Will the Atlanta Braves strike a deal with Toronto for Stroman or Giles?
By Josh Mathews
About a week ago, talks of the Atlanta Braves acquiring Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays was little more than a Twitter version of an elementary game of telephone. Now, national reporters have widely started to discuss the possibility of a deal.
For the first time in over a year, it’s been reported by respected outlets that the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays are possible trade partners.
Reports came from a Yankees reporter, Max Wildstein that the Atlanta Braves were indeed one of the many scouts looking at Marcus Stroman‘s start on July 20. Other teams included the Cubs, Dodgers, Padres, Rays, Reds, Red Sox and Yankees.
David O’Brien of The Athletic was one of the first reporters to weigh in on the situation, tweeting:
"“Am hearing #Braves have not had talks w/Jays concerning Stroman. I get impression Giles could be a target, but ask is high due to year (2020) of control. Still, with ATL needing a closer and not having obvious candidate in system, Giles w/his reasonable year of arb makes sense.”"
DOB has a point here. Giles would definitely resolve a need at closer, though it would be at a high cost. However, Giles would most definitely cost less than Stroman.
Luke Jackson has improved much over past performances, but is inconsistent enough to cast serious doubts if he should remain the closer in the regular season, let alone the postseason.
There were some experts, according to Ken Rosenthal that thought that the Atlanta Braves and Blue Jays wouldn’t be a match, because of general manager Alex Anthropoulos’ refusal of a contract extension in 2015. However, Rosenthal went on to say that a trade did seem possible. He said:
"“If #BlueJays indeed were reluctant to trade with #Braves, that stance has softened, sources say. Thus, Stroman and/or Giles to ATL possible. As Dave notes, Giles might be preference. Anthopoulos acquired two of his other former Jays – (Jose) Bautista (later released) and Donaldson.”"
On Monday, Jon Heyman echoed the sentiments of Rosenthal, according to his sources, essentially saying that there’s no bad blood between the two front offices, but this didn’t necessarily mean the Atlanta Braves were involved in Stroman/Giles talks heavily. He went as far as to suggest that the Astros and Yankees were.
So now that you’ve caught up on the rumor mill, what can we expect the Atlanta Braves to do? Previously, I wrote on the topic and ultimately said that I thought Stroman wasn’t a good idea.
As always, it really just depends on the package. Stroman and Giles together is shaping up to require what would be quite a haul from the Atlanta Braves. Individually, Stroman will of course have the higher cost, but what would it take to land both?