The first day of baseball’s Winter Meetings on Monday saw Braves officials fielding numerous calls from teams interested in some of their many young starting pitchers and pitching prospects. Specifically, they were trying to wrest a young hitter who can make an impact from teams interested in the Braves’ best pitchers, Shelby Miller and Julio Teheran.
Miller, who had historically poor run support during a nonetheless impressive first season with the Braves, in particular has created a buzz around baseball’s annual winter gathering/swap meet, as the price of free-agent pitchers has soared to absurd levels and some teams look to go the trade route instead for a top-shelf starter.
The Braves are known to have engaged in trade discussions Monday with at least two teams, the Cubs and Diamondbacks, both of which have at least one young hitter who intrigues the Braves — outfielder Jorge Soler and infielder Javier Baez of the Cubs, and A.J. Pollock leading a group of young Arizona outfielders. The Dodgers and Red Sox also have shown interest in Miller.
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Not just here fielding offers on pitchers, the Braves have had discussions with several free agents as they look to add a catcher — Tyler Flowers has been targeted — a right-handed hitting center fielder to split time with Michael Bourn, and possibly another versatile infielder.
So far, the Braves hadn’t received an offer good enough to convince them to pull the trigger on a deal for one of their big pitchers, but there was a growing sense among scouts and executives around the sprawling Opryland Hotel that it could happen before the Winter Meetings end Thursday.
