Acting fast: Demotion of Mike Foltynewicz is the new way of the Atlanta Braves

Throughout the winter months of the 2018-2019 MLB offseason, Atlanta Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos took a decent share of criticism from the fanbase for the team’s inactivity on both the trade and free agent fronts.

From the comment of “shopping in any aisle” to acquiring just one big-splash position player, you couldn’t blame those who expressed disappointment that the Atlanta Braves hadn’t kept up with the Joneses in the division.

However, perhaps Alex Anthopoulos had the best grasp of anyone on what to expect from his team in the 2019 season with this very simple belief: Atlanta didn’t need to keep up with the Joneses — the Joneses needed to keep up with Atlanta.

Fast-forward several months later, and here’s where we stand: The Braves, despite that largely stagnant offseason, are not only leading the National League East – they’re starting to run away with it.

Coming into Monday evening’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs, the Braves were 46-32 with a run differential of +49. They’ve firmly established themselves among the National League’s elite (or, Second Tier Elite behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, anyway).

What’s truly unbelievable is that all this has unfolded for the Atlanta Braves despite severe struggles in the bullpen early, and more struggles/injuries recently in the starting rotation.

Per Fangraphs, since June 1st, Atlanta has a starter’s ERA of 5.30, poor enough to rank 23rd in MLB over that timespan.

This certainly begs the question — if the Braves are as good as they are now, and they still have that much room for improvement on the pitching staff, just how great could they be if they made the right decisions and moves down the stretch?

Alex Anthopoulos sees this, he knows it, and he’s going for it.

A New Approach

Welcome to a philosophy shift — this is the new Way of the Braves.

Gone are the days of leaving a struggling player alone to “figure things out.”

Say goodbye to turning a blind eye to a high-profile free agent to preserve the future but at the expense of the present.

The rebuild is done — there’s a championship carrot dangling in front of this very hungry horse.

Sure, the suggestion that Alex Anthopoulos is suddenly turning “aggressive” might be met with fair criticism dating back to those all-too-quiet winter months last offseason.

But like anything else, it’s only fair to assess the effectiveness of a job on a “what have you done for me lately?” basis.

And boy, has a lot been done lately to indicate that Anthopoulos realizes he’s got a winner on his hands.

Acting Fast

From Opening Day through May 20th, the Braves had a bullpen ERA of 4.51, 20th in MLB. The relievers had accumulated an abysmal -0.6 fWAR during that time, which ranked one away from dead last in baseball to that point.

How did the Braves’ GM respond?

He traded away a struggling Jesse Biddle (and Arodys Vizcaino) in exchange for Anthony Swarzak, who has been remarkable with Atlanta (10.1 IP with 0 ER for the month of June).

Anthopoulos could’ve waited around to let the trade market develop and made his move for a reliever closer to the July 31st trade deadline, but he didn’t.

Nor did he wait to pull the trigger for free agent starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel, almost at the same time that starter Kevin Gausman’s season had hit rock bottom.

Keuchel, a former AL Cy Young winner and World Series champion, was one of the top free agents entering last offseason, and even when he remained a free agent through the first two months of this season, it’s probably fair to say that not many had serious expectations that he’d end up in Atlanta.

But he did.

It was a move that seemed to contrast greatly to anything the Atlanta Braves had done over the last several years, even in years of contention in the early 2010s: They jumped at the chance to bolster their major-league roster in a big way – during the season – when they saw a need to be met.

Again, it didn’t happen in the last week of July.

Most recently, Mike Foltynewicz pitched his worst outing of the season, surrendering 8 earned runs in 4 disastrous innings against the Washington Nationals on June 22nd.

The Atlanta Braves then decided to send the 2018 All-Star right-hander back down to Triple-A Gwinnett, a move probably once thought of as unfathomable just a couple of months earlier.

Sure, maybe with Folty’s overall performance this season, his demotion shouldn’t be that big of a surprise, but again, the demotion reeks of something that Atlanta would’ve been far too slow to do in previous years.

It proves this — the Atlanta Braves are no longer willing to sit and sacrifice victories for the development of a young pitcher. They want W’s, and they want them now.

If a player is not contributing to that theory? They’ll be shuffled out for someone who can.

The Best is Yet to Come?

More from Tomahawk Take

• Braves News: Braves prospect rankings, Correa deal with Mets at risk, more
• Why the Atlanta Braves won’t extend Max Fried
• Atlanta Braves 2023 Preseason Top 30 Prospects List: 1-5
• Braves News: Braves acquire Diaz, moves around the division, more
• Atlanta Braves 2012 Top Prospects Review: J.R. Graham

Using these unexpected, aggressive moves as evidence, it’s not at all a reach to think that the Atlanta Braves still have plenty of dealing to do in the coming weeks.

After all, we still have a month left until MLB’s trade deadline.

There are holes to fill on the big-league team, and Alex Anthopoulos is definitely proving over the last several weeks that he’s in win-now mode.

For fans, this has to be the source of excitement. The Atlanta Braves are already playing at a high level, and with the right additions, they could transform from “playoff team” to “World Series threat” rather quickly.

It makes this year’s anticipation to the trade deadline feel far different than in past years.

The Atlanta Braves have one of the strongest teams in the National League. They’ve built a solid lead in the NL East division race, yet they aren’t even close to putting things on cruise control.

Instead, they’re mashing the accelerator.