The Braves have a number of issues right now, and at the forefront of those is a bullpen that is on track to be one of the worst in baseball.

Atlanta’s relief core currently boasts a 4.44 ERA collectively. That’s good for 24th in baseball and -0.5 WAR, which ranks 25th, a far cry from last year’s unit that ranked third in all of baseball in both ERA and WAR. However, this really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

The Braves lost arguably their second and third-best relievers in A.J. Minter and Joe Jimenez, and they did absolutely nothing to replace them.

Dylan Lee is a fine pitcher, but he shouldn’t be asked to throw in high-leverage situations every night, and Daysbel Hernandez is a rookie with zero experience.

The stuff is there for Hernandez to be an elite reliever, but asking him to come in and immediately be the #1 option behind Raisel Iglesias is pretty insane for a team with World Series aspirations.

The Braves should have added not one but multiple relievers this offseason with experience in high leverage situations.

This isn’t something that’s going to fix itself. The bullpen in Atlanta is atrocious, which begs the question: Why haven’t the Braves signed David Robertson already?

For whatever reason, Robertson remains a free agent, likely because of a lofty asking price. It’s not generally wise to hand out lucrative deals to 40-year-old pitchers, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Alex Anthopoulos has put this club in a desperate situation, and Robertson is the only reliever worth a damn available.

Since 2022, David Robertson has been one of the better relievers in all of baseball, recording 6.0 WAR with a 2.82 ERA and 147 ERA+ (47% above league average). Reports suggest he is looking for a deal in the $10 million range. If that’s true, his bags should have been packed for Atlanta a while ago.