Braves target hitter trade after Reynaldo Lopez’s elbow exam reveals no damage

MILWAUKEE — Reynaldo Lopez and the Atlanta Braves were hugely relieved when an MRI of his right forearm came back clean. They hope they won’t even have to place the major league ERA leader on the 15-day injured list, manager Brian Snitker said.

When López left Sunday’s start with a sore forearm after three scoreless innings against the New York Mets, teammates feared the worst in a season that has plagued the Braves with injuries. Instead, they got the best possible news after López flew back to Atlanta from New York and underwent an MRI Sunday night.

“Everything came back good,” Snitker said Monday before a series opener in Milwaukee. “The MRI was clean and he had treatment today. So he’s kind of on that day-to-day train. We’ll just see how he does with the treatment. But there was nothing major, so that’s always good.”

Any injury that could have caused the All-Star right-handed pitcher to miss significant time would likely have made acquiring a starter before Tuesday’s trade deadline a priority for the Braves. They already have All-Star left-hander Max Fried on the 15-day IL with forearm neuritis and have been without preseason Cy Young Award favorite Spencer Strider since early May, when he made just two starts before undergoing season-ending elbow surgery.

The fact that the Braves didn’t put Lopez on the 15-day IL on Monday morning suggested that the MRI must have gone well. However, there was also speculation that the Braves may have been holding off on announcing a serious injury so that other teams wouldn’t know how desperate they were to land a starter before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline.

Reynaldo López MRI came back clean and he is day to day, #Brave hoping they don’t even have to put him on the injured list.

— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) July 29, 2024

But that speculation was all but quashed when Snitker spoke to reporters late Monday afternoon and provided the first update on Lopez since he left the game more than 24 hours earlier.

“He said he’s feeling a little better,” Snitker said of Lopez, who remained in Atlanta after the MRI. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow when he comes in (for treatment). We didn’t put him on (the IL) because they didn’t seem to (think it was necessary).

“We’ll know more later, how he progresses in the first part of the week, and we’ll see when he’s back throwing. But I don’t think there are any plans, unless it continues to bother him, to take him out for an extended period of time.”

Lopez has a 2.06 ERA in 19 starts, striking out 102 with 37 walks in 104 2/3 innings. The converted reliever has thrown nearly 40 more innings than in any season since 2019, the last time he was a full-season starter. The Braves have been cautious all season with him and Chris Sale, 35, whose last full, healthy season came in 2017.

They’ve given them extra rest in all but two games and are keeping a close eye on López to make sure he’s not fatigued or sore, which is why red flags went up when he reported discomfort in his forearm after three innings on Sunday.

“You always worry when it’s something like a tender forearm and things like that,” Snitker said. “So it was good to get the pictures (MRI) and it’s just good to come back with nothing out of the ordinary. That tightness could be anything, really.”

With Fried expected to return soon (he was with the team during this trip and pitched daily on flat ground) and López not expected to miss much, if any, the Braves are believed to be focused again on acquiring an outfielder before the deadline.

They appear confident enough in a rotation led by Sale, the other of their three All-Star starting pitchers, and Fried and López, especially after rookie Spencer Schwellenbach put together a series of convincing performances, including seven scoreless innings with two hits and 11 strikeouts on Saturday against the Mets.

Rounding out the rotation is 40-year-old Charlie Morton, who isn’t the pitcher he was in recent years but is healthy and still throwing deep in most games. The Braves have several other starters returning from injuries, including postseason star Ian Anderson, who missed more than 1 1/2 years recovering from Tommy John surgery and is making progress in his rehab assignment at Triple-A Gwinnett.

Huascar Ynoa is in the final stages of his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery, and young players AJ Smith-Shawver (obliques) and top prospect Hurston Waldrep (elbow inflammation) should be available soon. Waldrep was reinstated from the IL and sent to Triple A on Monday.

(Photo by Reynaldo López: Rich Schultz / Associated Press)