Bleacher Report Says Atlanta's Roster Has a Fatal Flaw
The Atlanta Braves feel like they're pretty set for their starting nine, with plans for all seven non-catcher starters and DH Marcell Ozuna to play almost every day and your backstops being set with the tandem of Sean Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud.
But according to Bleacher Report, that's the Braves biggest problem.
Writing their "Biggest Problems for World Series Hopefuls" article, author Kerry Miller says that Atlanta's lack of positional depth is their biggest issue at the moment.
It's an issue that we've discussed at length, but Miller breaks down the lack of experience on Atlanta's bench at the moment:
Excluding the tandem of Sean Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud at catcher, Atlanta only has three bench players on its 40-man roster: Utility infielder Luis Guillorme (who was non-tendered by the Mets), pinch runner Forrest Wall and recently-acquired-via-trade outfielder J.P. Martínez. The latter two have a combined total of 59 career plate appearances in the majors.
Considering Jarred Kelenic has yet to appear in more than 105 games in a season in his career, it's quite the unnecessary risk to not have some better backup plans in place.
I mean, not wrong? There's some framing issues with this, though.
For starters, Kelenic's shortened seasons aren't because he's injury prone - he was optioned to the minors in both 2021 and 2022, with 2023's absence due to a dumb injury (kicking a cooler) that he swears he's learned from.
But just deciding to leave off Luis Guillorme's 823 plate appearances when discussing the experience of the bench feels like dishonest framing, and restricting the view to just the 40-man roster leaves off the even more-experienced David Fletcher (2,180 plate appearances).
And yes, JP Martinez and Forrest Wall are collectively not that experienced. These are things we've said, too, and expect some sort of veteran signing between now and Opening Day. But it's also worth noting that Atlanta also has Jordan Luplow (1060 PAs) and Eli White (406 PAs) on minor league deals, to extend the Fletcher point.
And besides, it's not like Atlanta actually uses their backups, except for injury.
Miller notes how little Atlanta rotates, with the observation that "from May 24 through August 11 of last season, it started Matt Olson at first, Ozzie Albies at second, Orlando Arcia at short, Austin Riley at third, Michael Harris II in center and Ronald Acuña Jr. in right for a staggering 66 consecutive games. (Marcell Ozuna was also the starting DH for all but two of those games.)"
And with Jarred Kelenic coming in for Eddie Rosario and expected to play every day, look for that to continue - health permitting, of course.
And if not, Miller has an idea of how to fix the problem:
[...]trade from its wealth of bullpen options to get a versatile position player without increasing the payroll. (St. Louis does need relievers and has some bats to spare.)
Doesn't feel likely, but we'll see what happens.
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