Dodgers @ Braves July 20, 2015: No More Yay-J

So, one day after a pretty fascinating Zack Greinke / Max Scherzer matchup, we get… Brandon Beachy and Matt Wisler.

OK, so maybe that’s not quite as interesting as it was yesterday. Then again, it’s not hard to find reasons to want to watch this. Beachy’s first appearance was merely about getting back on the mound, and while he wasn’t exactly effective nine days ago against Milwaukee, he survived, and now he can work towards productivity — back in Atlanta, no less. Wisler is only five starts into his big league career, but he’s shown why the Braves valued him so highly when they acquired him from San Diego in the Craig Kimbrel / Melvin Upton deal.

But let’s be honest: You’re wondering where Carl Crawford is, and why Austin Barnes is in the lineup to catch Beachy. Well, the first part’s easy: Crawford expects to be activated tomorrow, so we can all have another 24 hours of wondering whether they’re working on a secret trade for Alex Guerrero or will really just option out Scott Van Slyke.

As for Barnes, well, seeing Yasmani Grandal leave over the weekend after taking a ball off the chin — no really, look at the picture he put on Instagram — made it seem like another trip to the 7-day concussion disabled list was inevitable. Except, no: It’s actually A.J. Ellis who lands on the disabled list with right knee inflammation, presumably suffered over the weekend in Washington.

So that’s not great, and not just because Ellis had been hitting much better lately, pushing his seasonal wRC+ nearly back to league-average at 90. It means that even if Grandal really needs a few days to clear his head, it’s harder to give them to him. (He’s expected to play Wednesday, apparently.)

It means that with the July 31 deadline only 11 days away, Barnes is all but untradeable now — and while I don’t want or expect the team to move him anyway, you never know what player a potential trade partner focuses on, and you’d hate to have a potential deal nixed because another team really wanted Barnes. Hunter Redman, who is a player you had never heard of before right this second, was bumped from Double-A to Triple-A to share Oklahoma City catching duties with Shawn Zarraga.

Oh, and the Braves: Freddie Freeman is on the DL, old friend Juan Uribe will be fun to see again, Nick Markakis still hasn’t hit a homer, Cameron Maybin is better than you think he is, and I literally haven’t any idea who the “Perez” playing left is. Still, they’ve been surprisingly competitive in a “rebuilding” year, and they’ve done an excellent job turning veterans into young pitching.