The Braves announced on Wednesday that All-Star reliever Robert Suarez has been activated from the Injured List. In a corresponding move, Owen Murphy has been optioned.

The Braves have been incredibly cautious with Robert Suarez throughout this process. He was shut down in mid-June and didn’t begin throwing again until the middle of August. Since then, he’s worked his way through a stringent checklist on his way back, with just five games remaining until the Braves dive into the postseason.

Suarez did make one appearance last weekend for Gwinnett, tossing a scoreless inning with a strikeout. The fastball was sitting 96-98, and while there was some expected rust, it was an overwhelmingly positive sign that he could be a major contributor the rest of the way.

Earlier this week, Alex Anthopoulos said the goal is to get Suarez into big-league games before the end of the season. The plural aspect of “game(s)” in that statement is telling. It should be expected that he pitches in tonight’s game against the Reds, no matter the score, and the Braves would probably like to see him pitch at least one more time before the end of the season.

How the Braves utilize him in the postseason is the bigger question. At this very moment, there’s no way they could be supremely confident throwing him into the fire with the game on the line. That’s something he’s going to have to earn after such a lengthy layoff. Unfortunately, there’s not much time for Walt Weiss to figure out those decisions.

Prior to the injury, Suarez was arguably the best reliever in the game, posting a 0.56 ERA over 31 appearances. The combination of him, Raisel Iglesias, and Dylan Lee was one of the primary reasons the Braves burst out to the best record in baseball and a commanding division lead that they never relinquished. Anytime Atlanta found themselves tied or ahead after six innings, they could essentially put a check in the win column.

If the Braves are getting that version of Suarez — or anything close to it — this bullpen has the type of talent and depth to really carry the club throughout the postseason. Lee, Suarez, and Iglesias is a tremendous punch — but the emergence of young arms like Didier Fuentes and Dylan Dodd gives the group so much more depth than what existed at the beginning of the season.

However, expectations must be tempered to a degree. Expecting Robert Suarez to look the same following three months off is probably wishful thinking, which is what makes this final week of the season that much more intriguing, even if there’s nothing to play for when it comes to playoff seeding.

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(Photo: IMAGO / NurPhoto)