Should The Atlanta Braves Explore the Chicago White Sox Clearance Sale for Keynan Middleton?

The Atlanta Braves will be active ahead of the trade deadline and one option could be Keynan Middleton of the Chicago White Sox.

Middleton signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox and will net them a solid prospect in return. A big win for a team that is in desperate need of a rebuild.

They have finally committed to the sell-off as well. They have already traded Joe Kelly, Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Kendall Graveman. They still have names like Middleton, Liam Hendriks, Gregory Santos, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, and Dylan Cease that could make sense as trade pieces.

The most likely candidate is Middleton and that will be who we focus on right now. There is reasons to keep everyone else on the list, but as we mentioned earlier, Middleton was signed to a minor league deal before the season and will be a free agent at year's end. No reason not to get something for him.

Through 35.1 innings, Middleton has a 3.82 ERA, 4.23 xERA, 4.70 FIP, 3.27 xFIP, and 3.30 SIERA. This incldues striking out 30.7% of batters. In 2022, Middleton only threw 17 innings with a 5.29 ERA, 5.38 xERA, 5.88 FIP, 4.23 xFIP, and 3.68 SIERA while only striking out 21.7% of batters.

Teams will always look to strengthen their bullpens at the trade deadline. The Braves have already added two bullpen arms in Pierce Johnson and Taylor Hearn. It might make sense to add another.

However, I am not a huge fan of adding Middleton as I think Johnson already serves the role Middleton would fit in with the Braves. Personally, if the Braves added another reliever, I would want more of a surefire backend guy. Someone like Jordan Hicks, Josh Hader, Paul Sewald, or someone of that caliber.

The Braves biggest issue, as we know, will be their prospect capital might make it tough to go get one of those guys. We will see what the Braves cook up before the deadline.