There really isn’t a lot that the Atlanta Braves can hang their hat on, is there? The Braves offense has regressed so violently to where some wonder if the entire lineup needs an overhaul.

Atlanta’s rotation has been absolutely savaged by injuries to guys like Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Reynaldo Lopez. However, one area that is usually a strength on Braves teams that has been surprisingly bad is the bullpen.

After being the third best bullpen in the league by fWAR last season and a respectable 11th in 2023, the Braves bullpen has plummeted to 22nd in MLB and that honestly seems like a generous ranking given some of their implosions this season.

Some of this is due to front office negligence last offseason as well as the injury to Joe Jimenez, but a big portion of it is good ol’ fashioned regression and ineffectiveness.

Unfortunately, given that three of the four Braves players that are the most likely to be traded in the eyes of experts are bullpen arms, things in the late innings are likely to get worse.

Expect the Braves bullpen to get worse before they get better

According to The Athletic, Raisel Iglesias, Pierce Johnson, and Rafael Montero are very much going to be on the table in trade talks for the next week or so along with Marcell Ozuna.

Now, Iglesias has been mostly bad this season and trading away Montero would be addition by subtraction, but that would mean that Atlanta would be losing three arms from a bullpen that is already struggling.

The Braves are not completely without bullpen depth in the minors, but covering those kinds of losses would be tough. Daysbel Hernandez recently got optioned down and would be a very serviceable if not better option. At some point, the Braves are going to have to give flame-throwing pitching prospect Jhancarlos Lara a chance as well.

However, that is only two arms and only one of them has big league experience and that doesn’t even account for the guys on the struggle bus who aren’t likely to get moved like Enyel De Los Santos that probably don’t need to be playing as much or in the spots they are right now.

In short, the Braves’ bullpen is likely to get worse after the trade deadline passes with how much worse depending on if Atlanta can keep Johnson in particular around. Unfortunately, this is a mess of the Braves’ own making and is likely to highlight just how important addressing their relief situation is going to be this coming offseason.