It's time for the Atlanta Braves to go big and get greedy

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The Atlanta Braves tried to acquire lefty Matthew Boyd last year and remains a potential target this year as well. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /

Trade #2: Finish the Rotation

Getting Donaldson and Mancini would provide an awesome – and ‘long’ – offensive lineup. Now we need to bolster the rotation to insure that the needed innings are covered.

This is something that has been discussed a lot… and for good reason: LHP Matthew Boyd from the Tigers.

Detroit is probably (slightly) closer to being competitive than the Orioles, but that’s just not going to happen before Boyd’s remaining 2 years of team control expire.

Meanwhile, Atlanta could add a rare third left-handed arm to a rotation featuring Hamels, Soroka, Folty, and Fried as the almost-29-year-old Boyd joins a team with much better defense with his strikeout stuff.

In truth, Boyd doesn’t need to be a Cy Young candidate at all – he just needs to be himself and throw 190 innings as the Braves hit him to double-digit victories.

Boyd has been improving with each season and a move to the NL would position him for a breakout year… particularly with this club.

Detroit would want a lot, but the Braves still have a lot to offer. Here are a couple of ideas as the Tigers might wish to go in a number of directions:

William Contreras, Sean Newcomb, Tucker Davidson
- They may not need Contreras, so perhaps Jenista instead?
Kyle Wright, Tucker Davidson, and Jaseel De La Cruz
Austin Riley and Huascar Ynoa

Boyd is good for 2 more years of control… any of these offers should be enough to move him, but there are many ways to skin this cat.

While their motivation isn’t really about money, doing this deal also saves them around $6.5 million – the contract Boyd would be expected to receive for 2020.