The Braves have already done the heavy lifting. At 70-46, they sit 8.5 games ahead of the Phillies and have won eight of their last 10, so the NL East no longer looks like the main battle. But Atlanta still has real stakes in front of it, with Milwaukee only two games ahead in the chase for the National League’s best record, a first-round bye and home-field advantage through the playoffs.
That means the work now shifts from chasing help to managing what the Braves already have. Tyler Mahle, Lane Thomas and Brent Suter all arrived before Monday’s trade deadline, but Atlanta still did not land the frontline starter it was after.
So the path forward is internal. The club doesn’t need a makeover.
It needs a few smart roster calls that sharpen the postseason group.
The first move should come on the mound: activate Reynaldo Lopez when he becomes eligible on August 14, move Danny Young off the roster, and keep rolling with a six-man rotation into September.
That setup would give the Braves six workable starters in Chris Sale, Mahle, Bryce Elder, Martin Perez, Grant Holmes and Lopez. More importantly, it would let Atlanta protect Sale, sort through the rest of the rotation and avoid leaning too hard on a bullpen that has already had to absorb too many innings from short starts.
Sale is the obvious piece to preserve. The 37-year-old has a 2.08 ERA, 2.46 FIP and 143 strikeouts in 117 innings, and the Braves have only let him start on regular rest twice.
The numbers back up that caution. He owns a 1.92 ERA in 11 starts with one extra day and a 1.31 ERA in seven starts with more than one additional day.
Lopez gives the Braves another credible arm without forcing anyone to overstate what he is. Before left knee inflammation sent him to the injured list, he posted a 3.64 ERA over 71 2/3 innings.
His MRI showed no structural damage, and the Braves expect the absence to be minimal. He doesn’t have to be the No. 2 starter.
He just has to be another real option while Atlanta figures out who belongs behind Sale in October.
Holmes should stay stretched out during that evaluation, but his profile points to a different kind of playoff job. His 3.67 ERA comes with a 4.91 FIP, a 9.9 percent walk rate and 1.50 home runs allowed per nine innings.
That’s not the kind of line that screams safe postseason starter. In a shorter role, though, he could give the Braves multiple innings before the high-leverage relievers take over.
Young is the easiest roster casualty. He has a 6.10 ERA, 6.38 FIP and more walks than strikeouts in 10⅓ innings.
Because he is out of minor-league options, Atlanta would have to designate him for assignment. Suter’s arrival gives the Braves enough left-handed depth with Dylan Lee and Dylan Dodd to absorb that move.
The bullpen should get another boost once Robert Suarez is medically cleared and finishes the required throwing progression. At that point, the Braves should activate him, option Victor Mederos and put Suarez back in the role that matters most: the primary right-handed setup arm in front of Raisel Iglesias.
That move can’t be rushed. Suarez is still dealing with right forearm trouble, and as of August 6 he had not increased the intensity of his throwing program. With the division lead in hand, Atlanta has no reason to push him before he’s ready.
If he comes back healthy, though, the payoff is obvious. Before the injury, Suarez put up a 0.56 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and 2.43 FIP in 32 innings.
He allowed one home run and walked six batters. His 97.7 percent strand rate suggests some regression is coming, but that’s not the point.
The Braves don’t need him to be perfect. They need another reliever who can take on the middle of an elite lineup in a one-run game.
That’s where the rest of the bullpen pieces fit. Lee has a 2.03 ERA, 2.02 FIP and a 33.3 percent strikeout rate.
Didier Fuentes has posted a 2.37 ERA, 2.14 FIP and a 30.7 percent strikeout rate. Suarez would fit alongside them and push Tyler Kinley into lower-leverage work.
Kinley has a 5.16 FIP and has given up 1.80 home runs per nine innings.
Mederos has been solid enough, with a 3.31 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 16⅓ innings, but his 4.53 xFIP says the Braves should be careful about treating that as a finished product. Because he can be optioned, Atlanta can keep him as depth without risking him on waivers.
That leaves the ideal October relief setup pretty clear: Lee and Suarez on the toughest seventh- and eighth-inning assignments, Fuentes as the swing strikeout arm and Iglesias closing. Kinley and Suter would slide into lower-leverage or middle-inning work.
The final move is about the bench. When rosters expand on September 1, the Braves should bring up Brewer Hicklen and carry him instead of Dominic Smith on the postseason bench.
Hicklen has hit .304 with an .893 OPS, 17 home runs and 27 stolen bases at Triple-A Gwinnett. His brief big-league look was encouraging, too. In eight games, he went 7-for-19 with four doubles and three RBIs.
He’s already on the 40-man roster, so he can come up as the extra position player when active rosters expand to 28, and he’s eligible for the postseason roster. Smith gives Atlanta a steadier left-handed at-bat, especially because he doesn’t strike out much, but his overall line has settled at a 97 wRC+ and he doesn’t offer much in the way of defensive flexibility or speed. The Braves already have left-handed offense through Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, Drake Baldwin and Mike Yastrzemski.
Hicklen brings something different. He can pinch-run, stay in the game as an outfielder and still threaten with power if his turn comes back around. That kind of versatility matters more in October than another bat whose best trait is simply being a lefty.
Atlanta has already put itself in position to matter. The next step is tightening the edges: protect Sale, bring Suarez back the right way and give Hicklen a real late-game role.
None of that changes the fact that this is a 70-win team. It does make the Braves harder to attack when the games tighten up and the postseason innings start to decide everything.
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For Atlanta, the takeaway is less about the final destination and more about how aggressively the Braves were willing to chase a top-end starter. They were not merely on the fringe of the conversation, and their involvement says plenty about how determined the front office was to fortify the rotation, even if the market ultimately broke in another direction. [Read more 🡒]