3 Braves trade targets to poach from the struggling Tigers

1. Michael Lorenzen should be one of the top Braves trade targets

The more I look at all of the pieces involved, the more I’ve convinced myself that the Atlanta Braves trade target that makes the most sense for them is veteran right-hander Michael Lorenzen, obviously of the Tigers.

Lorenzen has been a solid if unspectacular veteran in his career with seven seasons in Cincinnati before signing with the Angels in 2022 and then landing in Detroit on a one-year deal this season. But what he’s done with the Tigers has been putting together the best year of his career to this point.

Through nine starts this season, Lorenzen might only have a 2-2 record but he’s posted a 3.21 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. More importantly, after getting a late start to the season in mid-April with injuries in the spring, he’s been nails since then posting a 1.95 ERA across five starts and May and giving up just two hits and one run over 7.0 innings in his lone start for June.

On that one-year contract, he should be a player that the Tigers should be looking to sell off in order to just get something. The price will be slightly higher than it would be for Boyd just because the pitcher is simply better, but it could be worth it. Lorenzen being added to the Braves rotation to round out the back end of it would be huge.

Max Fried is coming back, but there are still some concerns about if or when Kyle Wright will be back and, if the Braves are aggressive at the trade deadline, then Jared Shuster could potentially be moved. Thus, going after someone like Lorenzen, even as a rental, would do wonders for solidifying the top five in the rotation as the Braves look to achieve their World Series goals.