The big story concerning the Atlanta Braves this time last week was the dispute between whatever's left of Bally Sports and Comcast, leaving a good bit of Braves' Country without TV viewing options.
Little did we know those were the lucky ones.
After a woeful (disappointing, disgusting, despicable?) road trip out west, the Braves limp home with serious doubt gathering steam about the team's ability to -- as some players proudly stated as the goal in spring training -- win the World Series.
› Is it panic time?
It's a 162-game season, so, no. Remember, even the best teams lose 60 games, and baseball is a game of extreme positive and negative streaks. Last year, in May, the eventual 104-win Braves were swept in Toronto and looked as inept as they did this past week against the Mariners and the Dodgers.
› On the other hand, let's panic a bit
The old axiom goes: good pitching always beats good hitting, so the 1-5 road trip could just be summed up by that. However, the stats are alarming. In the five losses, the Braves struck out 51 times while managing just 27 hits.
Yes, the opposing pitchers were, well, imposing, led by Tyler Glasnow (remember when some of us had him No. 1 on our offseason wish list?), Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo, but the Braves looked like that scrawny 10-year-old facing the 6-foot kid with the beard in the neighborhood rec league.
Some of the at-bats were downright uncompetitive, which brings us to a major point. Even with the strong start to the season built on beating up a few weak or struggling teams, this offense -- particularly a few of its major stars -- has regressed.
Reigning MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. has already fanned 40 times in 149 plate appearances after striking out only 84 times in 735 plate appearances last season. He's also managed only eight extra-base hits.
Chadwick Tromp has three in nearly 118 fewer plate appearances.
Has anyone seen Matt Olson? Not on base, you haven't. MLB's top slugger a year ago has a .197 batting average, with 35 strikeouts and 23 hits. He has the same number of errors as he does homers.
The lineup built around the long ball has just 32 in 32 games -- and that's with a combined 15 from Marcell Ozuna and Travis d'Arnaud -- after smashing 307 last season.
In fact, every offensive number is markedly worse this year. The Braves hit .276 as a team last year, compared to .258 so far in 2024; they had a .845 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage) last year compared to .742 this season.
Yes, it's early May, but dang.
› A call to arms
Make that at least one arm.
While Max Fried, outside of throwing beach balls to Shohei Ohtani Sunday, has looked more like a former ace over the last couple of weeks, Chris Sale has been as advertised, Charlie Morton has shown more good than bad and Reynaldo Lopez has been a godsend, the Braves have a mound issue.
With Spencer Strider out, there is a huge gap in the rotation that Bryce Elder cannot fill. The issue is there appears to be no help coming from triple-A Gwinnett, where top prospect AJ Smith-Shawver has a 5.09 ERA and nine walks in 18 innings, Allan Winans has served up six homers in 27 innings and Zach Loge walked 10 in 20 innings. Former Atlanta starter Huascar Ynoa has a 6.52 ERA.
At double-A Mississippi, the best numbers belong to Ian Mejia. The 24-year-old has a 2.40 ERA, with 34 strikeouts in 30 innings. Top prospect Hurston Waldrep, however, has a 4.38 ERA and has allowed 30 hits and walked 11 in 25 innings.
It's also worth repeating that Morton and Sale are 40 and 35, respectively, the team hopes to limit Lopez's innings and Fried will be a free agent following the season. Oh, and Strider just suffered his second elbow injury.
Throw in the fact the Braves have very little attactive trade bait and the situation is fairly combustive.
There is a free agent pitcher out there who could step right in, but he comes with a ton of baggage.
Would the Braves consider Trevor Bauer? The former Cy Young Award winner is currently pitching in the Mexican League and had a successful season in Japan last year after being accused of sexual and physical assault crimes. As of now, he has no current charges and at least one of his accusers has been sued for allegedly filing false claims. He was reinstated by MLB in December of 2022 after being suspended.
Make no mistake, if there's proof he did in fact do any of what he was accused of then he has no place being reinstated in the first place. The odd thing is, if he's innocent, why are injury-ravaged MLB teams not knocking on Bauer's door?
If he is innocent and the Braves go above and beyond to get the full picture, they should be at the front of the line. After all, the team can't exactly take the high road after welcoming Ozuna back.
› Time to channel our inner Beatles
Let's shake it up, Brian Snitker. Atlanta's laid-back, old-school skipper often seems like a mannequin in the dugout, and when things are going great, that's just fine.
However, it's times like these where he and his coaching staff need to earn their keep. Really, Snit, it's okay to shake up the lineup. Just a bit here and there. See if moving Ronald down just a tad might light a spark.
Could Acuna, Ozzie Albies, Olson or Austin Riley benefit from taking a day or two off? Is it against team rules to try a hit-and-run every now and then?
The poor play also begs to question how much this staff works the players before and between games. It's not just the batting that's struggling. This team defensively has taken a clear step back.
The Braves have three regular players with negative defensive runs saved averages, according to Baseball Reference: Acuna (minus-5), Albies (minus-5) and Michael Harris (minus-1). Over the entire 2023 season, only one player, shortstop Orlando Arcia (minus-6), had a number worse than minus-2.
Do we miss Ron Washington that much?
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com