Does Kevin Gausman’s start tonight determine Atlanta Braves trade direction?
Gausman will have new pitch offerings in his toolbox, but it’s the effectiveness of those pitches that will be what matters.
Today may be a very interesting day in assessing how the Atlanta Braves choose to proceed over the next 10 days… the margin remaining before the 2019 MLB trade deadline.
It is now well established that the Braves have been scouting starting pitchers with purpose… not just 1 or 2, but likely every frontline starter that’s been made available by their current clubs.
As things stand today, Atlanta has an established rotation that looks like this:
Of these, Max Fried has been somewhat shaky in recent weeks. His last starts – since May 28th against Washington have resulted in 4, 5, 3, 5, 2, 2, 3, 5, and 0 runs allowed. As least that last number is the most recent – and therefore encouraging.
Pitcher TBD (insert the names Foltynewicz, Wilson, and Wright here) have been worse. Tonight that slot belongs to Kevin Gausman.
It’s a game that the Braves should win, but even more: they need to win it.
Multiple Advantages
Joe Ross is back as the Nationals starter tonight: the last time he toed the rubber in the majors was on June 22 against the Braves, and Atlanta smacked him around for 4 runs in a single charged inning.
Before that, the Marlins got to him for 3 runs in an inning. His minor league numbers have been a bit iffy as well.
Beyond that, the Nationals’ bullpen – at least the back end of it – may not be available. Closer Sean Doolittle worked 5 outs and 26 pitches on Saturday and Fernando Rodney did a back-to-back stint then and on Friday.
So the stars are properly aligned for the Braves to decisively take out the Nats and restore their NL East lead to the 6½ games margin that it was prior to this onset of this series.
But can their own pitching help make that happen?