Atlanta Braves Podcast S2E20: Hey buddy! Got any pitchers for sale?

The Atlanta Braves may really feel like they are standing on a street corner, begging for somebody to make a deal with them for a bullpen reliever right now.

It’s still too early for most teams to be willing to make deals, though for our Atlanta Braves, it’s already getting late in the process.

The Braves really need some pitchers that can consistently get outs in relief for them, but there’s a problem:  clubs are either not ready to make a deal or not ready to raise the white flags on their own seasons yet.

This could continue to be a big problem for clubs wanting to be trade deadline “buyers” this year — and here are some reasons for it:

• The Braves could be after one of the few All-Star possibilities they have… and nobody wants to sell off an All-Star before that game.
• For teams really hurting for revenue after last year’s financial debacle, declaring an early defeat on 2021 is a quick way to send Summer ticket-buyers elsewhere.  They’d rather wait on “selling” as long as possible.

Then there are the teams locked in the paralysis that comes from success: they either have financial troubles (e.g., Cincinnati) or they have pending free-agents that they truly need to sell (e.g., the Cubs), but their team is out-performing expectations… forcing them to stay the course for the time being.

None of these things work in the favor of the Atlanta Braves, who really need to hit the “Upgrade” button on their season.  Another six weeks and it might be too late to act.

But the guys touch on these topics and more in our latest podcast, which you can hear directly from this player (below) or via this download link or from just about any podcast subscription service out there.

As we recorded this, it was right after the Braves struggled against the Red Sox, but before taking the first two games from the Cardinals.

Right now, they have a chance to finish off this set against St. Louis with an outright 3-1 series win… which would look a lot better than a 2-2 split.

So it’s gut-check time for the Braves… which is going to be the case for quite a number of future games coming up.

But that’s exactly the situation they’re going to be in unless the Front Office does the unimaginable and overpays for the help they truly need.