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What If the Atlanta Braves Decided to… BUY?

By Alan Carpenter

Jul 17, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop Chase d'Arnaud (23, center) celebrates with teammates after he hit the game-winning RBI single in the ninth inning of their win against the Colorado Rockies at Turner Field. The Braves won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 17, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop Chase d'Arnaud (23, center) celebrates with teammates after he hit the game-winning RBI single in the ninth inning of their win against the Colorado Rockies at Turner Field. The Braves won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports /
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Trade 2 – Chicago White Sox:  the Todd Father

Here is a deal that could easily wait until the off-season.  But if it were to be pursued now, it could look like this:

The White Sox have no discernible farm system.  They need good prospects.  Sending them two pitchers that both have upside, yet could get lost in Atlanta’s largess, would certainly help them going forward.

The Sox might actually prefer quantity over quality.  If so, Atlanta could certainly help there as well.


The trick:  the White Sox might rather have a more major-league-proven pitcher… Williams Perez comes to mind, but he’s not readily tradable right now.  Maybe by years’ end.

Frazier is 30 years old, but has just one more year of arbitration eligibility remaining.  He is currently on a 2 year, $12 million gap-filler deal.  If you’re going to trade for him, then Atlanta should obtain a window of extension opportunity before completing the deal. The Braves could try to offer him something like 4 years (starting in 2017) at $14m/$16m/$16m/$18m/option and see how that goes (4 years/$64 million).

Frazier has not hit well in Chicago (.215) but has a history of doing much better (.273/.255 in 2014-15).  If you believe that he won’t do a complete Dan Uggla cliff dive, he will still OPS close to .800 and hammer 30-35 home runs each year.

He provides adequate defense – a bit better than Adonis Garcia, and both his OBP and strikeout rates are actually tolerable (~.310, 20-24%).  Before this season, he was providing an average of 4 WAR over 3 seasons.  In 2016, it’s currently 1.0, though wRC+ is sitting at 105 with 61 RBI.

Note that the best RBI total on the Braves right now is 47 (Nick Markakis).  Next is Freddie Freeman at 35.  This is why hitters like Davis and Frazier are important.

Is Frazier the best option?  Not really, but he is probably the best option that could be had by Atlanta – certainly in a move not requiring Julio Teheran.  We like to drool over Yoan Moncada, Alex Bregman, or Joey Gallo… but (a) those require Teheran; and (b) Nobody seems to be making offers like that… at least so far.

This trade might be an easier sell this Winter with the same trade package (excepting Erick Aybar, of course, who was included solely to give the White Sox a position player to help their transition).

Next: Listen to Josh

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