We know the Braves are willing to trade almost anybody. But, having traded almost everybody, they approach the Aug. 1 deadline in an odd position: They’d love to keep selling, but the cupboard is nearly bare.
General manager John Coppolella has said he's not trading Julio Teheran and Freddie Freeman. I believe him. With those off the figurative table, what would a contender find of value among Braves? Arodys Vizcaino is on the disabled list. Ender Inciarte is more a glove guy and wouldn't fit the profile of a late-inning pinch-hitter. Jeff Francoeur might fit that bill, but only against left-handers. Erick Aybar fits no bill.
The Braves had one veteran pitcher who could slide into a decent team’s rotation, but they traded Bud Norris to the Dodgers last month. Beyond that, there’s mostly kids and retreads. (Nick Markakis is the exception. More about him momentarily.) All of which means that Aug. 1 could come and go without a team that has been selling to beat the band doing more than dispatching a LOOGY – baseball talk for Left-Handed One-Out Guy.
Reports over the weekend held that the Braves have expressed an interest in Chris Sale, the White Sox lefty in the news for having cut up his team's throwback jerseys and gotten himself suspended for five games. And the Braves should have interest in such a pitcher – he's 27 and scheduled to make $36 million over the next three full seasons, which is next to nothing for a top-end starter. Pair Sale with Teheran and you'd have one of the best tandems in baseball under contract through 2019 for less than half the price of Zack Greinke.
Trouble is, the Pale Hose are themselves sellers, and it's hard to see two sellers making such a deadline match. The asking price for Sale is believed to be at least five prospects and maybe as many as seven. We wondered a while ago if the Braves might dangle a similar basket of prospects in the attempt to pry Mike Trout from the Angels. We decided it wouldn't be worth it – because Trout is only one guy. And that was a don't-do-it for the best everyday player in the business, not a pitcher who works once every five days.
Having done all this trading to redo their farm system – and having done it with aplomb, given that analysts now rate the Braves' chain as the class of the industry – there's no way this team should pull another five-prospects-for-Mark-Teixeira deal and tear it down again. When you're 33-66, there's no pressure to claim a wild card. (Duh.) The best thing you can do is allow your lovingly assembled prospects time to mature and, when possible, add to that assemblage.
There mightn't be much addition done this next week. This is the time when out-of-it teams are seeking prospects, not shedding them. The White Sox have Sale as a lure. The Reds have Jay Bruce. The Brewers have Jonathan Lucroy. The Braves have … Markakis?
According to Baseball-Reference, he has an 0.6 WAR value this season. Contenders might want a left-handed bat for pinch-hitting, but they'd prefer a power bat. In 1,108 plate appearances as a Brave, Markakis has eight home runs. He's due to make $11 million in both 2017 and 2018, meaning he wouldn't be just a rental. It's hard to imagine them getting any organization's top 10 prospect for a guy who'd be a fourth outfielder on a good team.
The Yankees just sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs, who not long ago were on the other end of deadline dealings, selling off five seasoned starting pitchers from 2012-2014. Apart from Teheran, the Braves' starters are too young to fetch a return.
And there’s the tangle: Most of the Braves’ selling has been done, but they’re not yet ready to buy. (That could come this winter.) Don’t be surprised if their biggest deadline deal involves Ian Krol.
About the Author
