BRAVES NEWS
Suzuki smacks two dingers as Atlanta drops Arizona
The Braves bounced back from an ugly loss on Monday night by handing the Diamondbacks an ugly loss of their own. Atlanta won 8-3 last night, and the biggest contributor was Kurt Suzuki. He continued the trend of Braves catchers being on a relative tear when compared to other catchers across baseball, as he hit two dingers that helped power the Braves to a win in the desert.
We began the 7th inning tied up at 2.@kurtsuzuki quickly took care of that: pic.twitter.com/2YK91eKRJ0
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 26, 2017
Folty has become Atlanta’s most consistent starter right now
Meanwhile, Mike Foltynewicz continued along on what’s been a steady string of solid performances. In fact, the Braves have won the last nine games that Folty has started and 12 out of his last 14 starts. Simply put, Folty has been a consistent rock for the Braves’ rotation this season and Dave O’Brien of the AJC made sure to point that out in one of his latest articles.
“Kind of been a rollercoaster the last few years — have a few starts good, few starts bad, getting sent up and down (to and from minors) and all that kind of stuff. The goal this year was to be consistent and go from there,” [Foltynewicz] said. “I think I’m putting together a lot of good quality starts back to back, giving the team a good chance to win, having a little winning streak when I’m out there. So it’s all fun, and that was the plan coming out of spring training, keep pushing and keep attacking hitters. Keep going out there and pitching the way I am.”
“I really feel like Folty’s starting to trust himself and believe in himself,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s pitching with some confidence and conviction and belief that he can withstand some adversity of the course of a game now. More just kind of trusting his stuff and believing in himself is the big thing.
Oakland reportedly wants Acuna for Gray in potential trade
The Braves are involved in a big trade rumor once again, and this time they’re reportedly in on Sonny Gray. However, there were also reports that the A’s wanted to take Ronald Acuna off of Atlanta’s hands in a potential deal for Gray. It would take a lot to acquire Gray, but it appears that Acuna is in “Coppy’s Right Arm” territory.
There is absolutely no way the Braves would include Acuna in any potential deal for Gray https://t.co/xYfpjRd25I
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 25, 2017
How does the Gray/Braves/A’s rumor grade out compared to others?
Grant Brisbee is doing a thing over at the SB Nation MLB mothership where he’s grading trade rumors. He’s also giving his opinion on how the trades could affect the various teams who are involved, and here’s part of what he had to say about how a potential trade could benefit the Braves and the somewhat weird situation that they’re in right now.
It’s hard to figure out when the Braves are going to be excellent again, in other words. Could be next year. Could be three years from now. A wholly in-house rebuild is a tricky thing to pull off, even if they already have Freddie Freeman and a couple of other major parts already in place. It’s hard to push everything off until 2021 because the prospects could arrive next year. It’s hard to go all in for next season because the prospects might not arrive until 2021.
The solution is a middle ground, like Gray. He’s under team control for the next two seasons, and he would help the Braves bridge the gap between the R.A. Dickey present and the Ian Anderson future. If the roster solidifies in the meantime, that’s great. They’d have a young all-star. If the roster takes its sweet time, they get to exchange Gray for some of the prospects they lost to get him.
MLB NEWS
Milwaukee picks up Swarzak in deal
Earlier this week, there were rumblings that ownership and the front office were having a bit of an issue when it came to figuring out how exactly to go about pushing for the playoffs. They’ve given an indication of what their plans are by going out and making a pure rental move by adding Anthony Swarzak from the White Sox to their bullpen.
Swarzak signed a one-year, $900,000 free agent deal with the White Sox this past winter and is a free agent after the season. He’s enjoying perhaps the best season of his career, posting a 2.23 ERA/3.47 DRA across 48.1 innings with 52 strikeouts and 13 walks. He’s averaging a career-best 94.5 MPH with his fastball this season along with a career-high 14% swinging strike rate.
San Francisco trades Nunez to Boston
Meanwhile, the Red Sox were in the market for a third baseman — especially after they decided that it was time to officially end their time with Pablo Sandoval. They decided to re-visit the “San Francisco-to-Boston” pipeline by sending a couple of minor league pitching prospects to the Giants in exchange for Eduardo Nunez. He probably won’t be their everyday third baseman, but if he can provide value for the Red Sox as a solid infielder then he’ll do nothing but benefit their postseason push.