Normally teams don’t go out of their way to trade a superstar, but suddenly the list of available stud players is higher than ever before.
Maybe it’s an alignment of some baseball planetoids. Maybe it’s coincidence. But you’ve gotta think that it’s very interesting how so many big-name players are “available” via trade at the same time that the Atlanta Braves are flush with premium talents at the AAA or near-AAA level.
The list of these prospects should already be well known to Braves’ fans, but here they are nonetheless:
- Cristian Pache, OF, Gwinnett
- Drew Waters, OF, Gwinnett
- Austin Riley, OF/3B, Gwinnett
- Ian Anderson, RH, Gwinnett
- Kyle Wright, RHP, Gwinnett
- Bryse Wilson, RHP, Gwinnett
- Kyle Muller, LHP, Mississippi
- William Contreras, C, Mississippi
Where are they all going to play in the majors? Or better yet, do the Atlanta Braves have a slot to put them in so that they can get acclimated to the major leagues while the team is still trying to get competitive?
That last question is the one of most interest, for while all of these players have the potential to be strong major leaguers, Atlanta can’t really afford give these guys a position without knowing that they will succeed.
That’s exactly why – all within the past calendar year – Mike Foltynewicz, Kevin Gausman, Austin Riley, and Adam Duvall were all optioned back to the minor leagues… so that they could get the work they needed while no longer being a production liability on a division-winning club.
The ‘Haves’ vs. the ‘Have Nots’
There are some other teams, though, who do have such opportunities… and they really want what the Braves have at Gwinnett. So much so that they are dangling a lot of premium talent for the chance to make a deal with the Braves.
Of particular note, almost all of these players man a position that the Braves wouldn’t mind trying to upgrade… thus the coincidental meeting of supply and demand.
For the purposes of review, let’s make a list of the available premium talent that everybody seems to be trying to trade to Atlanta this Winter.