Right-handed warriors Reynaldo López was removed from earlier today after pitching just three innings and the club announced that this was due to a strained right arm. He is headed to Atlanta to get an MRI, according to Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on X. Although Atlanta described it as a defensive move and described the correct as day-to-day, it would be a significant development given the circumstances surrounding the team. .
López worked mostly as a reliever from 2021 to 2023, but Atlanta moved him back to the starting role this year, an experiment that has gone very well so far. The righty entered today with a 2.12 earned run average in 101 2/3 innings. There's definitely some luck there, as 85.6% of young pitchers have pitched long, but his 8.7% walk rate is close to average and his 24.2% strikeout rate is pretty solid. His 3.17 FIP and 4.00 SIERA point to solid results even with a little bit of luck in terms of base runners.
Losing that kind of performance for even a short period of time would be less than ideal for Atlanta. The club has recently slipped from the standings and is well behind the Phillies in the National League East. In the Wild Card picture, there are nine teams fighting for three spots, within eight games of each other. Atlanta is at the top of that pile, but only slightly.
Their rotation challenges started early and increased as the season progressed. Spencer Strider needed UCL surgery in April and has been out for a year. Fried Max, Huascar Ynoa again Hurston Waldrep also on IL due to arm issues.
Fried and Waldrep could each be out of the IL in the coming weeks, but it would be less than ideal for López to miss any time. If you were out of the picture, the spin axis would be down Chris Sale again Charlie Morton, at least until one of the injured guys can come back. Sale is having a good year but is not guaranteed, as he is 35 years old and missed most of the last four seasons due to injury. Morton has a passable ERA of 4.16 but is 40 years old and his strikeout rate has declined for the fourth straight season. Spencer Schwellenbach he's been great but has just ten MLB starts to his name so far. The liberator Grant Holmes listed as future starters.
All in all, Atlanta's rotation has a lot of question marks in it right now, which will likely affect Atlanta's performance in the days to come. The trade deadline is 5pm Central on Tuesday, giving the club little time to figure out how aggressively they are pursuing promotion. The market can have impact words like these Garrett Crochet, Jack Flaherty again Tarik Skubalso are the boys Erick Fedde, Yusei Kikuchi, Cal Quantrill many more.
The club may need help at second base and outfield due to injuries Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr. again Michael Harris II, but the competitive balance tax may affect their approach. RosterResource pegs their CBT number at $273MM, just under the third threshold of $277MM. Exceeding that line would not only lead to a higher tax rate but would also see their top pick in the 2025 draft move back ten spots.
On top of this season, there are concerns about long absences. At this point, there is nothing to suggest that the worst case scenario is on the table for López, but an elbow/forearm injury will always lead to some concern.
At this time of year, significant surgery could put the 2025 season in jeopardy for López. Atlanta will lose Fried and Morton in free agency, with the latter also retiring. López is in the first season of a three-year contract and will be part of the mix for 2025 as long as he is healthy. Otherwise, it will be a 36-year-old auction, followed by unproven guys like Schwellenbach, Waldrep and others.
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