Atlanta Braves playoff roster is all mixed up

There’s definitely a message in this Atlanta Braves roster:  if you aren’t producing, you will be replaced.

After waiting until virtually the last possible moment to make the announcement, the Atlanta Braves have finally released their 28-man playoff roster list for the series against the Reds that starts in less than two hours.

If you like surprises, it was worth the wait.

Realizing that their Braves’ graphic doesn’t display on some browsers/readers, here’s the highlights:

• 3 starting pitchers.  This makes sense given the length of this series.  It also permits an additional bullpen arm.  So it’s Fried/Anderson/Wright to start these games.
• Outfield Jumble.  There are five outfielders.  However, one of them is named ‘Pache’.  None of them are named ‘Inciarte’.  Ronald Acuna Jr. is in the lineup for today, for those still concerned.
• Infield surprises.  An extra infielder have been added to the mix… well, actually it’s two of them:  gone is Adeiny Hechavarria.   Brought back in Johan Camargo. Brought in are the Kung Fu Panda (Pablo Sandoval) and Charlie Culberson.
  • Maybe Charlie is an extra/extra bullpen arm??
  • Austin Riley is in the starting lineup today — but clearly Sandoval is there in case Riley can’t continue at some point.
• Catching.  We’ve anticipated a third catcher, and Fred got this right on last week’s podcast:  it’s the bat of William Contreras to complement Travis d’Arnaud and Tyler Flowers.
• The Bullpen.  Dayton / Greene / Martin (yes, he’s ready to go) / Matzek / Melancon / Minter / O’Day / Smith / Tomlin / Webb.  10 big arms.
  • All of them will be well-rested and able to handle whatever innings are needed.
  • Tomlin is clearly the ‘long man’ in case that need arises.

The wild cards of this roster will clearly be the new names just added:  Brian Snitker and his staff are clearly rolling the dice that experience (in some cases — Culberson, Sandoval) will be enough to overcome the lack of actual major league game action for some of these players.

In Pache, the Braves are bringing in a stellar defender, but also one that can provide late-inning pinch-running ability.

We’ve postulated a lot that Pache’s bat may not be quite up to par, but also likely as good as Inciarte’s has been — and that may be the idea here since Inciarte hasn’t been hitting well at all lately:  so the Braves opted to go with the better defender since Inciate’s role has been reduced.

So the Braves appear to have made the conscious decision to remove all questionable bats and to insert support for virtually any position that might need bolstering… while also providing a bench that can matchup lefty/righty as necessary.

If the pitching doesn’t hold up in this series, then perhaps those bats will.  We’ll start to find out in about an hour from now.