Nuclear Option: Acuña Jr. Puts Braves on Notice with Contract Termination
After falling to 1-8 last night, it’s become overwhelmingly apparent the Braves are simply undermanned in all aspects. The bullpen is atrocious, the rotation is top-heavy, and the lineup doesn’t have enough guys to establish any sort of consistency.
Thankfully, some help is on the way. Sean Murphy should return over the next few days, and Spencer Strider is currently slated to make his Braves debut in about eight days if everything goes as planned. But the guy the Braves need more than anyone is Ronald Acuña Jr. The 2023 NL MVP continues to rehab from his torn ACL and is headed to Los Angeles to receive the final clearances from doctors so he can ramp up his activities.
Hopefully, the doctors out west give Acuña the green light and a rehab assignment is in his near future. An early May return still feels a little bit like a pipe dream. As we’ve seen with Spencer Strider, the Braves aren’t going to rush Acuña back. His value to the team is far too great to risk anything, so I would lean on the side of a mid to late May return, but that day can’t get here soon enough.
This is a Braves club that desperately needs a spark, and while Spencer Strider and Sean Murphy will go a long way in bettering the roster, this is Acuña’s team. Now, more than ever, the Braves are only going to go as far as Ronald Acuña Jr. takes them.
