Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Not so many happy returns?

SEVEN DAYS remain until the non-waiver trade deadline.  The Braves expect to trade Jaime Garcia by Wednesday.  But after that…?

Let’s review the Atlanta Braves‘ plausible trade candidates and see how they are doing since the All-Star break:

• Brandon Phillips.  Still a hitting fool at .429 (OPS 1.269, wRC+ 226), but is having trouble walking – much less running.  He seems to be performing just from sheer will to do so.
• Kurt Suzuki.  .333 with a homer in 12 plate appearances
• Sean Rodriguez.  Apparently healthy, having landed on his surgically-repaired shoulder during a double-play turn, but still not there as a  hitter:  .071 and tentative at the plate (with 4 walks, 8 K, and just one hit).
• Nick Markakis.  In something of a bad stretch, hitting .206 in these past 10 games.
• Matt Adams.  .250, but a clutch homer vs. Kenley Jansen can’t be ignored.
• Jim Johnson.  The numbers claim a 2.70 ERA in 3.1 innings with 3 saves, but equal walk and strikeout rates.  The cringe test, though?  Pretty high.
• Arodys Vizcaino.  In just 2.2 innings (3 outings), his numbers are actually a bit worse than Johnson’s – unless you believe in FIP as a pitching stat.
• Rest of the bullpen?  You seriously don’t want to know.  Akeel Morris has been a stud.  All others are duds.

Sure – somebody else could be dealt.  But these were the main guys who could reasonably have been expected to go somewhere else this week.

But at this point, it would be surprising to see any of them moved – save perhaps for Phillips, if somebody opts to take him and allow him to heal for a week.

That’s going to make it difficult for the Braves to un-jam the clutch of middle infielders (yes, I just assigned that as the collective term for them) that they have accumulated.

Even so, there’s likely only one actually decent trade return available out there for the Braves.  That will be whenever Coppy pulls the trigger on a Jaime Garcia deal.

Hot Take for the Week

So with all that, here’s my scenario for what happens with the Braves this week.  First a run-down of the moving parts involved:

• MILWAUKEE.  Have lost 7 of last 8, and four of those were to the Phillies.  Their NL Central lead is gone and now they face the Nationals, Cubs, Cardinals, Rays, and Twins in succession.  Don’t expect them to blow their farm for a premium starter now.
• HOUSTON.  Said to be showing interest in Jaime Garcia now, while no longer in an aggressive pursuit of Sonny Gray. That latter news is coming from multiple sources now.  This is perfect.
• YANKEES.  The price for Gray has been set, according to Jon Heyman… and that was 4-5 days ago.  In this order, the Yankees, Royals, Rays, and Twins are the immediate Wild Card contenders (with NY 2.5 back of Boston).  They are said to be checking on Yu Darvish now.

Here’s my guess:

• Garcia goes to Houston.  Probably by Tuesday.
• The Yankees land Darvish, and make a run at Matt Adams (in that order).  Not convinced the latter will happen, but still makes far too much sense for both sides, and I believe that it’s a matter of Coppy extracting a price from New York.
• If the Yankees do not get Darvish, then Garcia could go there instead.  Houston might be left scouting the Padres.
• All of this will happen – one way or another – before midday Wednesday, for both Darvish and Garcia are currently scheduled to pitch on that day.

That leaves the Oakland A’s with one viable option for Sonny Gray, and that’s the Atlanta Braves… the only remaining team with sufficient resources and active interest.

The only wrinkle in this plan involves the L.A. Dodgers – the one club that might be willing to throw prospects (and perhaps major league players) back in the direction of Oakland.

Do note that the Dodgers seem to have been scouting Lucas Sims over the weekend (h/t @jase1129), they could opt to use him as their stop-gap starter instead of going in big for Gray.

But given the injuries their pitchers have just incurred, they could get involved for Gray in a big way – quickly.  That said, the planets do seem to be aligning for the Braves.

Note that this isn’t necessarily my plan – but given the information we’ve seen lately, that’s all quite plausible.  We’ll have to see what transpires.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Next: The Wives are involved? Well Knock me over.

In the meantime, Arizona looms on the horizon for 3 games, and Aaron Blair continue to rack up those frequent flier miles.  Expect to see him in Phoenix on Wednesday.