Report: Atlanta Braves trade Kolby Allard for relief pitcher Chris Martin
According to multiple reports, the Atlanta Braves have acquired a right-handed reliever in the form of Texas Rangers Chris Martin.
The Atlanta Braves finally get on the board at the trade deadline by trading for right-handed reliever Chris Martin from the Texas Rangers.
Kolby Allard is the cost for Martin as the Atlanta Braves send him to the Rangers in the deal.
Martin is not someone that we’ve been talking about, but his numbers show why the Atlanta Braves targeted him.
Source: #Braves acquire Chris Martin from #Rangers for Kolby Allard.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2019
Martin is no kid as he’s 33-years-old and made his big league debut in 2014.
After the 2015 season, he played in the Japan League for two seasons where he dominated with ERAs of 1.07 and 1.19 before the Texas Rangers gave him another shot.
Last year he posted a 4.54 ERA in 41.2 innings pitched with 37 strikeouts and just 5 walks.
This season he’s walked just four batters in 38 innings and has improved his strikeout total with 43, while posting a solid ERA of 3.08.
Certainly bringing someone to the Atlanta Braves bullpen that knows how to throw strikes is key.
Braves relievers have walked 188 batters in 390.2 innings this year.
He does have some experience as a closer with 4 saves this year and 21 in 2016 over in Japan. But he’s also been unavailable lately due to back stiffness, which doesn’t sound good.
Anthopoulos on Martin: "we've been active on the relief market. There's a lot of other names that are out there. We felt he had as much upside as anybody in the trade market in terms of a late inning arm. He's obviously gotten a chance to close some games for the Rangers" #Braves
— 680 The Fan (@680TheFan) July 31, 2019
Martin is a rental as he will be a free agent after the season.
This is very sneaky, good addition to the bullpen by Alex Anthopoulos, but the cost was also very high.
In order to acquire Martin the Atlanta Braves had to part with their 10th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline in Kolby Allard.
We all thought Allard was someone who would get moved this summer as he’s fallen behind some of the other Braves top prospects.
But he had really started to gain some momentum this year and it looked like he might get another shot in the big leagues soon.
Overall at Triple-A this year he has a 4.17 ERA in 110 innings with 98 strikeouts to 36 walks.
To be honest, I thought Allard would be part of a bigger package for a frontline starter. But I don’t think this is a trade with the Rangers that Braves fans will cringe over several years from now.
With the Texas Rangers, I would imagine Allard would get a shot in their rotation right away.
Next. The closer we've been waiting for. dark
This is a very solid move for the Atlanta Braves and one that was pretty obvious. Hopefully this is just the beginning for AA and the front office as the trade deadline approaches.