Monday morning news:

Makes sense for the Braves. They’re already down Acuna and Strider, now Albies, who is going to miss eight weeks with a broken wrist. Dave Dombrowski just let go of Merrifield, so they bring the guy in and see if he can rediscover his Toronto form. He just never got going in Philadelphia, hit.199 over the course of 53 games while coming in and out of the lineup.

Could it be an easier adjustment playing for the Braves? It’s a lesser fan base that will be distracted by SEC football in a couple of weeks, so less scrutiny on the baseball team. They’re 8.5 games back and playing more of an underdog role this year considering the injury situation, so this isn’t like the past two years, when they won the division then got trounced by the Phillies in the divisional round. Atlanta isn’t a real sports city anyway, it’s all transplants from actual sports cities.

Either way, it’s a win/win for Merrifield if you think about it. His Atlanta Braves go on a run here and make some noise, or Whit gets a World Series ring when the Phils complete the job and John Middleton’s trophy back.

EDITOR’S NOTE: an earlier version of this story said Albies would be out for eight months. it’s eight weeks. it was a long weekend, sorry