Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Great start, so not open for business quite yet

Winning is fun and there has been a lot more of that happening lately with our Bravos – so does Plan B(uy) now go into action?

The Atlanta Braves are at 45-45 and are steadily gaining on the western Wild Card teams.  There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s a good start.

We should know a lot more in the next 2 weeks – and we are now 2 weeks ahead of the non-waiver trade deadline – but there’s a lot of ‘head-to-head’ matchups coming that will be of particular interest:

• CUBS – 3 games starting tonight; 3 more at the end of August.
• DODGERS – 4 in LA at the end of this week… a very challenging series.  3 more once the Braves return home
• ARIZONA – 3 more in their house after LA
• COLORADO – 4 games in Denver (mid-August), then 3 more at home starting 8/25.

Wanna gain ground to qualify for a Wild Card berth?  You’ve got to beat the teams that will be standing in your way… and the schedule is laid out for the Braves to do so.

Sunday

Sunday saw Jaime Garcia right his own ship, the best outing he’s had in a full month.  The only run he gave up was via an ‘error of commission’ – his own throwing gaff that came from trying to do too much on a play.

Tonight’s game will be interesting to see if another pitcher can get things sorted properly:  Julio Teheran vs. Jon Lester… and both of them might need to step up their games.

You know about Teheran’s troubles at home.  But Lester’s last 2 outings have been bad on an epic level:  16 runs allowed (9 earned) in 5.2 innings.  The most recent start lasted only 2/3rds of an inning vs. the Pirates, allowing 10 of those runs.

So Lester hasn’t really pitched more than the equivalent of side sessions since July 4th.  As a result, there’s no way to know how this will go:  could be dueling shutouts from the starters or it could be a 15-14 game.

Speaking of Garcia

There was this bit from MLB Trade Rumors yesterday afternoon:

"Approximately a dozen teams have expressed interest in Braves left-hander Jaime Garcia, but the club isn’t ready to sell, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (on Twitter)."

“A dozen” would be virtually every team in the race… though we might eliminate a few NL clubs since the Braves suddenly have little motivation to help those teams beat ours.

But it’s the “isn’t ready to sell” line that’s of particular note here.  You would think that after Sunday’s 7 inning, 4 hit outing that Coppy would jump at the chance to sell him now… particularly after the bad stretch Garcia has experienced.

But I suspect the answer involves timing:

• If the Braves were still floundering behind the Mets or Marlins, it wouldn’t matter – sell whenever the deal is available.
• But the Braves are clearly still working hard to gain additional starting pitching and they’d rather not leave themselves with a rotation gap until a replacement deal is ready to go.

That doesn’t mean a deal is imminent.  It does suggest that Coppy is trying to make one happen.

Something to Consider

Atlanta is now in the hunt – 6 games out of a playoff spot – despite enduring the maladies of Garcia’s last month, Dickey’s early hiccups, Teheran’s home record and Bartolo Colon’s unfortunate meltdown.

R.A. Dickey has turned things around.  Sean Newcomb has been a nice surprise, and Garcia may be coming back… well, until he’s dealt.

None of this sounds like the Braves are that far away, does it?

Here’s your sweeping Sunday box score:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Next: Another View on Prospect Handling

So tonight:  Lester and Teheran, 7:35pm.  This’ll be fun.