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As we arrived upon the 2015 MLB season, it was believed by many that the Atlanta Braves wouldn’t be contenders for the playoffs. But those weren’t the thoughts of the guys in the locker room. We sit today 41 games into the season and currently 20-21 and have been hovering around the .500 mark for most of the season.
With expectations to contend this year low, expectations to be buyers at the trade deadline should have been extremely low, but these expectations could possibly be incorrect.
It has been reported by Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that the Braves have reached out to the Milwaukee Brewers and asked about catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
Milwaukee, one of the worst teams in the league, will surely be sellers during the trading period, but at the time they do not seem interested in trading Lucroy.
The 28-year-old catcher was an All-Star in 2014, but has only played in 12 games this season and hasn’t seen the field since April 20th.
Lucroy finished fourth in NL MVP voting last season after having a slash line of .301/.373/.465 in 2014. He led the league with 53 doubles and ranked second in defense among all catchers in the MLB. Lucroy had a 6.8 Wins Above Replacement which led all NL position players last season.
To acquire Lucroy, (if they change their minds and have any interest in dealing him) the Braves front office would have to overwhelm the Brewers. Meaning many of the young players the Braves received this offseason could be on the move once more. The Brewers look to be struggling with catching prospects, infielders and pitching in their minor league system.
Christian Bethancourt would probably be in the mix along with maybe third base prospect Rio Ruiz and some starting pitching.
Sticky Situation
Bethancourt was ranked as the #93 best prospect in baseball coming into the 2015 season. The 23-year-old catcher is batting .190 and has only appeared in 18 games. This is mostly because of how veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski was hitting early this season, but also because of his offensive struggles.
Pierzynski’s offensive output wouldn’t continue throughout the season so working in Bethancourt was necessary. His bat, other than two nights ago when he went 3-4 at the plate, hasn’t been helpful for the Braves.
We knew this though, we knew offense wasn’t his top ability, but Heyman is reporting the Braves may be frustrated with his play both offensivly and defensively. As we saw last night, Bethancourt played sloppy behind the plate and had the first error by a catcher in 2015.
Trade Rumors
This trade rumor has probably already been smashed to the ground, but like we’ve learned over the past months, we can’t trust front office and what is actually going on behind curtains.
If the Lucroy to the Braves trade idea is over, this brings up another question…are the Braves going to be buyers or sellers as we move closer and closer to the trade deadline.
They do have the prospects now and the draft picks if they move quickly to make a splash.
What if after all this turnover, trades, free agents, DNF’s, injuries, veteran tries, young prospects given an opportunity, the Braves actually make a few huge trades to the areas they need and they get hot? Could the Atlanta Braves be contenders for the 2015 World Series? I’m saying yes they can!