Braves Rumors: Allan Winans could be surprise fix to rotation
The Atlanta Braves starting rotation has been the subject of scrutiny for the past few weeks. Coming out of splitting a four-game series with the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, it was only the club that stole two games against them in that set that had a worse ERA from their starters since the All-Star break with the Bravos sitting at 6.15 since that point.
This wasn't something that could be blamed on injuries totally, though. Max Fried is back in the fold and, overall, has looked good. Rather's it's been guys like Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder who had been far less effective of late than they were earlier in the season.
As the club still waits for (hopes for?) the return of Kyle Wright from injury, though, they are still throwing anything they can at the wall to find their fifth starter, most recently giving Yonny Chirinos plenty of chances. But now a surprise option may have emerged.
With the Braves drubbing the Mets in the doubleheader on Saturday, notably the 21-3 beatdown in the first game, most of the attention was paid to the barrage of hits. But Allan Winans inserted his name into the conversation.
The 28-year-old righty who the Braves got for $24K from the Mets not long ago spun a gem for the Braves, pitching 7.0 innings and striking out nine while allowing just four hits, two walks and no runs. Granted, he had the benefit of no pressure with the offense going berserk, but that was still an impressive 111-pitch showing.
This was Winans' second start for Atlanta after going 4.1 innings and giving up five hits and two earned runs on July 22 against Milwaukee. But with two solid outings now under his belt, could he be the fix that the rotation has been looking for?
At the absolute least, he's earned another crack at proving that he can be that player until Wright returns or, in the worst-case scenario, if Wright doesn't return this season.
Braves Rumors: Vaughn Grissom is too good to be wasted in Triple-A
Vaughn Grissom continues to rake for the Atlanta Braves Triple-A affiliate, the Gwinnett Stripers. On Saturday with the help of a shutout performance on the mound from Michael Soroka, Grissom continued his red-hot streak at the plate by going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk to his credit. That now brings his minor-league slash line this year to .328/.413/.496.
More importantly, he's just been racking up multi-hit outings at an absurd rate, consistently making a positive impact offensively. In fact, Garrett Spain of Batter Powered noted that this is the 23rd time this season he's reached base three or more times while also noting that he has only seven games where he's failed to reach base and 10 games in which he's reached base four times or more.
There obviously isn't a spot on the big-league roster for Grissom with Atlanta right now with him staying at shortstop or either middle infield spot. Ozzie Albies is crushing and Orlando Arcia remains one of the most underrated players in baseball. But how do the Braves handle Grissom when he clearly looks like a player too valuable to keep in the minor leagues for too much longer?
Where you would clearly push back on him being ready for a return to the bigs would be his glove. But Grissom is also showing improvement there as, per Spain, he's not committed an error in 30-straight games. Maybe that's a low bar, but he was at a pretty low bar defensively when he had to spell Arcia due to injury for the Braves earlier this season.
I would suspect that Grissom will be a September call-up once expanded rosters start to come into play. But long-term, that could be another audition for Grissom. Atlanta could easily give him opportunities to prove his value as a trade asset, but then use him as that in the offseason. Or maybe they look to move Arcia and bring Grissom up? That seems less likely, but not implausible.
Grissom's future is very much in question as to what the Braves will do with him. What's not in question is that, whether in a trade or on the field, he's a valuable commodity moving forward.
Braves Rumors: Josh Hader named an early Braves free agency target
For each of the past two offseasons, we've seen Alex Anthopoulos make a huge splash for the Braves while letting a big-name pending free agent depart. In the 2022 offseason, it was bringing in Matt Olson via trade while Freddie Freeman signed with the Dodgers. This past offseason, it was letting Dansby Swanson walk but then trading for Sean Murphy.
So what does he have up his sleeve for the upcoming offseason?
It should be a bit of a different scene for the Braves simply because they isn't a pending free agent of the caliber that has been coming off of the books in recent years. However, I would expect that Anthopoulos will still make a splash. But it might be more likely that it comes in free agency than on the trade market this time around (though another savvy trade remains in play too with the likes of Grissom that Atlanta can dangle).
If there's a big move to be made in free agency, the first place everyone's mind goes is obviously to Shohei Ohtani. But it might be Josh Hader that makes the most sense for the Braves. That's why Chase Irle of SportsTalkATL listed the closer as an obvious target for Atlanta.
Hader, who has been the best closer in baseball once again this season, will be hitting the market with a sub-1.00 ERA and WHIP this year for the Padres. But in the modern landscape of MLB, relievers simply draw less money on contracts than starters or big-name bats. That works in the favor of the Braves with how Anthopoulos has operated supremely without truly breaking the bank.
While Raisel Iglesias and A.J. Minter have been good at the back end of the bullpen, though, the two things that stand out with the Braves bullpen this season has been inconsistency and a lack of reliable lefties outside of Minter. Adding Hader to the fold would give the Braves the best bullpen in baseball and an elite mix of arms they can utilize to close games while also not worrying about fatigue because of the high-end depth.
That could be crucial to sustaining the success this club has enjoyed and was one of the reasons I even had Hader circled as a potential trade target at this year's deadline for Atlanta had the Padres actually sold. Now, the Braves can get him while not having to cough up assets to do so.
