SEPT. 24: Great news for the Braves: Fried will “certainly be ready” for the start of the playoffs, general manager Alex Anthopoulos told MLB Network Radio.
SEPT. 23: Braves southpaw Max Fried exited his start against the Marlins on Wednesday after one inning because of a tweaked left ankle, the team announced. Fried previously missed time with a left-side muscle spasm in his lumbar spine.
With the Braves having clinched yet another NL East title and looking for their first World Series title since 1995, a significant Fried injury could be a catastrophe for a team whose rotation has had to overcome multiple problems during the season. The Braves are already set to enter the playoffs without Mike Soroka (Achilles) and Cole Hamels (shoulder), who haven’t contributed nearly as much as expected this year and won’t pitch again in 2020.
In a rotation devoid of two of its highest-profile arms, Fried has been a saving grace and one of the NL’s premier starters. It took until Wednesday for Fried to allow a home run, when the Marlins teed off on him for two in an inning of work, though he has been brilliant for the most part. The 26-year-old owns a 2.25 ERA/3.09 FIP with 8.04 K/9, 3.05 BB/9 and a 53 percent groundball rate in 56 innings.
Of course he is. Wild card exit ahoy.
oh man I hope its not serious!…Would be a major blow if he can’t pitch Game 1
ATL is known for NOT using their best starter in game 1, (19) Soroka
yeah hopefully we don’t overthink that this time…they’re literally backed into a corner to start their best starter Game 1 against their will lol
Good news on Fried! They have the offense and they could almost win on just the bullpen. Really all they need is a guys to go 4-5 innings and keep it close and let the bullpen finish it.
Clevinger and Fried on the same night. Don’t these things come in threes, or is that just for heavy metal drummers and B-movie actors?
Greg Bird.
Maddux can still paint an 80 mph 2 seam I think. For real though, this team may have been done with only fried. Without him, their toast. It’s just a tweaked ankle, but that could still bother him next week when the playoffs come around
Unless they keep scoring 8+ runs a game, but that never happens in the playoffs, but one can hope.
Max needs to have someone else cook for him.
It is obvious that his injury issues are the result of him
eating too much………
FRIED FOOD !!
Ashwinganduhmiss!
Look, no big deal. But the gasp every Braves fan is taking is due to the fact that we have zero confidence in this rotation without fried and even with him, it’s limited. This falls on AA’s shoulders for not doing what it takes to build a World Series championship team and only settling for division titles. And let’s be honest, no one could predict this team would be here today with this rotation … pure luck for AA and true grit by the team.
good luck…here come the F/O apologists lol….Offense is absolutely great but that doesn’t usually translate in the playoffs, hence why we need some true Horses once the playoffs come around smh
No one could have predicted that Soroka would have a season ending Achilles injury, Hamels only pitching in one game, Folty/Newcomb/Touki/Wright (besides his last two starts) completely bombing, and Hernandez opting out.
You can’t plan for losing two of your starters, four others bombing, and another one being a non-factor. The Braves would have had to sign/trade for two starters in addition to Hamels to make up for all of the losses.. If they had done that, people at the time would have lambasted them for bringing in three guys when they had all these other starters.
You can say he should have gone out and traded for someone before the deadline, someone like Clevinger (who is now hurt), but I don’t believe it was worth it in this messed up of a season.
They have who they have, gotta have faith to the end.
You can plan when you’re just running your mouth anonymously on the internet though!
Briffle, it’s not this season that I’m looking at. It’s the fact that the philosophy of the AA regime has been internal remedies for the rotation according to the beat reporters like DOB. (If you read or follow on Twitter.)
Pitchers like Bauer, Gray, Minor, Lynn, Morton, Grienke, Clevinger, Sanchez, Keuchel, Ryu, and others have been available in free agency or via trade over the last few years. Aside from an extremely rare situation with Keuchel being a free agent in June, they haven’t brought in anyone. Even when Sanchez and Keuchel were good arms for us, they opted to let them along with Teherán (a fifth starter who consistently gave 30 starts a year) walk.
The only two that can’t be pinned on management is Soroka’s Achilles and Folty’s weight loss. We knew Newcomb couldn’t throw strikes. Hamels, while a vet had a recent injury history and is in his late-30’s. A World Series contender shouldn’t plan to rely on a shell of Felix.
Hamels should have been the first part of two rotation additions so supplement the loss of Teherán and Keuchel from last year’s rotation. It didn’t happen in the offseason nor the deadline.
I’m holding hope that the 2020 Braves can make a run to the similarly constructed 2018 Brewers, who were a game away from a World Series.
@bravesfan, arthur blank – I’m thinking of changing my tag to ATLFOApologist just to make my position clear. Again, the facts: only five NL teams spent less on payroll than the Braves, but only one NL team has a better record than the Braves. AA signed, re-signed, or acquired over half the players on this team. Being a division winner with the second-best NL record is pretty phenomenal given ATL’s financial constraints. AA is doing a better job than the vast majority of MLB GMs. Just because he didn’t throw a handful of prospects to land an available starter at the deadline you guys have to drone on about it in pretty much every post. I too am a Braves fan. I too loved what Arthur Blank did for the Falcons. Can’t you both give the AA-is-the-devil routine a rest so we can all just root for the team together in the playoffs?
Honestly I agree with you…let’s see them make a bullpen run, anything can happen. Just please no 1 and done, mentally I can’t take it lol!…..If you notice I always say F/O and never AA when complaining. I actually like AA and I’ve said it before but he is unfortunately been dealt a corporate stooge hand and his hands are ultimately tied even tho he would never admit it. He’s done pretty good with the limitations he clearly has, but he’s the one that has to answer to the media. We need an actual owner for those limitations to change;-)
This is weird, but I actually agree with you, too. Could this be the emergence of peace and harmony? 🙂
I also have to confess that I actually like the perpetual underdog role Liberty Media’s financial approach puts us in. Watching the Braves consistently outplay the teams that spend hundreds of millions on superstar FA contracts is much more rewarding than loading the team up with the most expensive talent so it can whip up on lower salaried teams. That said, the current approach is unlikely to land a WS title, or even an appearance. The gap between the team ATL can field and the one LA can field is just too great. Still, I’d rather be us than them. Fighting the giants is a lot more fun than being a giant, IMO.
BS – I like the youngsters who are pulling together & I’m tired of the whining , Teammates pull together . I like the Braves, especially the offense, This is a bizarre year, but even the greats (like Kershaw) can blow it. Shut up bravesfan & support your team.. It’s not all based on what’s on paper, but what’s built in what you can’t see – determination.
@braves fan. Seems like almost every post you are basing AA. We know what you think by now. So let’s just root for our team to win a long overdue post season series!!
It’s a precaution. He wanted to go back out for the 2nd, but Snit said no. They don’t want to risk it. He’s fine.
God does not want the Braves to win with world series.
you are correct sir lol…has to be the only logical reasoning
The Braves “Young Guns of 2020” will be THE story of the playoffs as they lead the team to a World Series Championship! Or not………
Ian Anderson quoting Aragorn to anyone who will help in October: “Ride out with me.”
Thank God for Jethro Tull (Ian Anderson). This team would be dead a buried without him and Fried this year. If Fried can shake off his ankle and Anderson stays on point, this team could still make some noise in the playoffs with their offense and bullpen, but they are going to need at least a 3rd starter to give them 4-5 innings of 3 run ball or less. I was hoping Folty would figure it out at the alternate site but that was a long shot at best. They just don’t have the horses to match up against the Dodgers or Padres this post season.
Does Ozuna resign ????
They need to make every effort to make it happen. He has been huge for this lineup. With Melancon, Hamels, and Greene contracts coming off the books and a cheap Anderson and Wright penciled into the 3rd and 4th spots in the rotation, the funds should be there.
they better!…same exact situation as ‘the maker of rain’ except 4 or 5 years younger. No excuse of age this go round…at least I hope!
Fire AA!
I don’t understand the logic of some the so called Braves’ fans here…
Any good move made by AA is just luck.
Pitcher gets hurt, need to fire AA.
They are going to need his ankle to be better followed by 3 days of rain.
The Braves are one of those teams that just can’t get over the hump. Most likely because of a lack of veteran leadership. Maybe it’s the laid back southern lifestyle. Who knows. You just know they are going to flop.