MLB Rumors: Braves trade deadline plans changing rapidly
It’s always fascinating how the needs for contenders at the MLB Trade Deadline can turn on a dime, and such is the case for the Atlanta Braves.
The team with the best record in baseball has come out of the All-Star break stumbling a bit, losing their last four games to make them a measly 1-4 since the trip to Seattle for the break. Injuries have been a story for the club all year, but the Braves have managed to weather most of them.
Starting pitching has been most notable in that regard with Max Fried and Kyle Wright missing the vasty majority of the year to this point. The former is set to make a third rehab start and could return as soon as next week. Wright, on the other hand, is coming along slower as Mark Bowman of MLB.com noted that it could be after late-August before the 20-game winner from last season returns to the bigs.
Kyle Wright will play catch off the mound on Friday and then throw some shortened bullpens early next week. If all goes well, he could begin throwing normal bullpens by the end of next week. ETA now seems to be early September.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 19, 2023
And that’s where the trade deadline plans start to shift.
With the way the Braves have been able to make their short-handed rotation work, the returns of Fried and Wright coming after the break were huge target points. Now, with Wright’s return not coming until September — which, it should be noted, is only estimated at this point — and Bryce Elder coming off of back-to-back disastrous starts, the need to fortify the rotation with another starting pitcher in a trade could be heightened greatly.
It’s going to be a tough task for Alex Anthopoulos to maneuver at the deadline as the Braves still need bullpen help too, especially with A.J. Minter and Nick Anderson recently joining Jesse Chavez and Dylan Lee on the IL. With limited trade assets, being able to acquire a mid-rotation starter and a valuable reliever could be difficult.
For the Braves to reach their World Series goals, though, it might also be necessary to figure out how to manage that and add both of those pieces at the trade deadline.