#Atlanta Braves

#Atlanta Braves

That Atlanta Braves have taken another blow to their potential starting rotation with news this afternoon that starting pitcher Hurston Waldrep had an MRI after experiencing discomfort in his elbow while throwing batting practice. The MRI showed "loose bodies" but no ligament damage. Braves manager Walt Weiss met with the media and gave some additional details on Waldrep's status. Weiss said Waldrep will be meeting with doctors on Monday. The assumption is that some type of procedure will be needed.

Jonah Heim was a free agent in the first place after he got non-tendered by the Texas Rangers following two underwhelming seasons. He hit .213/.271/.332 with a .266 wOBA and 69 wRC+ last season, which would be an acceptable amount of production for a catcher if their defense was good. Unfortunately for Heim, his defense was not good in 2025 as he graded below average in plenty of defensive catching metrics in 2025.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuńa, Jr. made a surprise appearance during Bad Bunny's Halftime show during NFL's Super Bowl on Sunday night. After the performance, MTV's social media posted a photo showing actor Pedro Pascal, but standing to his left was a familiar face to Braves fans. None other than La Bestia! It's a fun pop-culture cross-over for Atlanta's star outfielder.

The rosters for the 2026 edition of the World Baseball Classic have been revealed and as it turns out, Ronald Acuña Jr. won't be the only Atlanta Braves representative at the WBC. In fact, Acuña won't have to wait too long to see a few of his teammates turn into opponents during Pool D action in Miami, Florida. The Netherlands will have three Braves players on their squad for the WBC.

Sigh, this is a depressing one of these to do. Everything about Spencer Strider was, in theory, so awesome, that it didn't seem like a little thing like a year-long layoff due to elbow troubles was going to derail his career. Surely someone so diligent in being in tune with his body and mechanics could hit the ground running, right? Well, not exactly. After an uneven 2025, Strider's outlook is uncertain, and pretty fraught.

Last week, nine MLB teams terminated their contracts with Fanduel Sports Network's owners after a roughly four-year saga including non-payments, threats of non-payment, threats of bankruptcy in an attempt to lower payments, general non-good faith dealings, and nearly a year of bankruptcy hearings. Now Main Street Sports Group is back, offering those teams three-year contracts to own their broadcast rights if they can manage to find a new owner for FanDuel Sports Network.

Albies burst into MLB in very exciting fashion, putting up nearly 10 fWAR in his first 1,630 PAs from 2017-2019 (that's a pace north of 3.5 fWAR/600). His skillset across those years wasn't very consistent (great defense in 2018, great hitting in 2019), and that inconsistency has marked the rest of his career. He had standout years in 2021 and 2023, while dealing with injuries and just being kinda meh in 2020, 2022, and 2024.