The defending champion Atlanta Braves may wish they could have these offseason decisions back.
The Atlanta Braves haven’t hit the ground running in their title defense this season. It can happen to even the best of teams after winning a World Series.
The Braves have a lot of time to play catchup. However, there are a few offseason decisions Alex Anthopoulos probably wishes he could have back. One of them isn’t the Freddie Freeman decision. So far, the decision to trade for Matt Olson instead has worked out well.
Other decisions by Anthopoulos haven’t worked out so well. These are the ones he wishes he could redo.
The Braves should have found room for another starting pitcher
This team’s starting rotation is a bunch of young guys and Charlie Morton. Morton has not been particularly good at all this season and could be headed toward disaster. Through three starts, the 38-year-old righty is 1-2 with a 6.32 ERA.
Morton is far from the lone culprit struggling on the starting staff. Ian Anderson has gone 1-1 with a 6.48 ERA after two starts. As early as it is, the bigger concern isn’t the numbers. The Braves are relying on a lot of young guys to perform well on the mound. It’s a rarity in the game. Far too often we find even the most talented pitchers run out of gas midyear because they aren’t ready for the grind of a 162 game schedule.
Max Fried and Kyle Wright have been their most successful pitchers but the rotation looks a little short. Still minus Mike Soroka, the Braves are working with good young arms but also ones who could just as easily experience growing pains in 2022.
One veteran arm could have made a big difference for Atlanta. They’re going to have to put a lot of trust in less experienced pitchers to carry them through the season. Will their trust work out or will it come back to bite them?