Just a reminder to everyone: It can always get worse.
The Atlanta Braves have been dealt yet another injury. Manager Brian Snitker said via The Athletic’s David O’Brien that right-hander Grant Holmes is heading to the injured list with elbow tightness. There is no reported timetable for how long he could be out. He is expected to be evaluated further, and that should bring a clearer picture.
Holmes pitched just four innings on Saturday in the walk-off 6-5 loss in extras to the Rangers, allowing four earned runs on six hits and two walks. According to FanDuel Sports Network’s Wiley Ballard, Holmes complained of elbow soreness on the pitch before he was hit by a line drive in the fourth inning.
Holmes had been a valuble arm for his ability to step up and effectively give the team innings. In 22 games, 21 starts, this season, he has a 3.99 ERA.
Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver, Reynaldo López and Grant Holmes are now going to be on the injured list all at once. The entire starting rotation to start the 2025 season is unavailable.
This season only continues to become a bigger doozy. This move comes just as they got Austin Riley back from the injured list the day before.
Spencer Strider will pitch one day. Bryce Elder will pitch another, along with Joey Wentz presumably. Though Wentz isn’t officially in the rotation, according to the Braves depth chart, he’s made two starts for them recently. The rest is all question marks.
It’s going to involve a lot of patchwork until some of these arms get healthy again. Dane Dunning could provide an emergency-starter option. He’s coming off two scoreless innings on Saturday. They could call back up Davis Daniel, who was optioned back to Gwinnett earlier in the week.
The Braves have been giving bullpen days a try. They might have to keep doing that again because they might feel they don’t have a choice.
Elder will pitch the series finale on Sunday, and then after that, we’ll just see what happens.
