4 Bryce Elder replacements Braves need immediately after another disaster class

While the Atlanta Braves should still be one of the best teams in baseball, they are once again riding the struggle bus. After getting back to good after a road trip from hell in the early part of the month, they have lost three straight and are now a full five games back of the rival Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East race. Atlanta still has time to right the ship, but they do seem to have one glaring issue now.

Eventually, the bats will come alive, as the magnificent roster general manager Alex Anthopoulos was built to do so. While the bullpen has been solid for the most part, the same sort of things can be said about the rotation, outside of the No. 5 spot, of course. Yes, that has become quite the problem ever since Spencer Strider went down for the year with an elbow injury. The rest of the rotation is stellar.

Unfortunately, Strider's injury shifted everybody else up. Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Chris Sale are the new one-two-three for Atlanta, with Reynaldo Lopez pitching fantastically in the No. 4 spot. Sadly, we may have seen the best out of Bryce Elder at the No. 5 spot, and that was last season. Atlanta must get more competitive in the back end of its rotation to have any hope of catching Philadelphia.

Here are four potential solutions to solve the Elder issue, both in-house and with a marquee trade.

4. Call up RHP AJ Smith-Shawver

It might be time to bite the bullet and see if AJ Smith-Shawver is ready for the show once again. He first joined the big-league club around this time last year as a starter. It was mixed reviews, to be honest. Smith-Shawver went up and down a good bit last year, but all signs point to this. Once he is recalled by the Braves, he will be up for good, in theory. Or at least that is the hope for the front office.

Smith-Shawver had been the Braves' top prospect. He was sent down to Triple-A Gwinnett out of spring training so that he could get more regular starts in the Stripers' rotation. To me, it may be a tad premature to call him up just now. Atlanta is not in a complete tailspin. Then again, it was around this time a year ago when Elder started looking the part of an NL All-Star. Atlanta may want to mix it up.

To me, I think there is more damage to be done in recalling Smith-Shawver prematurely than waiting.

3. Trade for Tampa Bay Rays RHP Zach Eflin

I will add one outside candidate to the argument here. Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports mentioned that if Atlanta is indeed looking for a starting pitcher near the deadline that Zach Eflin of the Tampa Bay Rays could be a serious candidate for Atlanta. My FanSided.com colleague Christopher Kline wrote about this over the weekend. You need to check out his opinion on the take.

Overall, I do find Tampa Bay to be an intriguing potential trade partner for the Braves. They play in opposite leagues. While Atlanta is a major market franchise, Tampa Bay continues to have one of the smallest payrolls in baseball. Although the Braves do business more regularly with other American League teams like Chicago and Oakland, I think there is a chance Eflin might find his way to Atlanta.

I suspect that Anthopoulos trades for a starter, it would be of the back-end variety to round it all out.

2. Convert LHP Ray Kerr into a starter

This is at least being discussed. One such pitcher who could be converted back into a starter like Reynaldo Lopez was is Braves left-hander Ray Kerr. He has pitched well in limited action in the Atlanta bullpen thus far. His lanky nature might help him be deceptive over the course of multiple innings. Look at how well that has served Chris Sale in his brilliant big-league career for well over a decade.

MLB.com's Mark Bowman did mention that Kerr could be a candidate in-house to be stretched out as a long arm or back-end of the rotation starter. We have seen how well this has worked for Lopez since coming to Atlanta. Kerr may not have any big-league starts under his belt, but this could be a creative way to solve the fifth spot in the rotation problem if Elder and others continue to be an issue for them.

This is not an immediate fix, but it could provide some levels of short-to-medium relief for Atlanta.

1. Call up RHP Hurston Waldrep

This is the move Braves Country is hoping for. Not to say that we have been there, done that with AJ Smith-Shawver, but now may be the time to see if Hurston Waldrep is ready for the show. Atlanta's top prospect and former first-round pick out of Florida has been pitching quite well at Double-A Mississippi throughout the season. It would be a bold move to call him up now, but I wouldn't hate it.

Two years ago, Atlanta was kind of going through it in the NL East, trailing the New York Mets by double digits heading into Memorial Day. Atlanta then went on a tear, propped up by its two star rookies Spencer Strider and Michael Harris II. Harris went on to win NL Rookie of the Year, while Strider became one of the best pitchers in the National League prior to suffering his elbow injury.

Waldrep has the name recognition that I think would satisfy Braves Country's urge for improvement.