Absurd proposed Braves trade would be ludicrous for Atlanta

Losing Dansby Swanson has seemingly inspired one of the worst possible proposed Braves trades that you can imagine. 

The Atlanta Braves didn’t have the offseason they’d hoped for, most notably losing shortstop and hometown favorite Dansby Swanson to the Chicago Cubs. But the organization, though they’ll miss Swanson, doesn’t seem too worried about the future. Vaughn Grissom is working to fill in at the position after his call-up this past season and the core of the roster is still locked up and intact.

While the front office might not be worried, though, that hasn’t stopped some people from cooking up some potential Braves trades. And there’s one three-team deal that is just beyond comprehension.

Proposed by Will Laws of SI, it’d be hard to think of a deal that would help Atlanta less than this one that would have the club sending away the best players in the trade while getting very little return.

Proposed Braves trade would be a disaster for Atlanta

Here’s a look at the three-team trade proposed that would involve the Braves, Giants and Rockies. And it’s a doozie.

Just looking at the Braves side of things here, it’s hard to see in what world this trade helps them. Though they are strict with their financials, the most valuable thing they are getting in this proposed trade is cash considerations.

Brandon Crawford might be able to play shortstop now that Swanson is gone, but he’s also a 35-year-old whose performance declined drastically with the Giants last season. Meanwhile, they’d be landing Germán Marquez while trading away Mike Soroka. Though injuries have kept Soroka off the field in the past two seasons, he showed signs of being a stud when healthy.

Yes, Marquez’s performance has been skewed by playing home games at Coors Field, but the truth is he’s still not been a stud outside of Denver while being two years older than Soroka and posting a 4.95 ERA last season and having a worse ERA in each of the past two seasons.

On top of that, the Braves would also be trading away Travis d’Arnaud, which is no doubt a reaction to trading for Sean Murphy. But Alex Anthopoulos and Atlanta have been clear that they still want to platoon their catchers, so that makes no sense for them.

And if we’re being honest, the deal also makes little sense for the Giants as they trade away one of their brightest young prospects in Joey Bart to upgrade now at catcher (granted, this was proposed when it appeared Carlos Correa was coming to San Francisco). The Rockies would make out like bandits, so at least one team gets better in this deal, I guess?

In the world of fake trade ideas, though, you at least have to make it make sense. This is not that, particularly for the Braves, who would be giving away arguably the two best players in the trade (d’Arnaud and Soroka) to fill a short-term void at shortstop when Vaughn Grissom is already in the majors and working to do the same.