Ronald Acuna Jr. left today’s game in the bottom of the fifth due to right pectoral tightness, but Braves manager Brian Snitker doesn’t believe the injury is too serious. Snitker told reporters (including The Athletic’s David O’Brien) that the current belief is that Acuna won’t miss any games at all, as the star outfielder will get a chance to rest and recuperate during Atlanta’s off-day on Monday.
Acuna exited games twice earlier in the season with what turned out to be minor injuries — a bruised pinkie after a hit-by-pitch, and a mild abdominal strain suffered while on the basepaths. A few missed games haven’t slowed down what is shaping up as an MVP-caliber season from the Atlanta superstar, as Acuna is hitting .282/.390/.597 with 18 home runs through 259 plate appearances.
More from the NL East…
- Jose Devers and Corey Dickerson each left today’s Marlins game with injuries — Devers with right shoulder discomfort after a big swing early in the game, and Dickerson with foot soreness. Manager Don Mattingly indicated to reporters that Dickerson’s removal was “precautionary,” while Devers could require more examination since the rookie’s shoulder has been bothering him for several days now.
- Dellin Betances is set to begin a minor league rehab assignment today, Mets manager Luis Rojas told MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo and other reporters. The right-hander pitched in one game before going on the injured list April 8 due to a shoulder impingement, and while it been a lengthy road to recovery for Betances, the early returns are promising. “He’s had some really good reads with his fastball. We’re pretty optimistic about him going into this assignment and keeping ramping things up….He did a good job in the progression, in strengthening the shoulder,” Rojas said, noting that Betances’ fastball was sitting in the 93-94mph range during live batting practice sessions. Since signing with New York in the 2019-20 offseason, Betances has posted a 7.82 ERA and tossed only 12 2/3 innings over 16 appearances, due to an IL stint due to lat tightness in 2020 and this season’s shoulder problems.
- Nationals manager Davey Martinez provided an update on Stephen Strasburg, telling reporters (including Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post) that the right-hander has yet to start throwing, as Strasburg is still feeling nerve irritation in his neck. Strasburg was placed on the 10-day IL on June 2, and it isn’t yet clear when he might be back in action. This is already Strasburg’s second IL trip of the year, as between shoulder inflammation and his current neck issue, the righty has tossed only 21 2/3 innings. This comes on the heels of a 2020 season that saw Strasburg pitch five innings total due to carpal tunnel syndrome. Injuries all over the roster have contributed to Washington’s 27-35 record, and Strasburg’s status could certainly factor into whether the Nats will keep trying for a late-season push, or perhaps look to sell at the trade deadline.
Acuna is the king of small injuries. Not only does he get them frequently, but he’s a big drama queen each time. AND IM OK WITH THAT! Hope that’s the way it always is worse case scenario!
So he’s a soccer player?
Basketball. No doubt.
More basketball…soccer players get back up and keep playing.
Technically Acuna gets back up and plays pretty quick after these injuries. Like the next game. But basketball players will sit for weeks at times
The only thing that scares is 10 years from now when his body may not recover as quickly from strains, pulls, and bruises. But, I’d imagine by then the Braves will have let him walk out the door without a ring on his finger.
Lol that may be true about the Braves letting him walk after his contract is up. He will still be young enough that he may be able to sign another massive contract at that point and the Braves won’t be willing to fork it out. Look at Freeman now… Braves have had a long time to extend him and we are approaching half way through the season in a FA year and nothing. I’m calling it now, he’s gonna be too expensive for what the Braves are willing to pay
@bravesfan look at how much money comes off the books this year. Not to mention the Braves may get out from under Ozuna’s contract. Freddie isn’t going anywhere, the sheer fact Braves fans have all but given up on him staying is quite the over reaction considering both sides have said that Freddie will be a brave for life. The ozuna mess makes it that much more important the Braves don’t lose freeman.
I wouldn’t count on the Braves getting out of Ozuna’s contract. Short of him being in jail for the duration, they probably won’t be able to get out of it.
Nats need to sell. It was a good run for them, but it’s time for a rebuild of sorts.
Yeah, it’s time for them. They have some nice pieces with experience to move and get prospects.,
Trea Turner will get them a lot.
They won’t trade Turner. They would build around Soto and Trea for the future. They should only trade him if he wants to leave, but don’t trade him this year
Unless they sign Turner to an extension, he’s gone before they’re gonna be good again.
They would get much more for Turner if they trade him this year.
With a lot of deferments coming up due, how much will the Nationals front office be able to finance? If Strasburg’s contract sinks that sure seem’s like it would be the finishing move.
They shouldn’t trade Turner yet. Although he would be worth a royal ransom if they did.
Nats fans probably think they can get a good trade haul for Ryan Zimmerman.
I’d rather him overreact act and the decision is taken out of his hands than be stubborn and try to just suck it up and play.
I hope Devers turns out okay. He’s looked pretty decent so far and has been learning a bit as he has developed. I would love to see that continue. He seems to have surpassed Isan Diaz in the organizational depth chart for middle infielders.
Now on a related note: It’s too bad that the Marlins got absolutely nothing for Stanton when Jeter gifted him to the Yankees.
I’m sure the Yankees would love to give Stanton back to the Marlins for free. An oft injured DH making $30m a year isn’t something Cashman has at the top of the resume. It’s actually funny how some people still forget about how Jeter tried to trade him to the Cardinals and Giants but Stanton said “no” and forced the trade to the Yankees. It wasn’t exactly like Jeter had any choice. I am sure Yankee fans would love for Stanton to join your team for free. He is an albatross I surely wouldn’t miss.
The Yankees have played 449 games since 2018. Stanton has played in 244 of those contests, which is just over 50% (54.3%). From 2018-2020, he only played in 51.8% of the Yankees’ games while being owed $77 million. I’m sure the Marlins aren’t really missing Stanton too much right now.
I mean, the guy is suggesting staton go to the Marlins for free. I’m sure they would be ok with even if he’s only playing 50% of the time. Lol. He’s still dynamic when he’s not hurt .
While being owed $77 million? Dont know about that.
You’re right, I forgot 2020 salaires are prorated. Still, they’ve paid a decent chunk of money to him for playing barely half of the total games the Yankees have played.
Yeah when he’s playing he’s still a monster. He was a beast in the 2020 playoffs.
Only about 21 million of his salary counts against the luxury cap threshold too.
Wow, I didn’t expect to see Betances back from his mystery injury before September, if then.
Let’s see if he shows anything in his arm in rehab…if not, they’ll DFA him from Syracuse.
The Mets should have remembered what happened to Pedro Feliciano after they gave his arm the most appearances a couple years in a row before they signed Betances. The Yankees abused Betances when he was young and he made it easy always complaining and trying to hold them up for more money. I’m surprised any team got anywhere near Betances with the workload on his arm.
Betances’s contract last year was a reasonable gamble. The real problem was that Brodie gave him a player option for this year. No way he’d be here this year if not for that.
If Betances only replaces Jacob Barnes I will be Happy!
Just ask any Angel fan about gopher ball Barnes; with 2 more given up yesterday in 1 inning I don’t see what the Mets are seeing?
Guy is awful and is out of options because he sucked in the past also!
If he’s throwing 93-94 then he’s still nowhere near at full tilt.
argument: the Strasburg contract was a bigger mistake then the Miggy and Pujols contracts
Except people knew the Miggy and Pujols contracts were bad ideas before the signature was even completed. Starsburg has just turned out bad.
In other news, I’m sure disappointed that Jeter gifted Stanton to the Yankees.
And King Albert is two years older than he says he is.
At the time, I thought the trade of Staton, Yelich, and Ozuna were gifts to the other team. Even JT felt like a gift. Now granted about 2-3 players have come from all those trades looking like they might be legit or at least mlb serviceable. But lord 4 elite to mvp quality players and all they got was 2 ish players that might be quality. I’m sure each team is perfectly happy with their situation
Well so far the count is 1) All-Star and At worse #2 SP’er in Sandy, and Gallen was traded for young SS stud 2) Jazz 3) a quality C in Alfaro and 4) Sixto who might have the biggest upside of all Pitchers we traded for.
The Yelich trade was a disaster. The other trades are so far so good but can any of them can easily go to great or disaster as well.
I don’t know how Mike Rizzo could think Strasburg’s injuries were part of his past. He had a great 2019 but he has been hurt and ineffective since then.
He and Max carried that team (and its’ pathetic bullpen) on their backs in October 2019. A few weeks after winning the World Series MVP and having one of the most dominant performances by a pitcher ever in the playoffs, he becomes a free agent — so it’s real easy to play the hindsight card and suggest the Nats should not have resigned him. Will tell you this, though: there are a million posters on here who’ve been screaming about his injury history for years, and would’ve traded him 5 YEARS AGO if they were Rizzo, and would’ve had no WS ring to show for it either.
Acuna being ranked #1 on MLB Network as the best 25 or under just goes to show how underwhelming the entire group is.
The entire team in general is unwatchable and bad. I want to say rebuild but i believe AA needs to go first.
As a Mets’ fan, I’m not mourning the Braves’ troubles, but I’m not writing them off either. One thing I think people may have forgotten is that the Braves had some penalties related to their draft picks and pool money, I believe. So, though the Braves have a couple great young players in Acuña and Albies, the farm may eventually dry up.
Interesting not something I knew I would like to look into this or hear more about that… but albies and Acuna have set Braves up for potential greatness Imo by taking the contracts when they did (or guess you could say Braves made great deals/borderline took advantage somewhat). I can’t imagine American born players w same talent being advised to take same deals?
This is the link I found: minorleagueball.com/2017/11/21/16687616/mlb-levies…
Plenty of baseball left. Braves can easily get hot. I’m not counting them out.
Plenty of baseball to play, but a lot of wrong moves made-e.g. Melancon, O’Day….. A much weaker bullpen in quality and depth, and the Braves have paid for it with all their 1 run losses and losses in the farce that is extra innings where you little league the runner on to 2nd so the game can end quickly, and also the loss of Ozuna is huge.
MLB is ruining baseball.
Loss of Ozuna is huge, but every team is dealing with the extra innings nonsense, so that’s no excuse.
Agreed, but extra innings rule is a made up rule by MLB, it won’t be played in Game 7 of a World Series, and it shouldn’t be used in regular season games as it’s a roll of the dice. There’s nothing worse than the way MLB is destroying the fabric & tradition of the game.
@Fred McGriff As a hockey fan, I feel the same way about the shootout. Unfortunately, that rule never went away (despite not being used in the playoffs) and I think the extra inning rule is here to stay as well.
Alright, after all this time, just admit it; you hate his dreads. That’s what it is, isn’t it?
Haha, does he even have dreads now?
I just feel the standards are low or have changed. A superstar is someone I want up at the plate to give the team a big hit. I don’t want Acuna up. If some of you step away from your bias and stop watching MLB network, you will too realize how overrated he is. Not a bad player..talented for sure, but overrated beyond belief.
If this team is wondering what changes need to be made, moving him down to 3 spot is one.
Of course, I’m not saying Acuna is the problem. On the contrary, he has been the most important player for them, but that is not saying much when the entire roster is underachieving.
We discussed this before..back in April and May. It is already June, and this team has yet to smell >.500. Regardless if they somehow reach it, they are not winning anything this year. They need to rebuild/retool/sell off.
I think you are intentionally setting up a standard that nobody can achieve and setting it to Acuna.
Mike Trout effect—not their faults lol…Just don’t see how you can possibly say Acuna has been over-rated.
What ? Are you serious?
Never before has the game been full of SO many young stars, maybe the reason you feel it’s underwhelming is because there isn’t one complete standout. But the depth and early performance of the under 25 list is wild, players used to struggle for the first few years of their career. Never before have young stars been so prepared to flourish in the league, and are proving it
Horrible take. No reason for the Braves to rebuild. With the core of Acuna, Albies, Anderson, at least they should be retooling for the postseason every year.
Wouldn’t mind one bit if they begin to sell off tho
I really think Acuna has a chance to one day break Cal Ripken’s iron man streak. The guy is harder than a coffin nail. Or, maybe not.
Hard to tell sarcasm over text. But I’m assuming that’s what you’re going for
Strassburg…. Modern day equivalent of Mike Hampton
If it isn’t one thing it’s another with this guy. Except for one season this has been the story of his career. Constant injuries.
Off topic my bad but no chance guy like Marte gets traded within division right (if Miami falls out)? I realize he is injury prone which is not what Mets need and they should have some health coming back but Nimmo is not it imo for CF that heavily relies on pitching…
The chances of Marte being traded to the Mets are about the same as marlinsfanbase NOT responding to a post by metsfan22