The Braves’ bullpen has done plenty of heavy lifting in 2026, even with Robert Suarez out for a long stretch after being the team’s big offseason prize and with Tyler Kinley and Aaron Bummer slipping from where they were expected to be. By the numbers, Atlanta’s relief group has still held up well, ranking seventh in baseball in fWAR at 5.0, third in ERA at 3.35, and eighth in FIP at 3.86.
But the performance on the mound has not erased the roster headaches around it. Atlanta has repeatedly been forced into awkward moves because of a shortage of bullpen arms with minor league options, and that problem showed up early when Didier Fuentes was moved into the bullpen at the start of the year.
The bigger issue is that these aren’t isolated decisions. They stem from the way the Braves have built the unit.
Atlanta has leaned on veteran bullpen additions on deals of different lengths and has not put much emphasis on developing relief help in the minors. That approach leaves the club with little flexibility when it needs to shuffle arms.
In a lot of bullpens, teams can absorb a rough patch because they have quality depth spread across multiple roles. The Braves’ problem is different: they often carry two or three spots that are shaky, yet keep filling them with pitchers they cannot simply option out.
That dynamic helps explain why Elieser Hernandez and Carlos Carrasco kept getting designated for assignment and sent onto waivers. It also means the few relievers who do have options can end up getting bounced around constantly. JR Ritchie has been moved so often this season that the Braves may not call him up again in 2026, since he would no longer be able to be optioned after reaching the five-option limit.
This wasn’t always how Atlanta operated. The club used to be more willing to turn pitching prospects into relievers and give them real runway in those roles.
AJ Minter is the clearest example of that working. But the list of pitchers the Braves have actually developed in the minors and then trusted as regular bullpen pieces on the active roster is extremely short - basically Dylan Lee, who was signed to a MiLB contract almost right before he was promoted, and maybe Fuentes if Atlanta never moves him back to the rotation.
So the Braves keep boxing themselves in. They don’t want to spend the resources or money on long-term bullpen answers, but they also want the kind of interchangeable depth that only works when the pieces can actually be shuffled.
Right now, that’s a rough fit. And if Atlanta needs fresh arms in September, this is the kind of roster flaw that could come back to bite them.
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All of that points to one offseason task that figures to sit near the top of the list: find a real answer in left field. Atlanta could look inward and give prospect Patrick Clohisy a chance to force his way into the picture, but the more obvious path may be to shop for a more established fit, with names like Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki already looming as possible targets. [Read more 🡒]
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Chris Sale Is Giving Braves Fans A New Reason To Watch September
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The bigger picture is the Cy Young chase, where Jacob Misiorowski has put himself in position by leading some key pitching categories and emerging as a serious contender. Sale still has a chance to make his case, and with a postseason start on the horizon, Atlanta has reason to watch every outing a little more closely as September unfolds. [Read more 🡒]