MLB Rumors: Braves-Cardinals trade match, Yankees-Twins trade, Marcus Stroman latest

MLB Rumors: Braves have perfect trade match with Cardinals

Before the season began, if you had to consider the notion of the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals making a deadline trade with one another that it would be one contender helping out another. Instead, it’s one contender looking to make the roster even stronger with the help of a team that is seemingly all the way out of the mix at this point.

The Braves are still surging as perhaps the best team in the National League while the Cardinals are at the bottom of the NL Central and have seemingly no light to chase at the end of the tunnel. As such, they are likely to sell at the trade deadline to help better set up their future, particularly when it comes to pitching.

And that’s where the Braves can come in, because the Cardinals have everything that Atlanta is likely looking for.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic (subscription required) revealed a Top 100 trade deadline big board this week and there are plenty of Cardinals. Notably, though, starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, outfielders Dylan Carlson, Lars Nootbaar, and Alec Burleson, and do-it-all threats Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan were all mentioned as possibilities to be dealt. And they would all fit what the Braves need.

Obviously, there are varying levels of costs that the Braves would have to pay in any of these trades, but all are viable options for a team trending toward competing for the second World Series win in three seasons.

More importantly, the Braves could help the Cardinals, a club with almost no viable starting pitching under contract beyond this year, by dangling the likes of Dylan Dodd or even Jared Shuster in a trade, both of whom have flashed already at the big-league level and have a ton of club control remaining on their deals. Moreover, players like Vaughn Grissom could also fit into the mix too.

In any case, it would be shocking to see the Braves and Cardinals not make some sort of deal. The fits are too obvious with them as deadline dance partners for that to end up not being the case.