Now that the trade deadline has come and gone we look at how the starting rotation for the Atlanta Braves will play out going forward.
One of the trade deadline targets for the Atlanta Braves was to get a starting pitcher. I thought they needed a frontline starter, but at the very least I thought they’d get a veteran for the back of the rotation.
But as the deadline came and went, Alex Anthopoulos was not able to make a move for a starter.
In fact, not many starters were moved at all at the deadline.
Madison Bumgarner, Mike Minor, Matthew Boyd, Robbie Ray, and others speculated to be traded weren’t moved.
Of the ones that were traded, the Braves weren’t going to give up the prospects and take on that Zack Greinke contract.
They weren’t going to give the Indians Cristian Pache and Drew Waters for Trevor Bauer. I still think had Nick Markakis not gotten hurt maybe they could have traded Adam Duval and a top pitching prospect or two for Bauer.
But the front office may have also been put off by Bauer’s latest outburst, and the fact that he kind of blasted the Braves lineup for being patient against him earlier in the year.
The one that I thought they could have gotten for a decent price was Marcus Stroman.
But I think this was just a terrible decision on the part of the Toronto Blue Jays. For whatever reason, they moved him several days before the trade deadline and got an uninspiring package.
I have to believe that if the Blue Jays would have waited until Wednesday they could have gotten a better package and maybe the Atlanta Braves — and other teams — could have gotten more involved.
The asking price for Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard become unreal, and I think the Mets really just wanted to go for it this year. Once they weren’t available there really wasn’t a great option out there for the Braves.
I’m surprised Minor and Ray didn’t get moved, but I’m not sure they would have made a huge difference in our rotation.
Now we know what we have going forward, so let’s take a look at the starting rotation for the rest of the season.