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In Wake of the Edwin Diaz Injury, Who is One Player the Braves Can't Lose?

Injuries are a very sad and unfortunate part of sports as it robs fans of seeing some of the most talented players in the world. Atlanta Braves fans are not foreign to this after watching Ronald Acuna Jr. tear his ACL during the 2021 season in the midst of an MVP season.
Jake Mastroianni|
In Wake of the Edwin Diaz Injury, Who is One Player the Braves Can't Lose?
In Wake of the Edwin Diaz Injury, Who is One Player the Braves Can't Lose?

Injuries are a very sad and unfortunate part of sports as it robs fans of seeing some of the most talented players in the world. Atlanta Braves fans are not foreign to this after watching Ronald Acuna Jr. tear his ACL during the 2021 season in the midst of an MVP season. 

The New York Mets are now wondering what their bullpen will look like with Edwin Diaz out for the entire season after injuring his patellar tendon celebrating Puerto Rico's win in the World Baseball Classic. 

Our thoughts and prayers are with Diaz and his family as we hope for a speedy recovery. 

His injury does have a major impact in the NL East, which leads to the question - who is the one player the Atlanta Braves can't afford to lose to injury in 2023? 

That was one of the questions asked and answered on the latest mailbag episode of Locked on Braves (that you can listen to here). 

Something Alex Anthopoulos and the front office have done a great job of is trying to injury-proof the roster with incredible depth and talent. 

When the Braves did lose Acuna in 2021, it was a mad scramble to try and find players who could fill in -- there is no one the Braves could have gotten to replace the MVP production Acuna was providing. Just like the Mets won't be able to find anyone who replaces Diaz' elite level of production. 

But as I wrote the other day, there is now incredible depth in the outfield if Acuna or Michael Harris II were to go down. 

And even the infield looks a little better with the emergence of Braden Shewmake in Spring Training. 

Both the starting rotation and bullpen are the deepest in all of Major League Baseball. 

There really isn't one player the Braves could lose that would suddenly not make them contenders in 2023. 

Would losing an Acuna or Max Fried hurt significantly -- no doubt. But the Braves are set up better than maybe any other team in baseball right now with players ready to step up and fill those potential voids. 

The 1 player Braves can't lose

However, if there is one player the Braves absolutely cannot lose if they hope to win a World Series, then the answer is Max Fried. 

You could make an argument for Spencer Strider as well. 

And while I feel the Braves could get by in the regular season and still reach the postseason without one of them -- their chances of winning in the postseason drop significantly if they aren't healthy. 

You can just look back at 2022 as an example. Fried was coming off a serious illness and Strider off an oblique injury and it completely derailed the pitching staff. 

If you're going to win in the postseason -- especially in today's game -- you need dominating pitching and at least two top-of-the-rotation starters. 

Fried has the experience over Strider, which is why I view him as the more valuable one to lose. But the Braves really can't afford to lose either one of them this season for the postseason. 

Check out the full episode here: 

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Jake Mastroianni
JAKE MASTROIANNI

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