The Atlanta Braves’ Daily Teheran Rumor… Getting Bigger?

Yesterday the Dodgers… today the Red Sox.  Seeing a bidding war for Braves’ pitching would not be such a bad thing.

While we still should characterize all trade rumors as “early” and “premature” at this date, information continues to leak out around teams with needs.

Today we learn from former GM Jim Bowden something that we had already suspected strongly: that the Boston Red Sox have at least picked up the phone once to see what John Coppolella might have in mind:

Here’s the full text of this tweet, obtained from the ESPN.com site:

"Red Sox have inquired about both Julio Teheran and Arodys Vizcaino from the Atlanta Braves. However, there is no traction to a trade at this time. However, these two teams really do match up well for a potential blockbuster type deal at the trade deadline."

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The Red Sox’ interest is intriguing for multiple reasons:

• They truly do have a need for both Teheran and Vizzy
• They have a farm system that’s probably deeper than the Dodgers, with near-major-league ready talent at positions other than pitcher
• While they have Yoan Moncada, they also have enough other talent to swing a non-Moncada deal… perhaps with the idea of throwing more players at Atlanta to get them to forget Moncada is there
• We can’t discount Boston’s new Frank Wren connection since both Vizcaino and Teheran were acquired on his watch.

Now all of that sounds really exciting... until the #AskCoppy session, where John Coppolella threw cold water on the whole procession:

That’s not a “no”, but it’s certainly an “I doubt it”… and there’s good reason.  It would probably require something at or beyond the “Shelby Miller Return” to get Julio Teheran via trade this Summer.  Would somebody offer such a deal?  Maybe, but it’s clearly going to be a high bar to jump over.

But contrast that answer with this one answering a question about the chances about trading Freddie Freeman:

Much more definitive.  Still, it’s going to be hard to pry Teheran away, but Coppolella does seem to suggest that it isn’t an impossibility either.

The alternate question is reasonable to ask, though:  where does Atlanta obtain a viable major league bat by holding on to Teheran?   True, we need a frontline starter.  But it’s also hard to win every fifth game by 1-0 or 2-1 scores.

Vizzy in High Demand

Meanwhile, we also caught this from Jon Heyman yesterday:

"Vizcaino is drawing intense interest, probably the most interest of any Braves player … One reason the Braves don’t want to trade Julio Teheran is that they don’t really have an alternative to start Opening Day in their new park next year, and next winter’s free agency won’t bring anyone on that level. Teheran, however, would bring a haul."

High demand does mean higher prices.  A recent report (that I cannot locate) seemed to suggest that John Coppolella might be looking for something close to a “Ken Giles‘ return” for trading Vizcaino.

If that was indeed his message, Ken Rosenthal discounts it, and I would too.  But still, aside from Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, Vizcaino is probably going to be the third best reliever on the market… and definitely more affordable than those others.

Active Summer Coming

Meanwhile, you can certainly count on July not being dull:  here’s three more indicative Q&A’s from Coppy:

How active do you plan to be at the trade deadline? #AskCoppy (@SBLaw14)

#AskCoppy When are we going to start keeping legit MLB talent to build round instead of trading them off for prospects? (@Silaslang)

Hello!  I wanted to know if there is anything close on the trade front? #AskCoppy (@jgarciajr198821)

Next: Go Ahead! Ask your Questions!

So feel free to speculate wildly over Boston’s farm system… but please pace yourself:  we still have over 5 weeks until the trading deadline!