The trade deadline is still 29 days away, but some of the national reporters are already putting together trade proposals for the Atlanta Braves.
There are going to be trade ideas all over the place in the coming weeks for not only the Atlanta Braves, but for every team in baseball.
In the case of the Braves, though, it’s not just teams that would really like their hands on some of Atlanta’s top prospects… apparently, it’s also the media that’s eager to sell off some of Atlanta’s assets on behalf of Alex Anthopoulos.
Sure: if the team wanted to and needed to, the Braves have enough prospect talent to trade for literally any available player they might want. It’s that specific point that’s going to drive a lot of needless speculation this month – and it’s already started.
No News is… not a show
It’s said that Nature abhors a vacuum, and thus baseball shows must fill the empty space while no trades are happening.
It could be a long wait, too, if our analysis of the coming market proves to be even close to accurate: not just for the Braves, but for many of the other Buyer teams that need to fill holes for the homestretch of the regular season.
In a span of three days, though, two of the game’s most prominent reporters threw out trade ideas for the Braves, one of which was absurd.
Normally we might completely ignore such speculation, but given the following that these reporters have earned over their careers covering the game, these are definitely worth a discussion.
At least there’s this… both of these proposals involved getting pitching back for the Atlanta Braves… but oh my: at what costs.
Proposal #1
This wasn’t so much a proposal than a passing thought from ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Baseball Tonight from Sunday night (no source link available).
The conversation began with how much young talent the Braves have in Atlanta and how much more is on the farm, so the question posed to Passan was what the Braves can do to improve before the deadline.
Passan pointed out the Cleveland Indians as a potential match with the Braves in trade discussions.
He suggested starting pitcher Trevor Bauer and closer Brad Hand could be two names the Braves will look at acquiring.
The kicker, though, is he thought the deal could center around fast-rising outfield prospect, Drew Waters.
Let’s digest this for a bit.
First, of course the Braves would love to get Bauer and Hand, who are arguably the best at their respective position on the trade market.
- Bauer is 6-6 on the season with an ERA of 3.55, FIP of 4.11 and a WHIP of 1.143. He is currently a two-win player.
- He is also coming off an all-star season a year ago, where he finished sixth in the Cy Young voting.
- Hand has been even more impressive than Bauer, as he has 23 saves with an ERA of 2.55 and is on his way to the All-Star Game.
Both of these guys are studs, are under contract past this season and Cleveland is just a half game back of the second wild card.
I have a hard time believing the Indians will trade either… particularly if they start making a bit more traction in the AL Central as they have in recent days.
Also, Drew Waters has gone from not being in anybody’s top 100 prospect list two years ago to now being a consensus top 50 prospect in the game.
He leads the Southern League (Double-A Mississippi) in several offensive categories at the age of 20.
Along with Ronald Acuna and Cristian Pache, Waters could be patrolling SunTrust Park for years.
Proposal #2
Buckle up for this one.
Monday morning on the MLB Network (also no source link available), Jon Morosi put together a trade package to the Giants for Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith, both of whom are in the final year of their contracts.
To put it kindly, the offer is laughable.
Morosi had the Braves sending Pache, Ian Anderson and Kolby Allard to San Francisco for Bumgarner and Smith.
Uh, what?
Bumgarner is nowhere near the pitcher he once was, although his numbers are okay (5-7, 4.02 ERA, 1.185 WHIP) and even though Smith is having his best season of his career, he is still a reliever on the final year of his contract.
According to baseballtradevalues.com, Bumgarner has a trade value of 9.6, while Smith’s value is 9.2. That equals 18.8
Pache’s is 48.5, Anderson’s is 38.1 and Allard’s is 3.4. That equals 90.
Oh, by the way… those players being acquired? THEY’RE RENTALS… both Giants are free agents at year’s end!
To call that trade proposal lopsided is an understatement.
So what should it cost?
Based on the numbers from baseballtradevalues.com, I came up with Bryse Wilson, Travis Demeritte and Adam Duvall for Bumgarner and Smith.
Wilson’s value is 18.90, while Demeritte’s is 0.8 and Duvall’s is -0.8.
Again, that is strictly from this website service and I highly doubt that would be enough, but certainly it would not have to be as much as what Morosi put together.
In conclusion
These two trade ideas are just the first of many and we will likely see even more outlandish proposals going forward.
As much as I think the Braves need to upgrade the rotation and the bullpen, I think they should only make moves that get them to the level of the Dodgers, the class of the NL. With what Atlanta currently has, it can certainly compete with any other team in the NL.
What will be interesting is whom Alex Anthopoulos is willing to give up. It would seem like it would take a big-time addition for A.A. to part with the big three of Anderson, Pache and Waters and perhaps even Kyle Wright.
The balance of winning with a clearly special group of offensive players, while not giving up significant value going forward will be fascinating to watch.