It’s been quiet out there… surprisingly so. Yet there are teams moving into contention that now have needs, so trades are still possible.
There are few official words about which Atlanta Braves may have cleared waivers and thus would be eligible to be traded this month. We can make some guesses:
- R.A. Dickey – likely cleared
- Julio Teheran – almost certainly was claimed and pulled back
- Jim Johnson – likely cleared (not a ‘rental’ – another year on his contract. At this point, that matters in a negative way)
- Brandon Phillips – interesting case, but has cleared waivers due to few contending teams having a declared need here.
- Matt Kemp – likely cleared
- Nick Markakis – likely cleared
- Tyler Flowers – probably claimed and pulled back
- Kurt Suzuki – likely cleared
- Arodys Vizcaino – probably claimed and pulled back
I’ll preface what follows with this: I would not be surprised if the Braves make no trades through the rest of the season. At this point, teams are trying to replace injured players and otherwise keep momentum going, but the “larger” upgrades have already been done.
Still: there are needs out there and the Braves could help some clubs… especially some clubs with limited resources (whether we’re talking financial or farm).
Don’t expect big returns here – but if the Braves can create some positional spaces, we might see fresh faces in September.
So let’s revisit the trade chances for these presumed ‘cleared’ players…