I’ve admitting been resisting this discussion, but it’s starting to feel like the Braves might really be interested in the best of this Summer’s trade bait.
There are indications that the Atlanta Braves have ramped up the pace of trade discussions over the past week or so.
That alone makes good sense – and as Fred told us yesterday, comments from Alex Anthopoulos are essentially saying that he will add support for the Braves before the non-waiver trade deadline hits at the end of the month, so sure: now is the time to get busy.
We have suggested in the past that while at the helm of the Toronto Blue Jays, Anthopoulos wasn’t afraid of pulling the trigger on a ‘big’ deal, and if current rumors are true, he might very well be employing that same playbook again.
Sources: #Braves are interested in Manny Machado but presently are more focused on controllable relievers, for whom there could be a buyers’ market. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 4, 2018
Also, there’s this from MLB.com beat writer for the Rays, Bill Chastain (emphasis added):
"Count Nathan Eovaldi on several teams’ wish list. The right-hander started for the Rays Monday night and pitched in front of scouts or representatives from the Cubs, Phillies, Red Sox and Braves. All are contending teams hoping to fill a void they’ve identified."
There’s also a report – that has to be classified as anecdotal for now – that rival scouts (Orioles included) are in the checking out multiple minor league affiliates of the Braves.
At this time, all of this has to be classified as “not a surprise“, since there is a fairly clean delineation between the “buyers” and “sellers” this year, so if your Baseball Operations staff is on the ball, it would simply be prudent to go ahead and have the “sellers” scouting the “buyers”.
By doing so, all parties would already be up to speed on all of the possible offers and thus the negotiations could proceed more quickly… assuming everybody is on the ball, that is.
The alternative is that a basket of names are already being discussed.
But let’s set all of that aside for the moment. My concern today is to discuss “why Manny Machado might (or might not) make sense for the Braves”.
Let’s dig into the pros and cons…