Atlanta Braves have a choice if they want to go there: Archer or Yelich

With the trade of Evan Longoria to the Giants, the Rays fired the next signal flare of a coming rebuild.  That adds to the possible options that the Braves could pursue this Winter.

Let me be clear on this up front:  the Atlanta Braves don’t need to go after either of the players I’m suggesting here.  They can field an adequate team in 2018 without either and might to threaten the 80-win barrier while waiting for certain youngsters to arrive/mature/thrive/etc.

But with teams like the Yankees, Angels, Astros, Cubs, and Cardinals trying to stockpile talent – never mind other clubs like the Nationals and Dodgers who already have it – we as fans want this club to do better than ‘break-even’ – to look at 85-to-90 wins at a floor instead of having 80 wins as a ceiling.

I don’t know that adding either Chris Archer or Christian Yelich is the answer to get the Braves there – at least not yet.  But it would push this team into that direction a lot more quickly than by simply waiting around for the holes to fill themselves and it would convince fans that the time to compete is near.

Additionally, you really can’t make the argument that it’s too soon to make this leap – more on that in a bit.

The unfortunate part here is that there are limitations to what can be pursued via trade, and timing will impact the ‘when’ of any such pursuit.

Right now happens to be the right timing for these particular trade targets.

Choose Wisely

If the Braves were to decide that either Christian Yelich or Chris Archer were worth going after, then it is almost certain that there will be an ‘either/or’ choice involved:  “One player from Column A” only.

Why?  Because going after both would pretty much require Atlanta to hand over the keys to their entire farm system and allow the Rays and Marlins to have a draft between them to disperse 6-to-10 of our best minor leaguers.

At the same time, the Braves clearly have the resources to make such a trade, should they opt to go there… and more so than most organizations, so they can certainly be a player in trade talks.  That much is without question.

So who do you pick?  We had some fun yesterday on twitter soliciting opinions on that very topic.

Let’s expand on that here:  OF Christian Yelich vs. SP Chris Archer.