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Atlanta Braves: Could a trade for Joc Pederson make sense?

By Jake Mastroianni

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 20: Joc Pederson #31 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a solo home run in the first inning of the game against the Miami Marlins at Dodger Stadium on July 20, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 20: Joc Pederson #31 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a solo home run in the first inning of the game against the Miami Marlins at Dodger Stadium on July 20, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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After a trade for Joc Pederson fell through between the Angels and Dodgers, some are thinking the outfielder makes sense for the Atlanta Braves.

Trade rumors surrounding the Atlanta Braves and Joc Pederson is nothing new. At the beginning of the offseason our own Steven Teal went into great detail on whether or not a trade for Joc Pederson made sense.

But now that we know the Dodges are actively shopping him, let’s take another look at the possibility of the Braves trading for him.

When I first saw this idea surface again, my immediate thought was, “no way.”

After the Atlanta Braves signed Marcell Ozuna it felt like the outfield was set with Ronald Acuna Jr. in right field and Ender Inciarte in center with Nick Markakis and Adam Duvall rotating in at times.

I’m someone who loves Ender in center and Acuna in right, so any move to upset that does not make sense to me.

In a trade for Joc Pederson, that means Acuna would have to play center field and I’m not OK with that happening.

And that’s really my biggest reason for not wanting to trade for Pederson and why it doesn’t make sense for me.

Had the Braves signed Josh Donaldson for third base instead of signing Ozuna (it’s going to take a while for me to get over that one), then I’d be all for getting Pederson and putting him left field and that would have been an impressive lineup.

But that didn’t happen, and adding Pederson doesn’t make sense to me as I like the outfield as currently constructed.

However, I can see the other side of this as adding Pederson to the lineup could be exciting.

Pederson will play most of this season at 28 years old and is making just $7.75 million.

He’s hit 25 or more home runs in four of the past five seasons, and he was a 3 WAR or better player in three of those seasons.

The lefty crushes right-handed pitching hitting .242/.353/.507 against them in this career.

I could easily see him hitting 30-plus home runs at the TeePee with that left-handed stroke.

Those are the positives.

The negatives are that he can only hit against right-handed pitchers as he’s hit .188 against lefties in his career (in just 336 at-bats) and that he’s not great defensively and would require Acuna to move to center where he’s not great defensively.

And you already have a below-average defender in left in Ozuna.

We’d suddenly go from having a very good defensive outfield with Inciarte in center and Acuna in right to an average outfield defense at best with Ozuna, Acuna, and Pederson.

Plus, you’d be giving up prospects (most likely) for a rental platoon player. And you’d be dealing with your biggest competition in the National League.

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So while I can understand the thought behind the Braves possibly trading for Pederson, in the end, it just doesn’t make a ton of sense and I don’t see it happening.

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