A watched stove eventually gets hot, folks. Join us in scratch/hug watch and other trade deadline speculation here as we approach Monday, August 3 at 6 pm ET.
In the meantime, an encouraging update coming out of Truist Park: Per Mark Bowman, Spencer Schwellenbach is with the team in Cobb County today to throw bullpens as he ramps up baseball activities. Bowman also is reporting that Schwelly is aiming to contribute to the big league club this season.
For context, the recently-returned (and then optioned) AJ Smith-Shawver was throwing bullpens on June 3 ahead of being cleared to face live hitters. He began his rehab assignment on June 30 and activated a month later on July 29 as the 27th man for Game 1 of the doubleheader versus the Mets.
Assuming everything progresses as it should, that does track toward a September return for Schwellenbach after his bone spur removal from his pitching elbow in mid-February 2026. Since we do not yet have the technology to just clone Chris Sale, having Schwelly back (that picks back up where he left off in 2025) would obviously be a huge boost to a rotation hoping to make a deep run in October.
