The Atlanta Braves are a bit healthier today.
But are they also a bit worse in the back end for it?
The Braves announced this morning that they've reinstated starting pitcher Max Fried from the injured list. The lefthander is scheduled to start today's series finale against the Miami Marlins.
The way that the team made a roster spot for Fried?
They optioned lefthander Dylan Lee to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Lee, who turned 30 on Thursday, is 3-2 with a 2.00 ERA this season. In his 35 outings, he's struck 49 and walked 14 in his 45 innings. It's another solid season for Lee, who has been used in a multi-inning role and in some moderately high-leverage situations.
It is undoubtedly a frustrating situation for Lee, however. As the only member of the Braves pitching staff with options, there wasn't many other choices to make a roster spot for Fried other than choosing someone to designate for assignment (and potentially losing them to another team's waiver claim).
(UPDATE: Starter Spencer Schwellenbach also has options, but for obvious reasons , he wasn't going to be sent down.)
He's done everything he's been asked to do, from preserving a save situation as a bridge to the backend of the bullpen (three holds in four opportunities) to getting up in a hurry to save a struggling starter (he entered last night's game with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth inning after Grant Holmes allowed four consecutive hits). He's pitched multiple innings eleven times this season, including two outings where he's gotten eight outs.
But in a bullpen without roster flexibility, there were no other choices to be made. The move leaves Atlanta with A.J. Minter and Aaron Bummer as the only lefties available.
There's a silver lining, though
The upside to optioning Dylan Lee to Gwinnett is that the team obviously feels good about the status of Reynaldo López. After leaving last Sunday's game with forearm tightness, López passed all of the team's medical checks and imaging confirmed that there was no structural damage or long-term issues.
However, the righthander hasn't yet thrown a bullpen since leaving last Sunday's game, casting doubt on the team's decision to leave him on the bench. Not placing him on the injured list tells us that the team believes he's likely to make a start in the next week - an injured list stint could be backdated a maximum of three days, meaning he'd be out of commission until the end of next week.
I'd imagine that the likely scenario is that López has some sort of internal "deadline" to complete a bullpen or else he'll be placed on the injured list. The only way Lee can return in less than the fifteen days required after being optioned is to replace a player that goes on the IL, so if López can't complete his bullpen and slot back into the rotation sooner than, say, Tuesday, it's likely that he gets placed on the injured list and Lee returns prior to reporting to Gwinnett and being activated.
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