The Braves are still looking at trading for an ace even after adding Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia to their rotation this winter and are specifically focused on White Sox lefty Chris Sale and Rays right-hander Chris Archer, per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (all Twitter links). The Braves prefer Sale to Archer despite the potentially higher asking price and shorter amount of club control remaining on his contract, Crasnick adds. Atlanta is receiving quite a bit of interest in top prospect Ozzie Albies (in general and not specifically from the White Sox or Rays), Crasnick adds, but they’re expressing a good deal of reluctance to part with him. The Braves don’t seem especially enamored of Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray on the heels of a down season in 2016, according to Crasnick.
Some more trade chatter from around the league…
- The Tigers have been receiving plenty of calls about their veterans as they look to get younger and cut some payroll this winter, but MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets one name that has been drawing considerable interest without generating many headlines: lefty reliever Justin Wilson. Per Morosi, Detroit has “perhaps the largest number of inquiries” on Wilson as teams look to bolster their left-handed relief corps. The arbitration-eligible Wilson is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn just $2.7MM next season, so he wouldn’t trim much payroll of the Tigers’ books. But, he could certainly fetch a nice prospect or two, allowing the Tigers to get a bit younger in the process. Wilson, 29, posted excellent peripherals that suggest his marginal 4.14 ERA will improve in 2017 and beyond (10.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 54.9 percent ground-ball rate, 3.02 SIERA).
- Morosi also tweets that the Phillies are seeking a short-term outfield bat and have inquired with the Tigers about J.D. Martinez, but talks didn’t advance much, he notes. Martinez has been one of the most talked-about trade candidates of the offseason and seems to have a decent chance of landing elsewhere this winter, but the asking price on him is apparently quite high at the moment. Newsday’s Marc Carig reported yesterday that Michael Conforto’s name came up in talks with the Mets before New York re-signed Yoenis Cespedes. (Unsurprisingly, talks died quickly once Detroit mentioned Conforto, per Carig.)
- The Brewers are trying to trade recently-designated-for-assignment slugger Chris Carter before tonight’s 8pm ET non-tender deadline tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The Orioles, who just claimed a player with a potentially similar skill set in Adam Walker, aren’t likely to make a play for Carter, per Heyman (whose tweet came prior to the Walker claim). Carter’s current scenario is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s Mark Trumbo situation, as he’s a player with prodigious power that the league isn’t valuing at his arbitration number due to defensive concerns, high strikeout tendencies and a questionable on-base percentage. The Mariners were able to get a nominal return for Trumbo rather than non-tendering him, but MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets that Milwaukee shopped Carter around for a month before designating him, so it seems unlikely that a trade will materialize in the next six hours.
What could the Tigers get in return for Martinez from the Phillies?
Since they’re looking for MLB-ready prospects and they asked for Conforto from the Mets, could they ask for Nick Williams? He’s a left-handed hitting outfielder and seems to fit what the Tigers are looking for
Probably some combo of Cozens, Williams, Lively, Pivetta, Knapp, Hoskins along with some kind of lower level guy like Randolph, Kilome, Medina, etc.
Mark Appel hahahahahaha
So get Sale or Archer, trade Bartolo and Jaime at deadline and replenish the coffers with one legitimate prospect per trade instead of hail Marys.
If not competing next year also look to trade Teheran and his years left. Assuming they have Archer (I said assume) the years and value of his contract will substitute for the loss of Teheran. Still have Allard or Newcombe in the wings (assuming one or both hadn’t been traded for Archer, Sale etc). The haul for Teheran will make up the difference in the minors for what the FO spent on the above-mentioned. I didn’t say equal but it would still keep the farm in the top half of the league
No ones giving legitimate prospects for those guys
Of course they are. It happens every year… Trade deadline isn’t some mythical beast that urban legends are built around….
It happens every year with guys posting better numbers and/or are younger. Colon might get a team’s prospect in the 6-15 range depending on his numbers, health, and value of the prospect. But another Colon like season probably gets a prospect in the 10-15 range. Garcia, if healthy, could also net a prospect in that same range as Colon (6-15). Deadline rental deals do happen, but don’t expect a team’s top prospect for Colon/Garcia.
Not if they have a really good year
You should be our gm… Actually not even worth the troll haha. If we were acquiring a front line starter we wouldnt have traded for garcia. Hart already said we never traded names for sale. Garcia’s salary isnt insignificant. And trading three aging starting pitchers for 3 top ten org prospects is beyond improbable. im on board with trading teheran and more so with freeman. Rebuilding requires total commitment. We already dropped our draft spots for a few meaningless wins on the last few days.
Ps if dansby is required for a front line starter then so be it. Albies can always go back to SS.
Trade Teheran??? The rebuild is over.. its now time to start putting a team together. Trade Albies, Allard, Soroka and two 10-15 prospects for Sale/Archer. Keep Teheran (he is a legitimate #2.. Sign Wellington Castillo and release Rekker. Give Rio Ruiz a shot at 3b and if possible trade Markakis at/before deadline so Mallex gets in the lineup.
I’m beginning to think Carter may be becoming a bit under-rated in the baseball community, Obviously he is not a great hitter, K’s a ton and their is no defence for his defence. But he’s got a ton of power and though his OBP doesn’t properly reflect it, he’s actually pretty solid at getting on base and has posted above average BB rates each year since 2012. In fact, among all 1st baseman since 2010, he ranks 18th in BB% with at least 1000 PA. In 2016, he ranked 20th in all of baseball with an 11.8% BB rate(11th among 1B). Surprisingly enough, he posted a better BB rate than Miggy, A-Gon, Rizzo, Myers and HanRam.
Again, not saying he’s amazing in any sense(other than power) but teams could and generally do end up doing worse than Chris Carter.
From 2010 to 2016, Chris Carter accumulated less than 4 WAR. TOTAL. You only used 1,000 plate appearances in your threshold over the course of 7 seasons? That’s only 1.5 seasons worth of at bats. Up it to 2,500, which still isn’t much, and he is something like 29th in value. .314 OBP. Less than 4 accumulated WAR. That’s awful. He won’t be undervalued because he has no value!
I used 1000 PA because that’s the minimum threshold FanGraphs uses when ranking players by decade. At 2500 PA, Carter ranks 12th among first basemen in BB% since 2010, ahead of Edwin Encarnacion, Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rizzo, Chris Davis, Albert Pujols, etc. All I was really saying was that his OBP doesn’t really tell the full story because he does in fact reach base fairly consistently despite the low OBP numbers.
I feel if he can get himself into a similar situation that Edwin Encarnacion found himself in back in 2010/2011, he may be able to turn himself into a slightly more well rounded slugger(ie play mostly DH, focus purely on hitting, etc).
Those two statements are literally not compatible. His OBP is low but he does reach base? No. That’s not how it works.
Dshire54,
Carter drew 76 walks last season. His OBP was .321 which is close to league average. That’s not low for a guy with a .222 BA. The statement was correct,
I agree with you Doc. I’m a Brewer fan who was skeptical when the Brewers signed him last year, but I was pleasantly surprised. When you smack 41 HR and 27 doubles, you can live with the strikeouts. He was a threat every time he stepped into the batter’s box. Defensively, he wasn’t nearly as bad as his reputation either. His range is limited but his hands are decent and he’s nimble enough.
Brewers really like their OF but they needed a LH bat badly in the middle of the order, so 1B was a logical spot so Carter was expendable but somebody’s going to be happy they got him. I would think the Rockies would be all over him.
Braves need to forget the ace unless they are in a 3 team trade and getting a C/3B young bat and sending pitching to the sox to supplement. Let the young guys get seasoning, trade the vets at the deadline and start going hard next offseason.
There’s still plenty of C/3B options available, and a platoon of Garcia/Rodriguez still would be an upgrade from 2016. If you can trade for an ace, you trade for an ace. Coppy/Hart and Co. know the players well enough to who to hold onto and who they can let go. Albies would hurt, but Travis Demeritte looks like a nice consolation prize, if they do part with him.
Don’t agree at all. If that ace gets hurt between now and when you are really ready to contend,your investment could be ruined. Also what catcher options are available that are considered good options? What 3B is available that would be good? Turner? Good luck affording him if we get Sale.
If you trade the farm now, you go from setting yourself up for years of competitive baseball to all in for 2-3 years. If the braves get Sale they will be all in. If we wanted that, then they should have made the kimbrel/upton and Chris Johnson trade called it good and went all in on free agency last year.
I think they will be decent now. I think Sale is the right player at the wrong time.
While I certainly think that Sale or Archer would be a nice addition to the Braves rotation, I definitely don’t want to see Albies dealt (even though I realize that if a deal is made for one of the two he likely is included).
While Albies lacks the power (and the size) of Moncada, I don’t think that most people realize that Albies has equal or better tools in every other category as well as being almost two years younger (Albies turns 20 in January). Albies is one of the ultra rare prospects that if you squint really hard that you can say IF he is legitimately close to projections that he could register 3000 hits in a big league uniform. As a projected leadoff/two hitter with good batting average it would not be out of the question for him to get sufficient at-bats each season to rack up over 150 hits a season (well more in his prime). As projected to be an above average defensive player in the middle infield even once his speed starts to slide age wise it is not impossible that Albies would still be a key regular player (especially if his on-base ability via walks ages well) later into his life than many other speed first players. All of these things give him a real (admittedly small) chance of having a special career. The truth is very few players ever have ANY chance to do those sorts of things because they lack either the young age, the chance for at-bats because of splits or poor defense.
Of course Albies future projections might not have as much value to some teams as what he is over the next three seasons (when admittedly he will still be very young). I just don’t think however that giving him up now for three years of an ace would impact the organization as much as having Albies controlled for 6 seasons (longer if you don’t bring him up right away).
Perhaps I’d be more willing to part with Albies if I was more convinced about the Braves offensive line-up. I know they scored a good bit of runs in the 2nd half of 2016, but I’m not 100% convinced all of that is for real.
I would not and I repeat I would not trade Albies. I would let those two develop and be one of the best dp combos in mlb
Why? Trading for an ace now makes no sense. You are wasting at least 1 year of the value you are trading for by putting him on a team that isn’t really competing.
Interesting that Philly would look at JD, I was under the impression their rebuild was still about a year off from serious contention.
That said, JD would really mash in the tiny park.
same. maybe that’s why talks didn’t progress very far
Why would anyone trade anything for carter? He’s going to be nontendered and an interested team could just sign him.
What could the Rays get in return for Archer?
Probably wouldn’t answer the call unless it started with two top three prospects.
Similar to Sale. Multiple top 25-30 type prospects plus others in the top 100-150 range.
If i am the Braves I would stand pat, I think they have enough to compete, let our kids grow
Compete for last place I would presume.
Something I’ve haven’t really thought about, the NL East could be stacked next year. Braves and Phillies are coming out of rebuilds and adding. Mets are strong and just resigned Cespedes, Nats sound like they are going all in after years of being on the cusp. Marlins are the usual Marlins. Unfortunately the are set back pretty bad by an unfortunate passing, but it could be a very strong division. (Finally)
Toronto should give Carter a shot. Bautista and Encarnacion weren’t stars until they got with the Blue Jaays.
st louis should send wainwright to atlanta for their centerfielder
Wainwright will retire a Cardinal. Both him and the organization want that. And, it’s a classy organization that will respect his wishes. The fan base might go ballistic if that happened. In my opinion as a 50 year old Cardinal fan.
Pujols?
This reminds me of Wren when he kept saying he will acquire an ace, and then gets a mid to low tier guy aka Paul Maholm aka yesterdays trade for Garcia. Coppy no different!
I remember Braves fans crying about trading Sims back in the day and like others, just another overrated prospect like majority of Braves prospects.
I hope they trade for Sale but wishful thinking says try not to trade Ozzie. Anyone else but Ozzy…and no stop throwing Dansby in there.
I’m on the same boat as you. Don’t give up Swanson or Ozzie for Sale. I feel like our talent is deep enough to make that happen. If not sale, definitely archer. Archer is a bit overrated anyways… not saying he’s bad, just not as good as people make out.
I’d rather go for Gray. Will probably cost less than Archer. I don’t like Archer anyway!
Zero chance a Sale trade happens without Albies or Swanson in the deal
The key will be when the Braves trade Garcia to the Diamondbacks.
By July 31 st at least one of Dickey, Colon or Garcia will be moved for Newcomb. Wisler and Blair will be taking some more time in the minors to develop.
The Braves focus now will be on the catcher position. I feel if the Cubs aren’t willing to move Montero then I would just assume sign Avila for a year and then go hard for LuCroy next off season.
I would like a trade for Reece Mcguire and see for a year if we think he could be the catcher of the future and if not make that run at LuCroy next year.
I think 3B is fine with a platoon of Ruiz & Garcia. I could see the Braves standing pat this year trade the old men at the deadline and making a run at Verlander next year to be our ace.