Another day closer to the trade deadline and trades – big and small — are happening involving rumored Atlanta Braves targets, but there’s nothing for Atlanta fans to chew on yet.
Thus far the Atlanta Braves are still sitting on the trade sidelines…. biding their time and watching other deals going by.
The Brewers added Joakim Soria and about $1MM from the White Sox for an unranked AA Starter with a 3.92 ERA and an unranked right-handed starter in the Dominican Summer League who boasts a 2.01 ERA in 40 1/3 IP.
The Yankees reportedly acquired J.A. Happ from the Jays for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney. If that’s correct they picked Brian Cashman’s pocket.
This morning Ken Rosenthal wrote in The Athletic (subscription required) that while the Astros needed better catching defense against the running game, it didn’t appear they’d make such a trade.
Proving that what the writers hear can’t be trusted, four hours after that post published the Astros traded for a catcher. Martin Maldonado moved to Houston from Anaheim in exchange for an A+ Ball starter with a 2.56 ERA and 250K in international slot money for this J2 signing period.
The Rosenthal post linked above includes news Atlanta Braves fans might want to know.
Blue Jays might move Stroman
The Happ and Oh trades confirm Toronto as sellers. Two days ago, Mark Feinsand wrote that the Jays were open for business concerning Happ, Marco Estrada, and Yangervis Solarte.
I’ll pass on Estrada (and his 4.72 ERA) and Happ joined the Yankees today, but Rosenthal suggested in his piece they might talk about Marcus Stroman as well. The Jays got little for Oh and a good return for the rental of Happ, but teams would pony up better prospects for Stroman and the Braves are among those teams.
We’ve written here in the past about Alex Anthopoulos’ draft history as GM for the Jays including his success in finding and signing pitchers like Noah Syndergaard and Stroman. Jon Paul Morosi reported just after lunch, that the Braves GM contacted the Jays and Stroman would naturally be a subject for discussion.
Toronto’s dilemma
That the Jays might hesitate to trade the young righty makes sense. He’s under team control for two more arbitration years and started this season on a down note due to a shoulder inflammation that put him on the DL for seven weeks.
On the other hand, the Rogers group that own the Blue Jays indicated they wanted to trim costs after last season and held the line on their arbitration offer to Stroman. The hearing last February went in favor of the owners.
According to the Star, Stroman tweeted perfectly politically correct thoughts about the process.
"Lost arbitration . . . Is what it is. Looking forward to going out and dealing again. The negative things . . .said against me, by my own team, will never leave my mind. I’m thick-skinned so it will only fuel the fire . . ."
He skipped a meeting with the media and sent this instead.
Just being real. Not mad at all. I’m aware of the business. Just opens your eyes going through the arbitration process. Second time going through it. Still love my team and the entire country of Canada. More upset that I had to fly to AZ and miss my Monday workout. Lol
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) February 15, 2018
"I kill myself daily for my family, friends, fans, and teammates. Work ethic beyond elite. More of the same going forward. Less communication with anyone trying to take away from that. . ."
Those thoughts might make the next arbitration discussion uncomfortable for Rogers as fans generally saw them as cheap.