Atlanta Braves Trade Deadline Preview
Things are not good in Atlanta right now. The Atlanta Braves have one of the worst records in the league, fired their manager one quarter of the way into the season and have a lack of pieces to build around on their major league roster. But what can they do to change their fortunes at the trade deadline?
The Atlanta Braves are in the early stages of a complete rebuild. They do have a few young talented starting pitchers in Matt Wisler, Aaron Blair and Mike Foltynewicz, with the likes of Sean Newcomb, Touki Touissaint and Kolby Allard waiting in the minor leagues. The club also made a spectacular deal this past offseason to get 2015 number one overall pick, Dansby Swanson, from Arizona by trading away starter Shelby Miller. However, their young pitchers do need more seasoning and they need to get much better offensively if they hope to be competitive in the near future.
The Braves will no doubt be sellers this summer, just as they’ve been the past few seasons. In fact, the team has already made two fairly impactful trades recently.
Atlanta dealt reliever Jason Grilli to the Blue Jays and took on the salary of Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz in order to get their hands on the 75th pick in the draft, which will give them more flexibility on how they can spend on the players they select.
Even though the Braves have traded some valuable pieces in recent seasons, there are still some possible trade chips on their roster, including a few players that will be able to bring back more than a decent return. This is not to say that Atlanta will definitely be selling all the players that they can, but they should be willing to listen on pretty much everyone (excluding Freddie Freeman) because the club is so far away from competing.
The Braves will be making trades as July creeps ever closer and teams start to become more willing to make moves. But they should value their trade bait highly because they need to start accumulating talent for the next great Atlanta teams, and you can’t do that when you keep trading players that you could build around as they’ve done in recent years.
Next: Bench Guys
OF Jeff Francoeur and 2B Kelly Johnson
Not every player that will be traded close to the deadline will be a starting caliber piece. Francoeur may not be a starting left fielder like he is for the Braves, but he could be a nice asset off the bench for a national league team. The 32 year-old is putting up solid numbers this season as well.
Currently, Francoeur has a .278 bating average with a .309 on-base percentage. He has only hit two long balls in 2016, but he did reach double digits last season. He also will be able to provide veteran leadership and be able to fill an outfield spot admirably if there is a prolonged injury. There are many clubs that need help in the outfield, including the San Francisco Giants, who just lost Hunter Pence for eight weeks. Francoeur seems like he could possibly fit there, or any other National League team that may suffer from injuries to their outfield.
Kelly Johnson was a much more valuable trade piece last offseason when he was dealt to the Mets, along with Juan Uribe, for their playoff push. The 34 year-old infielder is hitting just .220 thus far and only has one home run to his credit. However, he does have somewhat of a productive track record in the major leagues and is able to play many positions on the baseball field. This year, Johnson is spending most of his time at second base, but in his career, he has also seen action at first, third and the corner outfield spots. A national league team may value his versatility and want to add him to their major league roster. Johnson won’t fetch much in a deal, but he won’t do much for the struggling Atlanta Braves at this point of his career.
Next: A veteran right fielder
There has been some recent trade speculation regarding the veteran right fielder this past week, as the Royals and Phillies were rumored to have contacted the Braves about the availability of their 32 year-old hitter.
Since then, the Phillies have fallen off drastically and the Royals have been surging with Paulo Orlando being a pleasant surprise in right field for the defending champs. But even so, Markakis will still be a name that is floated around as the trade deadline nears.
While there are things to like about adding a player like Markakis into the fold, there is also a fair about of baggage.
First off, the Braves still owe the right fielder $22 million in 2017 and 2018, along with a team having to pay out the rest of his salary for this year. However, large contracts can normally be traded if the other club kicks in some money to help facilitate the deal. This will most likely have to happen if the Braves want to get value for Markakis.
His decrease in power should also be concerning to interested teams. In his prime, Markakis would average home run totals in the mid teens to low 20’s, but for the past two seasons, he has had difficulty hitting the ball out of the yard. Markakis hit a total of three home runs in 2015 and only has one to his credit this season. His averaged has also dipped as well, but surrounding Markakis with protection in the lineup should help boost that number up a bit.
The money and drop off in homers is a serious concern that interested ball clubs must weigh when negotiating a trade, but adding a proven hitter like Markakis to a lineup would certainly help any outfield needy team.
Next: The bullpen pieces
Relief Pitchers Arodys Vizcaino and Alexi Ogando
Arodys Vizcaino has been one of the better stories for the Braves so far this season. He appeared in only 25 games last year and was dominant, pitching to an earned run average of 1.60 and averaging about a strikeout per appearance.
It seems that last season was a good precursor for his performance in 2016 as Vizcaino has been dominant in the closer role for the Braves.
With an ERA that currently sits at 1.59 and a strikeout rate that is over 13 per nine innings, the 25 year-old is truly dominating when he goes out to the mound. Being so young and not accumulating a lot of service time makes him controllable for the next five seasons.
While this is good for Atlanta, it also means that teams will have to pony up if they expect to land a trade chip as valuable as this late inning reliever. Vizcaino could probably close on a lot of teams, and looking at the Ken Giles deal shows that clubs will give up significant value for young controllable relief pitchers.
Atlanta should only be expected to trade their closer if a team makes them an offer on par with the one Houston gave to the Phillies. It may be expecting a lot, but the Braves need to accumulate talent, and simply selling Vizcaino for what you can get would just be exacerbating the problem.
The team can be much less tough with a possible Alexi Ogando trade because even though he is performing well at the major league level, he will also be a free agent at the end of this season. This makes the 32 year-old reliever very likely to be traded before the August 1 deadline.
Next: The Ace
Unless a team comes out of nowhere to make an ace available, Julio Teheran will probably be the most sought after starting pitcher on the trade market. But that’s not to say that the Braves will definitely be dealing their young ace.
At just 25 years old and still having five years left of control, Teheran would be valuable to pretty much any club in the MLB and Atlanta know’s this.
Just recently, Braves general manger John Coppolella addressed the rumors regarding the availability of their starting pitcher.
“The days of us trading players like Teheran for prospects are over. We need to get better at the major league level. We would have to be overwhelmed to move Teheran.”
However, overwhelmed does not mean untouchable and there are certainly some clubs out there that will be able to provide the Braves with quality offers. But what is Atlanta specifically looking for in return?
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Coppolella went onto say that the team will only deal Teheran if they get “a hitter of comparable quality and age” in return.
Like every year there are plenty of teams that need starting pitching and this season is no exception. But when surveying the league, what teams that need starting pitching have the arsenal to meet the Braves’ asking price?
One club that particularly jumps out to me is the Boston Red Sox. With David Price struggling and the rest of their rotation outside of surprise Steven Wright not performing well, Boston has a clear need for one of maybe two quality starters.
The Red Sox also have young hitting talent like Travis Shaw, Andrew Benintendi, Yoan Moncada, Rafael Devers and even the disappointing Rusney Castillo. Boston would be foolish to give away some of the hitters straight up for Teheran, but there is a deal to be worked out here, especially because Boston will not be able to play all of these guys at the same time.
The Braves will have no shortage of suitors of Teheran, but they need to make sure that they get equal talent in return and not just sell for the sake of selling. If Atlanta can do that, they will take another step toward completing their long rebuilding process.
(Quotes from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports)
Next: Blue Jays Trade Deadline Overview
What do you think the Braves are going to deal as they trade deadline draws closer? Let us know in the comments below.