Atlanta Braves: Two top starting pitchers that might be available

The trade deadline is now just a week and a half away and some new names might be surfacing in the Atlanta Braves pursuit of starting pitching.

We have heard the names over and over that have been attached to the Atlanta Braves: Madison Bumgarner, Marcus Stroman, Matthew Boyd, and to a lesser degree, Trevor Bauer and Zack Wheeler.

But with the Cincinnati Reds and the Colorado Rockies scuffling recently (the Reds have lost six-of-eight, while the Rockies have lost 11-of-13), perhaps two new names will be brought into the starting pitcher trade discussion.

In fact, earlier in the week, MLB writer Jon Morosi wrote a piece on the Reds’ Luis Castillo and the approach Cincinnati could take in the coming days.

Morosi said the Reds could ask for a ridiculous price on the budding star and see if any general manager bites. They could also just hang on to Castillo and hope to agree to a contract extension.

Jon Gray has not been publicly mentioned as a guy that could be moved, but one would think with the Rockies four games back in the wild card and six teams above them, they might look to capitalize on Gray’s value now.

The common opinion is the Atlanta Braves top prospects Cristian Pache, Ian Anderson, and Drew Waters are close to untouchable, but that would not be the case with Castillo and Gray, who will command multiple top prospect hauls.

Let’s take a look as to how realistic it is for the Atlanta Braves to pursue either pitcher and whether it makes sense to move the multiple young pieces it would take to acquire Castillo or Gray.