Atlanta Braves Making Inquiries on Controllable Starters

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Sep 20, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria (3) singles during the third inning against the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Pulling the Reins Back

I would not personally put Archer’s name in the front of this tweet at this point in the process. Sure, his name probably came up, but is doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the legitimate asking price for him would be beyond imagination… and here’s why:

Ridiculously team-friendly contract (better than Teheran’s): $4.9m, $6.4m, $7.6m, $9m, $11m – with the latter pair of years (2020-2021) being team options.
ERA+ averaging over 110 since 2013… though he was merely mortal in 2016 (101).
3rd in 2013 Rookie of the Year balloting; All-Star and 5th place in Cy Young voting for 2015.
Averages 3.51 career ERA with a 3.4:1 K/BB ratio… in the AL East.

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Accordingly, back at the last trade deadline, the Rays dangled Archer a bit while asking for players like Joey Gallo–plus. In fact, Gallo was their price for Jake Odorizzi or Matt Moore (who ended up on the Giants).

Roughly 8 teams were said to have what it took (then) to supply the huge return it would take to land Archer… but don’t expect Coppolella to go that far.

Especially considering that Atlanta would have to outbid 28 other teams in the process.

Jake Odorizzi? Alex Cobb? Others? That’s at least remotely possible. But probably not Chris Archer.

Don’t forget: it’s still WAY early in this process. All teams are still in the ‘kicking the tires’ stages of dealing. There will be a lot of silly rumors based on the flimsiest of information.

But certainly the Braves would do well to chase down every possibility for quality pitching that’s out there.

Want a Crazy, Shoot-for-the-Moon Idea?

But since we’re here, let’s go ahead and be a little silly. It is election day, after all.

How about Evan Longoria and a non-Archer starter together? Longoria still has 6 years on his contract, but Atlanta could definitely afford him and any other player on the Rays’ roster.

The Rays would listen. The Braves would likely offer Adonis Garcia and Rio Ruiz just to get started, plus a couple of pitchers likely to include Matt Wisler and perhaps a couple of other prospects.

Of course, that flies in the face of everything Coppy has been telling us about using his farm depth at this time… so that’s just for fun.

Next: Reviewing Other's Ideas

But would something like that excite Braves’ Country?

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