Injuries to Max Fried and Ozzie Albies Change Everything for the Atlanta Braves

after an exciting wind to start the weekend for the Atlanta Braves it was downhill from that as they drop a series to the Cardinals lose Max Reed to the injured list lose Aussie albz to the injured list how do the Braves respond to this what does it mean for the trade deadline we'll talk about all that on today's episode of Locked on Braves so let's get into it you are locked on Braves your daily Atlanta Braves podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hey and welcome back to lockon Braves part of lockdown Sports Atlanta where we cover your favorite Atlanta sports teams each and every day I am your host Jake mastriani you can follow me on social media at shortstop ball check out the podcast there as well at locked onore Brave send in any questions comments or feedback that you have for the podcast I'm sure you have many right now after this past weekend make sure you subscribe on YouTube if you are new hit that thumbs up button so others can find us and if you're listening on the audio version please leave me a five star review and thank you so much for making lockdown Braves your first listen of each and every day if you're an every dayer let me know down in the comment section below we have a lot to talk about on today's podcast obviously the series Lost to the Cardinals we'll touch on that but the max breed injury news that changes a lot as we gear up for the trade deadline aie alz getting hurt on a play that should never have happened in the finale of the weekend what does that mean going forward do we see nacho Alvarez get a chance now do we see Alex has to act fast to go find somebody we'll get into all that obviously it's miners Monday as well talk about some of the draft signings the Braves lock up cam cam and idy for slot value I don't think anybody saw that one coming so there are some positives but they're very hard to find after a rough weekend for the Atlanta Braves this episode is brought to you by prize picks the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to priz fix.com lockon MLB and use code all lowercase locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100 let's start with the big news of the day maxre going on the 15-day injured list with forearm neuritis which basically from what I understand it's just nerve irritation in his forearm now Max said after the game on Sunday as he was interviewed that it was a sensory nerve so I don't know if that's any different than any major nerve in your body I would assume so he seemed to sound like that was a good thing to downplay the S situation said it just felt like a a burning sensation in the nerve there so nothing wrong structurally and if you're looking at the good news here the MRI showed that there was no soft tissue damage nothing wrong with the ligament the tendon the muscle so that is all very good news what's not good news is you're losing one of your your best starters it's another injury to somebody who lost a lot of time last year to injuries and even though the team's downplaying it Max Fred is downplaying it it's not good and the plan right now is that he's essentially going to be shut down until that goes away you know could it be a week could it be two weeks who knows and that leaves a lot up in the air and you only have what nine days now until the trade deadline and you have to decide what you're going to do let's get I want to go back step further he said he felt this while warming up for the All-Star Game didn't think it was anything major anything to keep him from throw it throwing why push it though is what I don't understand and I I get it and his under his comments on Sunday you know makes sense every every player every pitcher at this point in the season especially is dealing with something but it's an All-Star game it's an exhibition it's why I talked about before the All-Star Game I hope our pitchers don't throw and I was glad that chrisel was n't going to throw and look this injury maybe happens either way it it probably happens either way but it's just why why push it if you feel anything in an exhibition game why I I don't understand that and you look at the Cardinals closer Ryan Hesley who end ended up pitching on Sunday he was in the All-Star Game and he said he wasn't gonna pitch because he felt a little something and didn't want to push it good on you Ryan Hesley Max freed why would you not do the same thing and I understand look you're warming up to go into the game it would throw everything out of whack everybody would be wondering where is Max freed I don't care I I don't care I I just again it probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things this was probably going to be something that he he was going to deal with anyway but just why push it in an All-Star game if you feel anything in an All-Star Game especially right before you're about to throw just don't go into it just they can figure something else out there's always way too many pitchers Ronaldo Lopez got to face one batter there's way too many pitchers in this game anyway let somebody else figure it out they can get a bull pin arm up pretty quickly shoot you can delay the game it's an exhibition if you have to just why push it so that's that's somewhat frustrating and look I again I understand Max Freed's part of it you know he's already getting warmed up didn't want to make too much of a deal of it and again it was probably going to happen either way but that that's just somewhat frustrating and you get too EX examples of it in this same series like I said with h who felt a little bit something said okay I'm not going to pitch and then Max Reed who felt a little something said okay I'm just going to pitch through it anyway and now here we are going on the 15-day injured list but again doesn't seem to be anything major and he's just shut down until that irritation goes away so still hoping that he's able to come back and Pitch most of the second half but it leaves a big question mark for the brave starting rotation we talked about the trade deadline the past several weeks been talking about it and I've said I don't think there's a need to go out and get a starting pitcher at the deadline I don't think it is a priority over what you need offensively but that's all predicated on Max Reed and particularly Chris S being healthy but now that you know one of those guys isn't healthy at the moment and look he could come back and be healthy and be fine that is a possibility but with only nine days to figure that out I don't think you can take a chance I think starting pitcher has to shoot up the priority list for the trade deadline and look I don't think you're going to go out and get a top of the rotation arm you're not going to get a Garrett crochet you're probably not even going to get a jack flarity who's going to be you know one of the top starting pitchers available at the trade deadline I think maybe best case scenario you're talking about an Eric fety type somebody who's a mid- rotation maybe a three or four type of starter but I think at the very least now you do have to go get one of those guys to give you some insurance in case Max Freed's not able to come back and look no none of those guys are going to replace Max freed but I think you need it at least for depth down the stretch and in case you know freed or you know somebody else gets injured the rest of the way with the way this season is going it certainly is a possibility so I I now do believe the Braves have to go out and find a starting pitcher at the trade deadline along with finding you know another bat for the Outfield those are now two big priorities for Alex anthopolos as we are again under 10 days away from the ml be trade deadline another part of this maybe we can get into more in the offseason but go ahead and bring it up now what does this mean for Max fre in the off season now the year that he was having if he comes out of this season healthy I think he's getting a five or six year deal but you have another hiccup like this in the forearm area even though again downplaying it saying it's just a sensory nerve but it is in that area that's that's a pretty big red flag I think for a lot of teams for a pitcher who's going into their 30s what type of contract is he looking like now I think this takes a hit on what he could have potentially gotten in free agency had he stayed healthy all year and continue to pitch like he has been does this open up the possibility for him to come back to the Braves I think the Braves have to be worried about those same risks as well but I think it does play into what Max Freed's free agency looks like that he's now had another injury in the forearm area you know whatever you want to say about it downplay it all you want to I think this does somewhat of an impact on him like what does this mean for the current rotation you're going to need more out of schwellenbach I think they've already asked for a lot from him you're going to need guys like Elder probably Allen weens Dylan DOD who they called up AJ Smith Scher making his way back Ian Anderson as well you know even if you do go out and get somebody those guys are going to have to step up and it puts a lot more pressure on S and Lopez to again stay healthy and continue to pitch the way that they have been but that wasn't the only injury from the weekend why why why Travis darno do we continue to throw the ball through on first and third with two outs I I don't understand it Shawn Murphy I could understand a little bit more he's got a cannon he has a really good chance of throwing that Runner out and Travis stno has done okay in that but still just why why throw that ball we've done it so many times this year and more often than not it just does not work out and it leaves to the other other team scoring a free run but he throws it through and not only does the ball get to center field score a run but Aussie's hand gets caught up on the runner in the process and he leaves the game immediately I mean you look at Aussie's reaction when the runner's shoulder Clips his hand and takes his hand with him he knew immediately something was wrong and so he leaves the game at the time I'm recording this Sunday afternoon we don't know the full extent of the injury so keep an update for that I'll probably do a short uh on YouTube if we figure out exactly what that's going to be I'll also be checking XS throughout this and me and Grant will be back on later on Sunday night well you're listening to this Monday morning but we'll probably get more information on that but as it stands now after the game on Sunday he is going on the injur list and snit said it's not good so I'm expecting it to be a lengthy absence for Aussie albz I almost think at this point you got to go give nacho a chance if for anything else maybe to PRI try and provide a spark for this team for this lineup get a fresh face up here a fresh player and a guy that's been hitting really really well and at Triple A and maybe you just ride that hot hand I'm going to talk more about nacho in a second as they're making a position change with him apparently and a lot of people were wondering why but if not Nacho the other options are Zack short we've kind of been down that road already or Luke Williams so it's not great right now with Azie Al again potentially looking at a lengthy absence so bad weekend for the Braves you were hoping to come out of the break with some momentum you had that first win of the weekend with Eddie Rosario's late heroics and then winning at an extra innings you felt like okay maybe this team's going to turn things around things are starting to change and even on the loss in game two you saw the home runs you said okay the home runs are coming now we just got to get back to getting some good pitching and then you drop the finale you lose Max freed and Aussie alz to the injured list with all the other injuries they've dealt with this year and now the Vibes just feel really bad on this team at the moment things can certainly change pretty quickly especially with the trade deadline The Vibes can change very quickly as we saw in 2021 but at this moment with this weekend going into the second half it feels like more the same from the first half it just feels like the season is cursed for the Atlanta Braves but no better other no other way to really put it that's just how it feels right now all right next we'll get into that series a little bit more we'll also get through miners Monday and then we'll wrap things up looking at the draft signings and preparing you for the Reds series coming up this week week we'll get into all that here next prize piix is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members prize piix is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps on prize picks it's just you against the numbers all you do is pick more or less on two 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look at it now and you were lucky to win one game you got some heroics from Eddie Rosario you got some some good pitching I'm not saying they didn't deserve to win but you had to had use a late rally to come back and kind of Steal one and then you just get beat in the next two and it's a Cardinals team that yes they've been playing Better Baseball lately their offense has been better and they're right behind the Braves in the wild card spot they're a good team they're not a great team it's a team that you would hope the Braves could beat and now they've lost four of six to them this year to the team right behind you in the Wild Card race so what does that say about you as the Atlanta Braves you know we've been sitting here thinking you know the do Dodgers Phillies kind of in a class of their own maybe even put the Brewers not in that class but you think Dodgers fil is in a class maybe Brewers Braves in a in a tier behind them the Braves are in the tier behind that now with the way the Braves have played since the end of April and this series the series with the Padres the one they lost obviously in Atlanta I think you can say that this Braves team is more is a lot closer to those group of NL teams that are hovering around 500 which is what the Braves have been since the end of April than they are closer to the Phillies and the Dodgers and even the Brewers at this point you know that's just the state of where things are right now the Braves are more like a middling team in the National League than they are looking at being one of the best and I think you know despite everything that's happened I think a lot of people myself included felt like the Braves were still among that Top Class of baseball teams in the National League which would be pretty much everybody in baseball that's not the case they're just not there's there's simply not you cannot come out against the Cardinals team that again is good but they shouldn't be where you are despite the injuries despite the you know rotation that you threw out in this one and just getting out played the Home Run ball was back in in this series there was a lot of home runs 13 home runs hit in this series seven for the Cardinals six for the Braves five of six for the Braves were solo shots six of seven for the Cardinals were solo shots but the Home Run ball was back and pitching unfortunately just was not for the Braves and again you had to shuffle some things around with the max freed injury and calling up ryce selder and schellenbach was okay both of those guys were okay they they both just got hurt really bad by the Home Run Ball but the Braves offense you just can't trust it game to game you just can't I mean their best offensive game in the series they lost you know in the game on the first game of the double header they had the heroics late to come back and win it and on Sunday you push across two runs in a game started by miles michelas you just can't trust this offense just it's it's just frustrating it really really is frustrating where this offense has has fallen to Matt olsson's just a disaster look I've tried to defend him and and I will still to a degree but over 12 in this series he's slashing 127 210 218 with one home run in July you know I was hoping in my second half predictions that Matt Olsen was going to come out of the break refreshed ready to go and just go on an absolute tear especially with home runs back across Major League Baseball not off to a good start this weekend things could certainly change he did only have two strikeouts and he smoked a few balls that were right at people so if you want to try to look positive there you know he had a 10 109.3 m per hour line out a 106.2 m per hour line out in this series but two times he grounded into a double play and two other ground three other ground outs on the weekend got to get the lift on that baseball and it's just it felt like this all season really for Matt Olsen yes the strikeouts are up the walks are down that's that's concerning but it's just that even the contact he's making he just feels like he's a tick off he's either right on top of it or right under it and that's kind of indicative by the fact that his Barrel rate is down to 99.9% it was 16.4% last year that to me screams that there's a mechanical issue somewhere in his swing which on one hand is great because mechanical issues can be fixed other hand why hasn't it been found and why hasn't it been fixed yet but again he he's just a tick off and it's felt that way all year long it's felt that way for a lot of Braves hitters but specifically Matt olssen he just feels like he's a tick off the baseball every time and he's just not barreling them up to an elite level yeah 16.4% is Elite maybe you shouldn't expect that every time but he should be in the double digits I know he's at 9.9% so he's almost there but he's just he's just a tick off at the moment and he's got to figure that out because the Braves have to have Matt Olsen down the stretch for this offense to get going it also a little bit frustrating Jesse Chavez and Grant Holmes letting some games get away from them late now the BRS were already losing but you know they were within Striking Distance and then you give up some runs in the ninth inning that really puts things away that's part of trying to navigate a stretch of 17 games in 16 days with no off days you're going to see Jesse Chavez and Grant Holmes pitch some extra innings that maybe they shouldn't be pitching because you're trying to save that Bullpen with this stretch of games that the Braves have so frustrating weekend not just the injuries but the play on the field as well just really really frustrating losing a series to a team like the Cardinals who again they're good but it's a team the Braves should beat especially at home to prove they're in that upper tier still it's what you were hoping to see coming out of the break but it's more the same that we've seen for going on three months at this point it's a 500 baseball team the Braves that's what they've been playing like for a while now next we'll try to get into some more positives the Braves did knock out a lot of their MLB draft picks getting them signed including first round pick cam Canon cetti who they get for slot value we'll discuss that in more here next I love sports and I love them so much I never want them to stop but lot of action is out right now NBA NHL seasons are over waiting on football season it's just major league baseball right now which is fine for me and there's almost MLB baseball action every day or there is Major League Baseball action every day now through the rest of the season and FanDuel lets the sports keep going whenever you want all you have to do is open the app dream up any bets anytime that you're in the mood and this summer FanDuel is looking to hook up all customers with a boost or bonus daily that's right daily there's something for everyone every day all all summer long so head on over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most out of your summer also make sure you visit fanduel.com playsafe for tools and resource to help you stay in control of the way you play FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball all right let's get into our miners Monday segment not a lot to get here as the minor leagues are off the same time as Major League Baseball which makes no sense to me I'd love to get out to a minor league baseball park during the Allstar break but they're off as well so is what it is a lot of teams only played two or three games this weekend AJ Smith Scher three and twoth thirs innings gave up one hit walk two but no IR runs and five strikeouts 68 pitches he could become really key down the stretch for the Atlanta Braves he probably needs two more starts to get stretched out before the Braves might call him up but you know if Max Reed is on the iil for an extended period either way I think we're probably going to see a good bit more of AJ Smith Scher this season so good to see him continuing to get stretched out just going through the list of top prospects who are actually healthy and playing J.R Richie making his way back from Tommy John surgery went three three and two thirds Innings gave up six hits and two walks but just two earn runs with three strikeouts nacho Alvarez stays hot five for nine in the three- game weekend with a double and a home run the power continues to play and four walks including three on Sunday with no strikeouts I mean the bat is there he's doing everything he can with the bat it's no longer you know really small stample size at Triple A he just continues to produce now they played him at third base all weekend which had a lot of people speculating are they trying to Showcase him at different positions I can't imagine that they've all of a sudden given up on him at Short Stop and why else would you want to see him at third base where you have Austin Riley for a long time so like I'm not one to to get into conspiracy theories but I think it's a pretty rable and reasonable explanation that they moved him to third basee to give other teams that maybe the Braves are talking to a look at him at third base it's the only thing I can really think of because you're not doing it to get more looks at Luke wadell at shortstop which is who is playing shortstop instead of Nacho over the weekend I can't imagine that that's the case the only reasonable explanation that I can see is that they are trying to Showcase him at third base and potential trade so that's something to keep an eye on we'll see you know what comes of that maybe they'll move him back to Short Stop maybe he's up by then maybe the Raves call him up with a Azie injury and give him a chance at the big league level where he's never played second base but I don't think you're gonna move Aria off a short stop with his glove there but just some interesting things to watch there with Nao Alvarez who continues to hit but could he be trade deadline piece that the Braves are looking to move if they're moving him it better be in a pretty significant deal in my opinion similar to what I talked about with Von Gren before you know and I feel the same way about nacho I don't feel like nacho is going to be an All-Star I never felt that way about Von Gom but I feel like he's going to be a pretty solid piece that you need that come in and feeling for an injury or you know perhaps turn into an everyday player and the Raves obviously did good in that Von Gom deal but it better be for something pretty pretty good if you're if you're trading nacho Alvarez um her Jose Pomo uh it was back in Action as he makes his way back at the Dominican level only played in two games was one for four with no walks and a strikeout Luis guanipa he got caught up with some other prospects to Augusta he went two for 11 with no walks and a strikeout his first three games State Side I guess outside of the Arizona complex League full season ball is what I was trying to get out there edgette Andrew Velasquez five for eight with a double and a home run Ian Anderson three and two thirs innings six hits one walk four earned four strikeouts Zack L four Innings no hits no walks no earn two strikeouts he had a 293 erra on the season a 1.11 whip 73 strikeouts and 76 and two3 like I call his name on here every week could he be in the mix to maybe get a start this year you have to make room for him on the 40 man as you would for nacho just to mention that again but he's pitched really well Hayden Harris an ending in two thirds no hits no walks no earn and three strikeouts he's been dominant out of the bullpen all season long at Mississippi kesan ogin continues to heat up four for eight with the stolen base Lucas Brun six Innings one hit did walk four but no earned runs and five strikeouts Patrick hallan two innings one hit no walk no earn three strikeouts and a save at Rome Kevin Kilpatrick three for 12 with a walk and two stolen bases Mitch Ferris another name that I think I've said on here just about all year long six in a third Innings four hits no walks no earn and five strikeouts Blake Burk halter five innings six six hits one walk Three earn four strikeouts and then at Augusta John Gil another name that I've mentioned on here just about every week but he gets called up to Augusta and continues to hit three for 10 with the stolen base wilver dong three for n with a double a homer and a walk and gomore gomore gomar Diaz sorry I completely butchered that um three Innings one hit one walk no earn three strikeout sets G IO m a r you let me know how you say it or how it's supposed to be said apologize for that uh but he had a good week at Augusta and then at the fcl level Carlos montverde seven for 17 with a double and two walks David Rodriguez on the mound went five innings four hits one walk one earn and six strikeouts so again not to talk about a short week at the minor league level I did want to get into the draft pick signings the Braves have signed their first 10 picks in 13 of their top 20 so far including first round pick Cam kimti that they get for $3.5 million right at slot value which is just insane the fact that he fell the Braves to 24 and they're able to get him at slot value I thought we were going to have to go over four million to get him that allowed the Braves to sign some of their other High School picks and it makes sense why the bravs were able to go after some of these high school picks later on they got Nicholas Montgomery the big Power bat that I'm excited about they signed him for basically 1 million that was 700,000 overs slaught and then they get a High School pitcher Ethan Bagwell they signed him for 822k which was about 500,000 overs slots so not only do they get Cam Kim and itti it allows them to go out and get a Nicholas Montgomery and Ethan Bagwell and we'll see what else it helps them you know sign later on as well they signed their couple of their High School picks later in the draft 12th round pick came in good they got for 161k and then 17th round pick Owen KY they signed for 150k those are a couple of their other high school players they're still the 20th round pick Eric Hartman which I think is not likely to happen but that's their other high school player still out there 11th round pick Patrick kisey has not signed yet an outfielder from St Louis he will get signed but that's one that I'm really excited about so just looking forward to that one getting done 13th round pick Short Stop Co Colby Jones a Jo player with an Alabama commit that'd be the only other maybe questionable one but that's likely going to get done they've also locked up their second round pick Carter Holton for 1347 million which was 40K under slot and they got the guy out of Indiana Luke sard for about 2k over slot so again Braves with a very good draft and it really helps being able to get CTI first of all him falling to them and then being able to get him at slot Val value and nobody thought the Braves would is just crazy they'll probably wrap up the rest of their signings getting those guys in the later rounds for between 100 and 150k is usually what they sign for but it's looking like it's a good draft for the Braves at least getting these guys signed and getting some of these high school talents in here so looking forward to seeing what happens with those guys and getting the rest of this class signed up I did mention briefly earlier that with Max freed going in the iil Dylan Dodd was called up we do know Aussie's going on the I don't know who's going to take his place you know like I said it's probably either going to be luke Williams who's already on the 40 man or it would be nacho Alvarez which you would have to go you would have to switch him to or put him on the 40 man and lose somebody all right news coming in here just at the end Brave second baseman ozie Ali has a left wrist fracture and expected to miss approximately eight weeks so we got it in just before the finish so hopefully you're still listening that coming from David O'Brien of the athletic also uh tweeted out by the Atlanta Braves U account on X Osby Al today went un underwent x-rays that revealed a left wrist fracture he's expected to miss approximately eight weeks so two months for Aussie alies you're talking about getting him back right before the end of the season so there's your late breaking news as we close out the podcast on Sunday afternoon Aussie Al's out for eight weeks Reds are coming up didn't really get to preview that matchup but it's hunter green versus Ronaldo Lopez in Monday that should be a really good matchup don't know who's pitching for the Reds on Tuesday going against Chris S that needs to be a w and on Wednesday we don't know who's pitching yet for the braids will'll be going up against Frankie montta so hopefully the bats get going hopefully Alex anthes can swing some trades to try to change the Vibes here in the clubhouse for the Atlanta Braves that just feel like really down right now has to be really down with all these injuries that they're having but again still a lot of talent there I still believe as as bad as things have looked I still believe in this team we got to start seeing it on the field we just haven't seen that enough so far this season but hopefully that changes feel like we've been saying that a lot hope hope hope we're all hanging on to hope uh and hopefully that does begin on Monday against the Reds that would do this episode of lock on Braves a lot to get in here on this podcast a lot of it bad but hang in there with me thank you so much for listening if you listen to the in uh please leave me a comment there let me know let me know you enjoy the podcast let me know you're an everyday or I do appreciate hearing from all of you make sure you subscribe on YouTube if you're new follow us on social media and make sure that you rate review And subscribe to the lockdown bra podcast wherever you get your podcast and we will talk to you next time