The Braves have placed southpaw Tommy Milone on the 10-day injured list with left elbow inflammation and outrighted infielder/outfielder Charlie Culberson to their alternate training site, per a team announcement. They recalled righty Huascar Ynoa to take Milone’s roster spot.
Owing largely to the injuries that have sidelined Mike Soroka and Cole Hamels for extended periods, the Braves entered the Aug. 31 trade deadline looking like a team in need of starting help. The well-traveled, soft-tossing Milone was their only acquisition in that area, though he did join the Braves after a good season-opening run in Baltimore. Milone posted a 3.99 ERA/3.89 FIP and 9.5 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9 in 29 1/3 innings as an Oriole, but his Braves tenure hasn’t gone nearly as well. While Milone has fanned nine hitters and walked two in 9 2/3 frames since the trade, opposing hitters have teed off on him for 16 earned runs on 22 hits.
Now, with so little time left in the season, it’s unclear whether Milone’s elbow will heal quickly enough for him to return. He’s now the fourth Braves starting option on the IL, joining Soroka, Hamels and Cy Young contender Max Fried. The Braves still hold a two-game lead in the NL East in spite of their injuries, but their rotation looks dangerously thin at the moment. Fortunately for them, Hamels and Fried may not miss much more time.
Culberson was a fairly regular member of the Braves’ lineup from 2018-19, in which he accumulated 466 plate appearances and batted a respectable .267/.316/.457 with 17 home runs. He also lined up at several positions then and has played at multiple spots this year, though he hasn’t accrued many at-bats in 2020. Before the Braves designated Culberson for assignment Tuesday, he went 1-for-7 with four strikeouts.
So Braves pitchers getting injured is like Phillies RPs being garbage – as soon as the newbies arrive they are stricken
Outright Erlin and bring back Folty.
2 times this year this guy had insane leads and did his best to blow it. He needs to go. All time worse trade deadline in the history of Braves history. Hopefully fried and Hamels gets healthy soon and Anderson, Folty, and Wright/Wilson wrap up the back end of that rotation and we never see milone in a Braves uniform ever again
“All time worse trade deadline in the history of Braves history. ”
Yeah, if this was the first season of the Braves existence.
Let me introduce you to Len Barker.
Yikes
I’m fairly young, so a few came to mind:
2007: Trading the nucleus of what would be two Ranger pennant teams for Teixeira and then missing the playoffs
2008: Trading Teixeira for Casey Kotchman and a pitcher who never reached the majors. Then seeing the Angels select Mike Trout with the comp pick they got.
2012: Not trading for an elite starting pitcher (Zack Grienke). That was a very good team that needed one more frontline starter.
2015: Trading Alex Wood and Jose Pereza (at the time one of the top prospects in the system) for women-neater Hector Olivera and Paco Rodriguez, who never pitched for Atlanta.
I’d say for the price, it was decent. Obviously, what makes it such a lackluster deadline was that starting pitching is clearly the only major need for this Braves team. That they didn’t grab a starter is and will be baffling. I truly think this is the Dodgers’ long-awaited year, but the Braves, with good starting pitching is one of the few teams that can beat them.
Are you sure baseball is healthy for you? When it’s giving you nightmares, might want to look into something else.
Whoa better be completely serious at all times Wark. People really don’t get jokes on here do they?
Joke? That’s a poor attempt at humor. But I guessed correctly about the hat color.
Actually it was a very solid attempt, a success in fact. You are also wrong about the hat color. The fact you doubled-down on that political twist is just disappointing. You’re better than that Tommy
I guess the site in general doesn’t get jokes either. Removing comments like it was a real belief and he might read it and go crazy.
More ammo for the “pitching-wins-is-a stupid-stat” crowd. Had Milone survived five innings and given up less than 16 runs, he would have qualified for the win.
Btw, the other day Caleb Ferguson came in and blew a lead by surrendering a single and a grand slam to the first two batters. He then got the third out. The Dodgers then retook the lead with Ferguson getting credit for the win. The Dodgers’ most effective pitcher that night was Dustin May, who gave up two runs in 5.2 innings.
If MLB is going to keep pitching wins as a stat, then they need to refine the rules and let the official scorer decide who gets the win. The league office would then have to sign off on the decision to avoid possible stat-padding. This should include starters being eligible despite not goiung five.
Pitcher wins/losses are stupid. deGrom has given up more than 4 earned runs in the past 3 years just three times.That’s 72 starts. He has 25 wins and 18 losses. Across a full year, that’s a 12-9 record
Saves is also a dumb stat, though I’ve come around to the conclusion pitcher wins/losses is even dumber. Give up two runs in one inning with a three-run lead and you get credit for one. Bobby Thigpen and Edwin Diaz were pretty-much wrecked chasing save records. It took a long time, but I have finally been weened from being impressed by counting numbers. And it doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the game.
The problem with the other examples given for other trade deadline, is on paper at the time… it was clear the Braves were making a move to win and not until way later did we find out those weren’t good deals. This deadline we sat flat on our bits and if anything, actually made our rotation worse with the way milone has pitched… when you have a glaring major need(s) like the Braves did in their rotation and refuse to upgrade it at all … that’s a fail. Then the only move you do make not only doesn’t help but actually may have made the rotation worse… that’s called a meltdown. Hence why I am calling this the worse trade deadline of all time for the Braves. Key word also, deadline… not trades
Braves were probably just tired of getting Culberson and Swanson confused for each other.
Swanson hits, fields, & runs worth a dam. Culberson tries. Swanson is a blur. Culberson slogs. The only one that’ll miss Culberson is the bench keeping it warm and Nancy, first in line to hear him play the sweet sweet chords jamming in The Battery.
And all those marks on Braves facebook who all seem to think Culberson is the seconding coming of Mike Trout.
Hahahaha this made me laugh a lot RunDMC. “The only one to miss Culbertson is the bench keeping it warm” hahahaha
Holy cow, the Orioles didn’t ride some poor pitcher into his grave, but instead had the foresight to trade him at the peak of his ability before he imploded? We’re living in wild times.
They did it with Cashner too. I question why anyone would give up anything to acquire an Orioles starting pitcher, but then I remembered Bundy. At least they can point to him in hopes another team will bite.
You forgot about Arrieta, Strop for Feldman trade a ways back. Is fans always see pitching go and they get way better with a different team. It’s anilytics. Is are way behind at least before Elis came on.
I didn’t forget. Merely talking about rebuilding Os starting pitching, should have qualified that statement. I think the orioles do well filling rotation holes with guys looking to get another shot. However, teams passed on these guys in the offseason for a reason and trading for them mid year seems counterproductive.
I doubt Tommy Milone was ever on the Braves offseason radar and a panic move to fill a spot because he’s cheap is still a waste of assets in my opinion. I’m sure the price wasn’t steep but a contending team running him out there isn’t a good move.
This is hilarious. I mean, seriously.
Elbow inflammation..aka..”I like getting rocked when staked to a 10 run lead” smh
Anyone lookup the statcast for which is slower: Ender liner or Milone fastball?
King Felix is missing a good opportunity.
Agreed
I mean is being terrible at your job really a malady?
Why do I feel like “left elbow inflammation” is in this case being used as a euphemism for “embarrassment and shame”?
2021 “where art thou?”
For the love of God stop with the retreads. Bring up Davidson or Muller.
THAT TRADE sure worked out well !!
I get that the Marlins now have 22 games in 18 days, but was Mattingly wrong in letting Yamamoto absorb that 94-pitch pounding? The guy hadn’t pitched in 23 days. I’ve been a defender of Donnie Baseball’s questionable decisions in the past, but am having a hard time with this one.
Yes then the optioned Yamamota today. Pretty scrappy after leaving him out to dry like they did. Although I w ad rooting for the runs record.
How about Freddie Freeman today against the Nats? Though I am a Dodger fan who is enjoying the Betts vs. Tatis MVP race, I wouldn’t mind a bit if Freeman won it. He’s one of the great underappreciated players of our era. Pete Alonso got more attention last year than Freeman has gotten in his entire career.
And Freeman’s doing it all having even less time to prepare in the summer restart due to his C19. Considering there’s been some prominent stars to talk about their struggles without fans (Baez) and fears their stamina has been affected possibly from the virus (Moncada) — succeeding during this season should carry weight.
*Sidenote: and he also impregnated his wife with twins! Man doesn’t know how to get singles (though he does have 1 little boy already…)!
I would imagine they optioned Yamamoto because that 94-pitch effort made him unavailable for 4-5 days in the ‘pen, taking up a spot, possibly needed for a double header coming up with their crazy schedule, though you do have an extra roster spot specifically for double headers.
Never thought the day would come when I begged for Folty and Newcombe but here we are
Idk the work they’ve been putting in, but it’s probably time to give them another chance. Erlin, Milone and Wright obviously aren’t getting it done. Maybe get them two or three starts and then play it by ear for the playoffs. I wish the Braves would try Wright as the second guy out of the pen, so if he can do what Wilson did the other day and go three or four innings in relief after an opener.
Oh how I long for Teheran and his 180 + innings of dependability
Rick Mahler would be a pitching god today.
Teheran has an 8.23 ERA over 27 innings.
I feel really bad for Tommy. He hasn’t struggled on purpose.
Braves are screwed. If they get into the playoffs at all, they’ll be lucky to get past the opening round.
They currently have a 99.6 percent chance of making the playoffs so I would say they are making them. I agree with you that it will be difficult to advance unless they keep up the current scoring barrage but I doubt they do.
You mean scoring 29 runs a game? =} I’m just kidding, I know you don’t mean THAT. The Braves COULD slug their way through the first round even if they don’t finish the year with the division but it’s difficult seeing them get very far. If this were a regular season I wouldn’t be surprised at a first round exit..again.
About Tommy Milone. His first start for the Braves was disastrous, but keep in mind, just 12 hours before he was pitching for the Braves he was in Baltimore. Traded pitchers get 48 hours to report to their new team and settle in for a minute. His second run there isn’t such as excuse for.
Prospects or suspects ? If you keep drafting arms sooner or later they need to get a shot at the majors. While making the playoffs is good this team won’t stick around very long without some starting pitching. Truth be told 2021 people will be healthy again and Atlanta will look for another Hamels type. Management is very stubborn.