Middays With Rick & John

Reynaldo Lopez was an offseason acquisition by the Braves that had a lot of people scratching their heads. The Braves gave Lopez a 3 yr/$10 million contract to a guy with a 4.22 ERA that hasn't started more than nine games in a season since 2019. Isn't that a lot for a middle reliever? It seemed so at first, and then there was talk that Reynaldo Lopez was throwing his name in to the hat to be the Braves' fifth starter in spring training. If he actually won the job, that would make the $30 million contract seem with it, and maybe even a bargain if he pitches well. Through his first three starts in the 2024 season, Reynaldo Lopez has turned out to be much more than that. Lopez is 2-0, with a .50 ERA and eighteen strikeouts through eighteen innings, and has been the Braves' best pitcher thus far. Will these numbers maintain? No, at least not all of them. But what Lopez has accomplished through the early part of the season just proves that as the Braves continue to battle through several injuries, we have a gener