3 Braves Make Emergency Transfers to Replace Max Fried After Surprise Injury

The injury woes continue for this Atlanta Braves team. Not only did Ozzie Albies suffer an injury in Sunday’s loss that will send him to the IL, but Max Fried also suffered an injury and was sent to the 15-day IL for Sunday’s game. There’s a good chance he’ll be out longer than 15 days.

This is a big blow to a Braves rotation that was already in need of reinforcement at the trade deadline. Spencer Strider is out for the season. Hurston Waldrep is also out. Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Schwellenbach all have innings concerns. Depth options like Bryce Elder have disappointed. Don’t forget, Charlie Morton is also 40 years old.

With nine days left until the trade deadline, Atlanta has time to figure out the right trade(s) to make. In the meantime, any of these could make sense.

Replacing Fried with a pitcher of Fried’s caliber would be ideal, but the Braves almost certainly won’t be looking for pitchers like Garrett Crochet or Tarik Skubal, so looking at lower levels makes sense. With that in mind, Zach Eflin could be an ideal target for Atlanta to consider.

Eflin has had a slightly disappointing season, as evidenced by his 4.14 ERA in 18 starts, but his 3.65 ERA and 3.38 ERA show that he’s been pretty unlucky on the mound. With better luck down the stretch, he could be a significant contributor to any team if he were traded. The Tampa Bay Rays are a tough read, but with the way they operate, pretty much 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 time with the Phillies. He has one year of club control left, which would help if Fried leaves in free agency after the year. The only thing is that Eflin’s extra year of control could mean the Braves have to give up a little more than they’d like. A package like this could work for both parties.

The Rays would receive three prospects in exchange for Eflin, highlighted by Drake Baldwin, Atlanta’s top catcher prospect and their No. 10 prospect overall. With Sean Murphy stuck behind the plate for the long haul, Baldwin is expendable. He’s hit a terrific bat since being promoted to Triple-A (.946 OPS in 26 games) and could add value to a Rays team in dire need of an offensive boost from the catcher position, either late this season or early next.

Additionally, the Rays would bring in a few pitching prospects. Darius Vines’ age makes him a big unappealing prospect, as he’s already 26 years old, but he could also be an immediate back-end starter. 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.

The Rays would bring in three players who can contribute to their MLB team, but they could also trade Eflin while they can still get a nice haul.

Speaking of controllable starters, Erick Fedde is also under club control through the 2025 season, and carries an extremely team-friendly salary of $7.5 million. If we were to trade him, the Braves could add more players given how cheap he is.

He didn’t do much in his first six seasons with the Nationals, but he dominated the KBO in 2023 and has come back a completely different pitcher, posting a 2.99 ERA in 19 top-half starts and 111.1 innings pitched. It could easily be argued that he was snubbed by the All-Star team based on how well he pitched.

It would cost a lot of money for any team to acquire him given the extra year he has in charge, but the Braves should be willing to spend a lot of money to get him given the bang for their buck.

In this trade, Atlanta would be sending two intriguing prospects to the Chicago White Sox, Drue Hackenberg and David McCabe. Hackenberg was recently promoted to AA and is an exciting arm, but he is one of many pitching prospects in their farm system. The Braves should not want to give him up, but they can afford to for an arm like Fedde.

David McCabe missed the entire season after Tommy John surgery, but made it to High-A last season and had an .835 OPS with 17 home runs. Primarily a third baseman, he can play either corner infield position and could potentially help the White Sox as early as next season if he comes back strong.

The Braves probably wouldn’t be quick to give up two of their top 11 prospects, but to get an arm like Fedde, it would be worth it.

Tarik Skubal would be the Detroit Tigers’ dream player for the Braves to acquire, but let’s face it. That’s not happening. Detroit’s No. 2 starter, Jack Flaherty, could be acquired, however, and he would make this Braves team much better.

Flaherty has had a stellar season, posting a 3.13 ERA in 17 starts and 100.2 innings of work. He’s struck out 127 batters and walked just 17. Injuries are a bit of a concern, and the fact that he’s a rental diminishes his appeal, but when he’s in shape, he’s unbeatable. He could be the kind of game-changer that helps the Braves win the World Series.

Is it unrealistic for Atlanta to sell a pitcher of J.R. Ritchie’s caliber for a rental? Maybe not. However, with how good Flaherty is and how much teams need starting pitchers, the Braves would have to overpay for an arm like that. Ritchie can realistically do it without needing anything else.

The right-handed pitcher has been limited to just four starts this season and 13 in his professional career after recovering from Tommy John surgery, but there’s a reason he was selected in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft. He’s immensely talented and, despite the time missed, is still only 21 years old. His last time out saw him throw five hitless innings with seven strikeouts.

The Tigers would have to wait a while for Ritchie to make an impact at the MLB level, as he hasn’t pitched much since he was drafted, but it would be worth the wait. Considering how well they’ve developed their pitching, they would have a lot to be excited about.

Would the Braves consider it? I don’t know. That’s probably about what they’d need to acquire a pitcher of Flaherty’s caliber. Considering how far he is from making an impact in the majors, the Braves shouldn’t hesitate to deal him, especially when they have so many other pitching prospects at the top of their system.