The short-term benefit of acquiring a starting pitcher through trade this offseason could not outweigh the long-term costs for the Atlanta Braves.
You always have to worry about whether a large move you make that sends off your brightest prospects will come back to haunt you. Thinking about the amount they gave up for Mark Teixeira still bothers some Braves. The J.D. Drew trade, which brought Hall of Fame pitcher Adam Wainwright to the St. Louis Cardinals, is another story entirely.
And while we now reflect on what we lost, some people overlook the fact that J.D. Drew led the Braves to the postseason in 2004 with a season akin to MVP.
Tex spent portions of two seasons with the Braves, where he posted a.943 OPS. Sadly, he was sold for Casey Kotchman at the 2008 trade deadline after failing to lead the team to the postseason in 2007.
The Braves are confronted with the age-old conundrum that many general managers encounter: do they prioritize building for the future over short-term gain? The Braves are in dire need of assistance in the starting rotation both now and after the 2024 season.
The Braves should be ready to throw everything on the line because they are clearly in a position to win.
However, it goes a little further than that in terms of the first rotation.
Due to their extreme volatility, there’s a good chance that if you traded for a Corbin Burnes or Dylan Cease, you might
The Braves should be ready to throw everything on the line because they are clearly in a position to win.
However, it delves a little further into the first rotation than
Pitchers are so erratic that there’s a good chance you might get very little out of them and lose them in a year or two if you traded for a Corbin Burnes or Dylan Cease.
Hurston Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver would probably need to be sent in exchange for one of those starters if the Braves were to acquire one of them. These are the two best pitching prospects for the Braves; they have already reached the upper levels and are poised to have a significant impact in the major leagues.
Additionally, the tops of the rotation arms on both of them have rather high ceilings. The Braves haven’t had players in their system quite like this in a while, so it’s been a while since then.
Naturally, my controversial statement about pitchers still applies to pitching prospects. It is not a given that Waldrep or Smith-Shawver will realize their full potential.
However, there’s also a chance that one or both of them could produce work comparable to what you might receive from Burnes or Cease right now in a year or two.
Should you be unable to acquire a starter and secure their services, as the Dodgers recently accomplished with Tyler Glasnow, you will find yourself back in the
The Braves have Max Fried and Spencer Strider at the top of their rotation for 2024. It is not as necessary to make a move for a frontline starter as it will be after 2024.
Perhaps it would be more sensible to let Waldrep and Smith-Shawver
develop further in 2024—along with Bryce Elder, Darius Vines, Huascar Ynoa, and Ian Anderson, among others—and then reevaluate at the deadline.
If two of those players unexpectedly emerge ready to replace Fried and Charlie Morton after 2024, the rotation will be in much better shape.
But in the event that it doesn’t, you’re essentially forced to depart.find and prepare to spend a lot of money in the upcoming offseason, when there should be a number of quality free agent starters available, or make a significant in-season deal.
Right now, pitching free agency costs are so high that it appears like Alex Anthopoulos would be better off making a trade.
He must also think about if the players he is trading for could be just as excellent as the player he is trading for in a year or two, in addition to weighing those moves and who he might have to give up.
One of the greatest at balancing the present and the future is Anthopoulos. Not a single prospect he has traded has ever returned to hurt the Braves.
This is potentially the first time we see moving Smith-Shawver and/or Waldrep, which emphasizes the importance of the following move even more.
Significant Braves Offseason Tales for Today
MLB Free Agent Rankings for 2023
Atlanta Braves prospect rankings as of right now
Atlanta Braves’ current 40-man roster
Important dates during the Atlanta Braves’ offseason Projecting the arbitration pay for the Atlanta Braves in 2024
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