Atlanta Braves podcast episode 25: pre-trade deadline hang-wringing

Will the Atlanta Braves do anything in the next 9 days?  If so, what?

While the Atlanta Braves are hungry for a reliable starting pitcher, other teams in the majors should be forgiven for not caring.  After all, most of them have their own pitching woes to worry about.

It’s going to be a scrum to find better pitching before the trade deadline, and that’s going to be an issue.

Even before they embark on the wheeling and dealing, this question has to be answered:  what pitchers do they want to rely on in October?  The ones they have or should they add someone else they’ll have to acquire somehow?

Max Fried can’t pitch every playoff game.  The other pitchers they’ve been running out there to patch together a day-to-day rotation aren’t likely to strike fear in the hearts of any potential playoff opponent, and there’s simply a difficult match-up situation as things stand right now.

Then there’s third base.  Last night, there was a glimmer (maybe even a “glow”?) of hope as Johan Camargo has some excellent AB’s… getting spectacularly robbed of an additional double on top of a 2-for-5 night.

Still, that only brought his average for the season up to… .205.

So we had a spirited discussion about pitchers, pitching, trade possibilities, and how the Atlanta Braves might approach the idea of handling the trade deadline this year.

Right now, there’s just too many things in flux:  the Phillies pulled off a deal yesterday out of desperation for their bullpen, but it was also a significant trade because they essentially used Red Sox money to get it done (which cost them more talent).

That should tell us something about the financial state of things for some teams, which will definitely figure into deals made in the next several days.

We do these discussions to better express some of the things that are hard to put down into print like this, and it’s also a good way for Jake, Fred, and myself to share and debate our ideas.

Overall, we do think that Alex Anthopoulos will have something to say about the trade deadline when it’s all said and done… the question in all of our minds is clearly “how far will he go?”

The direct download link is available here if you prefer to listen in that manner.  You can also find our efforts via iTunes, Spreaker, and a variety of other podcast outlets.

Thanks for listening… and we’ll watch for the deals together!