Atlanta Braves: Acquiring an ACE at the trade deadline
By Seth Carter
Going from one Native-American themed team (Indians) to another (Braves) in 2020?
Corey Kluber has already been linked to trade rumors this offseason. Kluber is a two-time Cy Young Award winner coming off of an injury-plagued season.
Regarding his future outlook, the fractured forearm occurred on a line-drive, freak accident. That’s horrible for him and the Indians last year, but a good sign as far as not being usage-related.
Kluber is 33-years old and is due to receive $17.5 million next season with a team option at $18MM for 2021.
With the speculation that the Indians have headed into the Winter Meetings taking trade offers on both Corey Kluber and Francisco Lindor, they could be looking to cash in one or the other. If Kluber is pitching near the trade deadline this year, the Indians may try to find a suitor to avoid the option next season.
Kluber only pitched in seven games last season but has a career ERA of 3.16 with 1.09 WHIP and 1,461 SOs in 1,341.2 innings pitched. His career walks per nine is 2.0, leading the league two consecutive seasons with a 1.6 in 2017 and 1.4 in 2018.
He has two Cy Young awards to his credit with four top-three finishes. He also finished ninth in Cy Young voting in 2015.
The value to the Braves would be we get Kluber for less money than we’ll be paying Cole Hamels, and if he proves to be healthy and anywhere near the guy he has been in his career, then the $18MM option for 2021 would be a no-brainer.
So get out a notepad and write down your fantasy rotations. Kluber, Soroka, Hamels, Foltynewicz, Fried. Swap Kluber with Morton, either way, Tony the Tiger approves.
Ahhh... love the sweet smell of Cinnamon Frosted Flakes in the morning. #ItsATigerThing pic.twitter.com/4kmfUK4dHc
— Frosted Flakes (@frosted_flakes) July 10, 2017
The big difference between the two right now is Kluber might be able to be acquired prior to the season starting. He’s going to cost a lot, but we have a young team with a chance at a World Series, I say go for it.
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What do you think? Is either of these guys worth a shot? Will the trade deadline create better value than what’s left in the free-agent market? Let us know in the comments below!