6. The Braves really need a starting pitcher
That’s probably true, but there are ways to deal with that, too.
The troubles of Ian Anderson are pretty much season-long in scope, but have become increasingly obvious over the past couple of months.
Between that and the chance that Spencer Strider could be running on fumes by September. the braves really do need to add someone for depth purposes.
But it doesn’t have to be a guy that’s going to require serious prospects.
A perfect candidate could be Noah Syndergaard, since he’s going to cost … pretty much only money. He’s healthy, throwing well, and would love nothing else but to compete against his old team (the Mets).
If not him, then name virtually any non-contending team with a veteran starter sporting a 4 ERA who chews up innings. That will be sufficient.
But none of that has anything to do with Juan Soto… nor does it preclude a phone call to Mike Rizzo to explore the possibilities.
5 and 4: It’s too high a cost of prospects / The Braves don’t have the farm system.
Maybe. Maybe not. A large part of this trade deadline is what I call a “Beauty Contest”. In short, there’s a whole lotta prospects vying for the attention of the judges (Washington GM Mike Rizzo is the Chief Judge).
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We simply don’t know if they have been secretly coveting some prospect or two that the Braves have.
We also don’t know if the Nationals prefer “quality” or “quantity” or both (likely both, I’d imagine). As this team’s for sale, we don’t know if their priority is to clear the books as much as possible (i.e., “we know Stephen Strasburg is an impossible ask, but please take Patrick Corbin off our hands”) or if they simply want as many prospects as they can get.
Frankly, they may not care since it won’t be their problem in another year or so… my strong suspicion is that they’d take 3 or 4 prospects and dump Corbin in along with Soto and call it a day.
Regardless, the Nationals – in general – need young pitching. The Braves have Kyle Muller and Bryce Elder toiling away at AAA. Freddy Tarnok and Tucker Davidson, too. Jared Shuster is knocking on that AAA door.
None of these guys have yet busted down the door to the majors, though, so it’s a fair question to ask: which do you prefer (I’ll paraphrase Casey Stern here)? The promise of prospects or parades down Peachtree?
Heck, all 2022 draft picks are tradeable after the next World Series, so maybe they’d prefer one of those guys just inked last week (that could be done now on a Player to be Named Later basis).
Bum deal for them to be traded like that, but it also would get them that much closer to the majors faster.
But Atlanta is fairly well set – right now and perhaps for a few more years – at the major league level. This leaves virtually no one in the minors who could be designated as “untouchable” in trade talks with anyone… especially for a superstar like Juan Soto. So let’s use these guys.