Braves Rumors: Trade targets, Raisel Iglesias breakdown, Max Fried’s future

Atlanta Braves Rumors: News and notes on trade targets

It’s still relatively early in the process, so it’s tough to narrow down too many trade targets for any contender right now. However, some teams have already received trade calls on their star players, including the Royals and Athletics. Others, like the Chicago White Sox, are holding on to what little hope they have left of contending this season, but are most likely sellers in the weeks to come. Even the St. Louis Cardinals, previously thought a National League contender, are among the worst teams in baseball.

With that in mind, the Braves are an obvious buyer in need of starting pitching and outfield help. Even the bullpen, which blew an opportunity last night thanks to Iglesias, could use some work. Here’s the latest on a couple of potential targets:

Brent Rooker has been one of the better outfielders in all of baseball, and is the favorite to represent the A’s in Seattle at the All-Star Game. FanSided’s Cody Williams considers Rooker a good fit in Atlanta, a team Oakland has plenty of experience trading with:

"“Though 29 games this season for the Athletics, Rooker has been a monster, hitting .319 and leading all of baseball with a 1.122 OPS on the season. He’s already hit 10 home runs with 26 RBI and has a solid strikeout-to-walk ratio of 27-19 to begin the year as well. Given that Rooker plays the exact same position and split as Ozuna and hits on the right side of the plate, this would make a massive amount of sense for the Braves in terms of their need.”"

Aroldis Chapman is arguably the best relief pitcher on the market right now, and the Royals have already received some calls on him, per Ken Rosenthal. Should Atlanta make a move considering Iglesias’ injury problems and some struggles from A.J. Minter and Joe Jimenez? Williams, once again, thinks that could be worth a call:

"“If Atlanta were to find a deal that only cost a modest amount in a trade for Chapman, it would be advantageous to have the veteran southpaw hurling out of the bullpen to deepen it. It’s likely that the Braves look to roll with a number of bullpen games while they deal with injuries to starters, which means that depth, quality depth especially, is crucial. So landing Chapman to join A.J. Minter, Raisel Iglesias and Tyler Matzek (when he returns from the IL) would be huge for that.”"

The starting pitching market is a little more barren right now, with White Sox pitchers Dylan Cease and Mike Clevinger as the best on the market. Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff of the Brewers are attractive, as well, but there’s no guarantee Milwaukee will sell either for less than an arm and a leg.