Atlanta Braves Morning Chop – Veterans Day

Justin Upton’s No-Trade List

When the Braves’ acquired Justin, it was only after a PR-bungled trade between Arizona and Seattle – one vetoed by Justin after we learned that Seattle had been one Justin’s no-no list at that time.  Upton’s  contract allows him to annually choose four teams to exempt from trade consideration, and – interestingly enough – Seattle has now fallen off that list (we don’t know who the other three clubs were at that time).

One point, though:  since this past July, there has been talk of moving B.J. Upton to Chicago via a “bad contract swap”.  But note that the Cubs are now on Justin’s exempt list.  Interesting.

First Place

The Peoria Javelinas – with 7 members of the Braves’ farm system on its roster – has now taken first place in the Western Division of the Arizona Fall League.  They’ve won 4 in a row and broken through the .500 mark for the first time since the first week of the season.  Good time to do it, too, as this is the last week of regular season play.

Yesterday, they took down Surprise 10-4.  I’d report on the results of the Braves’ players, except that none of them got into the game yesterday.  Kyle Wren and Edward Salcedo are both hitting above .250 now, though Salcedo has almost the most AB of anyone on the club, and Wren virtually the fewest.

The pitchers have continued to perform well – getting better as they’ve gone along:  let’s hope they can all finish with a flourish during this last week of play.

Is a Tampa Bay Rays-Atlanta Braves Blockbuster Trade Coming?

ROBBIE KNOPF / RAYSCOLOREDGLASSES.COM

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Soaring Down South

The Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves are two teams primed to make major trades this offseason. For the Rays,

and

are likely to be dealt and they could also listen on players like

and

. The Braves, meanwhile, have a prime trade asset in

and have been willing to trade away

to unload

‘s contract.

Right now, the players we are hearing the most about are Hellickson and Gattis. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted that Hellickson could soon be traded to a National League team while Gattis is being inquired about aplenty by American League teams. Could we see the two players traded as part of a bigger deal between the two teams?

The Rays and Braves would never do a straight swap of Jeremy Hellickson for Evan Gattis–Gattis’ trade value is far higher at this point. However, both teams would be interested in some of the others’ trade candidates.

[ Editor’s note:  The Braves are not currently said to be “in” on Hellickson due to the need for more ‘guaranteed’ innings, but it is an interesting thought posed here. ]

Atlanta Braves Morning Chop – November 11, 2014