After a startling injury, the Braves made three emergency transactions to replace Max Fried.

Alex Anthopoulos has the opportunity to flourish now.

This Atlanta Braves club continues to struggle with injuries. In addition to Max Fried being placed on the 15-day injured list prior to Sunday’s game due to his own ailment, Ozzie Albies also sustained an injury during Sunday’s defeat that will force him to go on the disabled list. It’s likely that his absence will exceed the allotted 15 days.

The Braves rotation, which already required strengthening at the trade deadline, has suffered a serious hit as a result. The season is over for Spencer Strider. Hurston Waldrep is also not in. Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Chris Sale are all concerned about innings. Bryce Elder and other depth alternatives have not impressed. Remember that Charlie Morton is also forty years old.

Atlanta still has nine days left before the trade deadline to decide which move, if any, is best for them. Any of these can make sense in the interim.

3) After Max Fried was hurt, the Braves and Rays traded Zach Eflin.
It would be great to replace Fried with a pitcher of Fried’s caliber, but it’s likely that the Braves won’t be interested in lower-tier options like Tarik Skubal or Garrett Crochet. In light of this, Zach Eflin would be a great target for Atlanta to take into account.

Eflin has had a mildly disappointing season as evidenced by his 4.14 ERA in 18 starts, but his 3.65 FIP and 3.38 xERA shows that he has been getting pretty unlucky on the mound. With more luck down the stretch, he can be a vital contributor for any team if traded. The Tampa Bay Rays are tricky to read, but with how they operate, virtually anyone is available for the right price.

Eflin is a solid mid-rotation arm who has experience in the NL East dating back to his days with the Phillies. He has another year of club control, which would help if Fried departs in free agency after the year. The only thing is that Eflin’s additional year of control might result in the Braves having to give up a bit more than they’d like. A package like this could work for both sides.

The Rays would receive three prospects in return for Eflin, highlighted by Drake Baldwin, Atlanta’s top catching prospect and their No. 10 prospect overall. With Sean Murphy locked in long-term behind the plate, Baldwin is expendable. He’s swung a great bat since his promotion to Triple-A (.946 OPS in 26 games) and can contribute to a Rays team in dire need of an offensive boost from the catcher position either late this season or early next.

In addition, the Rays would throw in a pair of pitching prospects. Darius Vines’ age makes him a big unappealing since he is already 26 years old, but he also could be a back-end starter immediately. De Avila has a 3.65 ERA in 16 starts at the AA level this season, and could contribute to the Rays sometime in 2025.

By dealing Eflin while they can still get a solid haul back, the Rays would be getting three players who can contribute to their MLB squad sooner rather than later.

2) After Max Fried’s injury, a Braves-White Sox trade for Erick Fedde
Speaking of starters that can be controlled, Erick Fedde has a very team-friendly $7.5 million salary and is under club control through the 2025 campaign. Given how inexpensive he is, the Braves could add more pieces if they were to pull off a trade for him.

After spending his first six seasons with the Nationals doing little, he went on to dominate the KBO in 2023 and returned to the team a completely different pitcher, pitching 111.1 innings and recording a 2.99 ERA in 19 first-half starts. Given how excellent he has pitched, one could easily argue that he was left off of the All-Star squad.

Any team would have to pay a high price to acquire him given his additional year of control, but the Braves should be prepared to pay a high price given the value they would be receiving.

Drue Hackenberg and David McCabe, two fascinating prospects, would be sent by Atlanta to the Chicago White Sox in this transaction. Hackenberg is an interesting arm that was just promoted to AA, but their farm system has a lot of pitching prospects. The Braves can afford to part with him for an arm like Fedde, even though they shouldn’t want to.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery, David McCabe missed the entire season. However, he returned to High-A last season and finished with a.835 OPS and 17 home runs. Although his primary position is third base, he can play either corner infield position. If he recovers well, he could be able to assist the White Sox as early as the next season.

Giving up a pair of their top 11 prospects is not something that the Braves would likely be rushing to do, but to get an arm like Fedde, it’d be worthwhile.

1) A Braves-Tigers trade for Jack Flaherty after Max Fried’s injury
Tarik Skubal would be the dream Detroit Tigers player for the Braves to acquire, but let’s be real. That isn’t happening. Detroit’s No. 2 starter, Jack Flaherty, can be had, though, and he’d make this Braves team much better.

Flaherty has had an outstanding season, posting a 3.13 ERA in 17 starts and 100.2 innings of work. He has fanned 127 batters while issuing just 17 walks. Injuries are a bit of a concern, and the fact that he’d be a rental makes him less appealing, but when he’s on, he’s unhittable. He can be the kind of game-changer that helps the Braves win the World Series.

Is it unrealistic for Atlanta to part with a pitcher of JR Ritchie’s caliber for a rental? Maybe not. However, with how good Flaherty is and how many teams need starting pitchers, the Braves would need to overpay for an arm like this. Ritchie realistically can get it done without needing anything else. The right-hander has been limited to just four starts this season and 13 in his professional career after recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he was picked in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft for a reason. He’s supremely talented, and despite the missed time, he’s still just 21 years old. His last time out saw him throw five hitless innings with seven strikeouts. The Tigers would have to wait a little while for Ritchie to make an impact at the MLB level considering the fact that he hasn’t pitched much at all since he was drafted, but it’d be worth the wait. With how well they’ve developed pitching, there’d be a lot for them to be excited about.

Would the Braves give this further thought? I’m not sure. But that’s probably about as far as they’d be able to get a pitcher of Flaherty’s caliber. The Braves should move him given how unlikely it is that he will make an impact in the majors, especially given how many other pitching prospects they have in the upper echelons of their system.