{"id":799951,"date":"2026-08-02T21:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/799951\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T21:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:17:10","slug":"braves-trade-deadline-approach-wont-change-after-reynaldo-lopezs-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/799951\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves\u2019 trade deadline approach won\u2019t change after Reynaldo L\u00f3pez\u2019s injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic\u00a0has live coverage of the\u00a02026 MLB Trade Deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ATLANTA \u2014 If fans thought the Atlanta Braves\u2019 need for starting pitching was already obvious, then Reynaldo L\u00f3pez landing on the 15-day injured list with right knee inflammation on Saturday only magnified that urgency.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean the Braves see things the same way, even with Monday\u2019s trade deadline looming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been losing starters since the first day of spring training, and it hasn\u2019t stopped,\u201d manager Walt Weiss said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters after trading for outfielder Lane Thomas on Saturday night, Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said L\u00f3pez\u2019s injury won\u2019t make him behave impulsively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s now or whether it\u2019s mid-August, late August, I can promise you, we will have other injuries,\u201d Anthopoulos said when asked if his front office\u2019s trade strategy will change.<\/p>\n

Injuries, though, seem to be catching up to the Braves.<\/p>\n

If the playoffs started today, their rotation would feature Chris Sale, Bryce Elder and Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez, with Grant Holmes on the bubble. Elder looked like a Cy Young candidate alongside Sale early on before falling back to Earth. P\u00e9rez continues to defy the odds as an aging soft-tosser, and Holmes has been serviceable.<\/p>\n

But that group doesn\u2019t stack up well against the likes of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who now boast Tarik Skubal in their intimidating rotation.<\/p>\n

The Braves\u2019 internal options for a boost are limited. JR Ritchie, who has been optioned four times since his April debut and entered Sunday\u2019s four-inning outing with a 14 percent walk rate, is currently filling in for L\u00f3pez. Ritchie\u2019s raw stuff is undeniable, but shuttling him between the majors and Triple-A Gwinnett while demanding strike-zone precision against MLB lineups puts immense pressure on him.<\/p>\n

AJ Smith-Shawver returned this week after missing over a year of action but is currently with Gwinnett. The end of Spencer Strider\u2019s time on the injured list is still up in the air, with Weiss saying July 17 that \u201che\u2019s not close to being back here.\u201d Meanwhile, the health of Hurston Waldrep\u2019s elbow is an unknown after he was pulled during his July 19 start in Triple A due to injury.<\/p>\n

The Braves, though, hope Spencer Schwellenbach will be ready to rejoin the major-league staff in September. He recently threw four bullpen sessions in Florida and was in Atlanta this weekend to throw more in front of the coaching staff.<\/p>\n

There is little doubt the Braves will add to the team. The question is whether their additions will be merely depth moves or if they will move the needle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to make the team better, right?\u201d Anthopoulos said. \u201cSo, you deal with what\u2019s available.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we\u2019re impacted depth-wise, (with L\u00f3pez) right now going to (the) IL, but it doesn\u2019t change what we\u2019ve been looking to do. We\u2019re looking to make the team better, right? So, you deal with what\u2019s available, just like everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic\u00a0has live coverage of the\u00a02026 MLB Trade Deadline. ATLANTA \u2014 If fans thought the Atlanta Braves\u2019 need…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2111,363,99],"class_list":["post-799951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}