Braves trade deadline day anticlimactic

“You’d like to get deals done. You find a way. But there’s certain asks that you say ‘yes’ to, and those are the deals that you do. And certain ones that you say ‘no’ to. You’re always trying to manage the short-term and the long-term. You go into these things with, ‘How can we make the team better,’ and, ‘Is there something that you think is the right thing for the organization to do?’”

Outfielder Lane Thomas was acquired from the Royals on Saturday night. His addition meant saying goodbye to outfielder Eli White who was shipped up to Boston to play for the Red Sox.

Right-hander Tyler Mahle, a starter, came over to the team Sunday from the Giants. The Braves got left-handed reliever Brent Suter from the Angels on Monday while also sending backup catcher Joey Bart to the White Sox.

The price tag on those additions was minimal. The impact of the newcomers remains to be seen.

What the Braves did not do was land a big-name starting pitcher, like Tarik Skubal (who went to the Dodgers), Freddy Peralta (who went to the Rays), Foster Griffin (who went to the Guardians), Robbie Ray (who went to the Padres), or Clay Holmes and Kevin Gausman (who both went to the Cubs), to name a few. Casey Mize, rumored to be of great interest to the Braves, also went to the Padres at the 11th hour.

“It’s hard for me to talk about deals that didn’t get done,” Anthopoulos said. “Obviously, Skubal is as impactful as any starter that you’re going to find, right? So that clearly was the best guy on the trade market that got moved to LA. And there was one other guy who we thought was incredibly impactful as well in our minds. But beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about things that didn’t get done.”

The onus was on the Braves’ front office to get a front-line starter to ride tandem into the postseason with ace Chris Sale. Instead, Sale, Mahle, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Martín Pérez would be the team’s starting pitching choices if the playoffs started Tuesday.

Of course, they don’t, and there are two months for the Braves to line their arms up for a World Series run. Reynaldo López is on the injured list with a minor knee injury and could be back later this month. AJ Smith-Shawver, JR Ritchie, Owen Murphy and Hurston Waldrep (although also currently on the IL), who are all at Triple-A, could emerge as viable postseason options. Spencer Schwellenbach should begin a rehab assignment, too.

As they did in the offseason, the Braves leaned toward their internal options for starting pitchers rather than external ones. As disappointing as that may be to the club’s supporters, that strategy put the Braves in first place after four months of baseball.

“Since the All-Star break, I think we’ve been fifth in ERA in MLB. First two months of the season, we were top-five in ERA. Obviously, in the middle, we weren’t,” Anthopoulos said. “Does that mean you’re not looking to get better? Absolutely, in all areas: bullpen, offense, rotation. But you’re managing short term, long term, and you’re going to do what you feel is best for the club. And you’re not going to force a deal. We said no to a lot of things. And that’s not easy to do. But you have to do what you feel is right for the organization.”

Around the league, a couple of notable moves included the Phillies, eight games back of the Braves in the NL East, working out a deal for the league’s best hitter in second baseman Luis Arráez. The Diamondbacks secured outfielder Lars Nootbaar from the Cardinals.

The Braves (67-45) are scheduled to resume the season Tuesday at Truist Park when they face the Marlins. Anthopoulos believes the team that takes the field that day will be better than the one that walked off it Sunday after a four-game sweep of the Nationals.

“We added players to the big-league roster that we felt that we improved the club. We had a really good team. I mean, we’re in first place,” Anthopoulos added. “We’re playing really well out of the break. Our offense has come back to life. We’ve pitched like we did early in the year. We had a rough June, there’s no doubt about that. But the way we’re playing coming out of the break has been great, and we feel like with the guys we added, we made the club stronger.”