Atlanta Braves second half trade dreams
By Fred Owens
The second half begins Friday and Atlanta Braves fans are looking forward to new faces. Those new faces will mean old faces depart but who do we trade where and for what?
The Atlanta Braves season seemed scripted pretty well. They’d rely on veteran pitchers until the deadline, trade then away and bring up some of the younger arms. Veteran hitters would solidify the lineup while Ozzie Albies and others would get a look in August and September. So much for scripts.
Those setbacks don’t mean the traded deadline will be boring; just different.
The trades ahead
A few days ago Alan looked at the trade market. I’m not going rehash all of that but things have changed a bit.
The Cubs stole Jose Quintana from the White Sox. I read elsewhere that it was a blockbuster deal because:
- Eloy Jimenez was somehow the same as Ronald Acuna; he’s not. He’s playing in low A ball and while he’s hit the ball hard he’s in low A.
- Dylan Cease is now on a par with Mike Soroka. He’s not. Cease is in high A and while he strikes out a bunch of batters, he walks a bunch as well. That’s no mean feat in A ball when everyone is swinging at anything close.
- They also got two low A players with power. . . that’s low A. . .
The Braves weren’t in love with Quintana anyway but the Pale Hose blinked; back to the Braves.
With the Rays in the hunt Chris Archer isn’t going anywhere. Sonny Gray just became more expensive and the Jays say Marcus Stroman is out of the question, at least for now. Thus the top of the rotation pitching cupboard suddenly became bare.
That makes the hunt for such an arm likely to happen this winter. Onward towards the deadline fellow Braves travelers. The players we’d like to trade – or I believe we can/should trade – are: Matt Adams, Brandon Phillips and maybe some bullpen pieces. The question is, where do they fit?