saying, “See what we did without him then?” The two situations are really unfair to compare. The situation of Acuna's loss now is much larger in scale than it was in 2021.
The Braves' biggest trade need isn't to replace Ronald Acuna Jr.
When Acuna went down in 2021, the MLB trade deadline was just 10 days away. With the way that the Braves were playing then, most general managers may have closed up shop or become fire sellers like most do during that time. But Anthopoulos became aggressive and calculated and gave way virtually nothing in return for everything to replace Acuna with in the form of four outfielders.
When Acuna went down 10 days ago, the trade deadline was two months and one week away. This gives Anthopoulos now ample time to be as calculated as he wants to be, but the thing is, the needs have drastically changed. Acuna is not the only piece that needs replacing now, as the Braves still have a gaping hole in their rotation.
The Braves need to find their fifth starter
Braves fans barely got to see their flamethrowing hipster ace pitcher Spencer Strider before he went down with a UCL injury. And that was all the way back at the start of the season, leaving the fan base dwelling on it since. While a lot of the Braves' current rotation has been doing wonders in the form of Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Chris Sale, and Reynaldo Lopez, you have to wonder if that's sustainable to get to October.
Max Fried has more or less taken the ace title that Strider left behind. He's been phenomenal after overcoming a few blips to begin the season. Chris Sale is currently in the middle of a renaissance season. Charlie Morton may be aged, but he's still productive. And Reynaldo Lopez has been the biggest surprise of them all, currently holding the team's lowest ERA out of the rotation at 1.73. Honestly, the four at this point have far exceeded expectations in Strider's loss, with most of that coming from Sale and Lopez.
The history of this current pitching staff still has to be taken into account. Fried is probably the most sure thing in the rotation currently, but even he, as early as last year, dealt with some nagging injuries that cost him portions of the season.
Now putting the other pieces together of a 40-year-old Morton, injury-plagued 35-year-old Sale, and part-time starter in Lopez, regression is bound to happen at some point. Not to mention that these three typically get an extra day of rest because of these issues, causing Snitker to call up a minor leaguer.
Braves still have no answer for Spencer Strider
Braves skipper Brian Snitker has yet to find any luck in finding Strider's replacement. That was always going to be a tall order no matter what, but their lack of any sort of suitable arm has caused further detriment to the team's playoff hopes.
The Braves have thrown out now six different starting pitchers in Strider's replacement. Rookie Spencer Schwellenbach was the latest to get the call. In typical fashion, his second game was much worse than his first.
Against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, he went 4.2 innings, gave up seven hits, six earned runs, while striking out four and walking two in a Braves 9-0 loss. Obviously, the Braves' waning offense did him no favors, either. But there's still belief that the bats will eventually wake up.
Schwellenbach, Ray Kerr, AJ Smith-Shawver, Darius Vines, Allan Winans, and Bryce Elder now have a combined record of 1-8 with an ERA of 7.51, per FanGraphs. Winans leads them with a 10.80 in his one start, while Kerr gets the honors of the worst K/9 with 15.26 in his two starts. Elder is the only one with a win and a quality start out of the bunch. He's also pitched the most games at three and given up four homers and 11 walks in 23.2 innings.
It's not that Anthopoulos won't look for some kind of Acuna replacement(s), it's that the one trade that must be paramount in his search by the deadline has to be finding depth in their rotation.
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