Bryce Elder, Lane Thomas out for Braves' Wild Card Series

The day before the postseason starts is when you find out what you really have, and for the Braves that meant a Monday at Truist Park full of guys who can't play yet. Elder threw live BP. Perez played catch in the outfield. Thomas ran. Joe Jimenez faced hitters too. It looked like a lot of progress, and then Weiss sat down with reporters and wiped out most of the hope in a couple of sentences.

Elder is the one that hurts most. He had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on September 8 after pitching through the injury since the All-Star break, and the team gave him a 3-4 week recovery window. When he was healthy he was about as good as anyone in the National League: a 1.88 ERA over his first 7 starts. After July 9 the knee caught up to him and he posted a 4.29 ERA over his last 9 starts. Monday was the first real sign of where he stands.

92 mph is basically his normal fastball, so his arm isn't the issue. The knee is. Throwing off a mound in a controlled setting is one thing. Covering first on a chopper or getting off the mound for a bunt is another, and nobody knows yet how the knee will handle that. The NLDS looks like a stretch. The NLCS is possible, but only if the Braves get that far without him.

The position-player side isn't much better. Thomas has been out since he strained his left intercostal taking batting practice before a September 10 game, and he was placed on the IL retroactive to September 8. Running in the outfield counts as a step, but Weiss didn't sound hopeful about him on Friday.

Perez is dealing with lower back inflammation and can't come off the IL until October 6 anyway, so playing catch was a good sign with no immediate payoff. Jimenez is the strange case. He hasn't pitched in a big-league game in 2 years and started a rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett on September 15. Now he's throwing live BP the day before the playoffs, and that naturally gets people wondering. Weiss shot it down pretty quickly.

Weiss's own words were even blunter: "I just know these guys obviously aren't available for this round. Are they available for next round? I have no idea really." He also said it wouldn't be fair to throw Jimenez into a playoff game after that long away. That's the correct call. A playoff game is not the place for a guy's first appearance in 2 years.

So Atlanta goes into the Wild Card round with the healthy roster it has and a lot of guys it's hoping get healthy. If they win the series, the question becomes whether Elder can field his position well enough to start in the NLCS, and whether Perez can be ready once he's eligible on October 6. If they lose, none of this matters until spring. Monday's workouts were encouraging, but the Braves need to win first for any of it to count.