"You have to adjust on the fly. And we were dealt a pretty bad hand," was Brian Snitker's assessment of the Braves' injury status to Steak and Sandra in Friday morning's Steakhouse as the team heads into a weekend series in Toronto.
Despite injuries to key pitchers and position players, this team sits at 25-12, the best record in the NL. Snit's rationale is simple as to why that's the case: "No one's gonna feel sorry for you."
A starting rotation that was already missing Kyle Wright due to shoulder inflammation was hit again the last week as Max Fried was added to the IL with a forearm strain. While it looks like Fried is going to avoid Tommy John surgery, his absence is going to be longer than expected.
Couple that with time missed by Michael Harris with a back injury and Travis d'Arnaud with a concussion, and you see why Snit knows teams aren't going to take it any easier on this Braves team going forward.
"Teams that you're competing against couldn't really care less," said Snitker. "And they're really glad you don't have two of the better starters in the game. And we lost two really good ones."
Headed into this weekend's series against the Blue Jays (21-16, 3rd in AL East), the team has Friday and Saturday set with Spencer Strider (4-0, 2.76 ERA) and Bryce Elder (3-0, 1.74 ERA), both of whom have been extremely consistent so far this season. As for Sunday, Snit says you can expect an all-hands-on-deck situation, and it seems like that's going to be the approach going forward for the foreseeable future.
"We've got 40 guys on our roster, and a lot more in the system," said Snitker. "And anybody that's got that Braves on the front of their jersey is going to be susceptible to coming up here and helping out."
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