Pound for Pound: Straining

Published 10:30 am Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Keeping with last week’s theme of revisiting thoughts from previous columns, I’m doing that again today.

This time I’m looking back at a piece originally published a little over a month ago. The Atlanta Braves had just been swept by the San Diego Padres, which had some folks thinking the sky was falling. I invited those Chicken Little fans to take a chill pill and ride it out. Everything was going to be just fine.

The ballclub then rattled off wins in 11 of its next 15, including eight in a row against the Reds, Royals, and two of the first three against those same Padres.

The 2023 Braves continue to be streaky with three separate three-game winning streaks and two four-game losing skids spread out over these last few weeks. The latest run of Ls came with a loss versus Boston and a sweep up at Toronto.

I know I was prescribing chill pills last month, but the situation has changed. The Atlanta pitching staff has been further decimated by injuries with two starters rehabbing from injuries. Kyle Wright is out with a shoulder strain and staff ace Max Fried is facing a strained left forearm. All this straining has Doc Holliday’s line from “Tombstone” stuck in my head. Delivered deftly by Val Kilmer, “I’m afraid the strain was more than he could bear.”

Wright last year finished as Major League Baseball’s only 20-game winner. Fried, meanwhile, was second in Cy Young Award voting and looked to be firing on all cylinders when healthy this season. Not to mention Fried is approaching a contract year, so he stands to gain or lose a literal ton of future money based on his performance (and health) this year and next.

So what is Atlanta manager Brian Snitker to do? The strains suffered by Wright and Fried are being passed along to the Braves bullpen. The unit had to carry the load Sunday as the club faced a lack of viable starting options. And even when minor league arms are elevated, they don’t often go deep into games, keeping the burden on the bullpen. Michael Soroka is being brought along slowly in AAA Gwinnett, and rightfully so. He’s not ready. Thank goodness Bryce Elder has answered the call after being thrust into the spotlight.

The Atlanta pitching staff situation brings another favorite movie quote to mind, this one from the original “The Fast and the Furious,” not all that other nonsense that’s come since 2001. Dominic Toretto and his crew are scouting out a rival’s garage to see what engines they’re running, only to be greeted by empty space under the hood. Vin Diesel’s reply, “What are they planning on racing with, hopes and dreams?” gets a laugh from me every single time.

Not a laughing matter is the fact that the Braves pitching staff is currently held together by those same two things. Here’s hoping our dreams of another division and World Series title aren’t gone.