The Atlanta Braves need starting pitching. They don't have a strong farm system to trade for a quality starter. So... what can they do?
They could venture into the free agency market. While the 2023-2024 free agent pool is relatively weak, there are still starters like Aaron Nola, Jordan Montgomery, and Sonny Gray who could be excellent additions to the rotation.
Or you can trade two of your star players under incredibly team-friendly deals in a package for a starter with less team control and is more expensive.
Most rational fans would quickly recognize the absurdity of the idea, but Jeff Schultz of the Athletic thought it was something worth considering when he floated it in his most recent article. Of course, he said he "leaned" towards not trading either of them, but I leaned towards eating at home to save money before I spent $40 at Alamo Drafthouse the other day.
Here's my view of Michael Harris II since this is getting a lot of attention. Great outfielder. Great guy. Atlanta native. Hitting, we'll see. I wrote I lean toward NOT trading. But if he could be part of deal for quality SP they'd have to look at it. https://t.co/ER5y7mgndS
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) November 9, 2023
Instead of completely shunning the idea of trading Albies or Harris, let's look at some trades for starting pitching involving the two Braves players since Schultz refuses to mention which "high-quality starters" are worth the Braves trading them for.
(Spoiler: they're really ugly for Atlanta.)