Dylan who? 4 more moves Braves can make for starting pitching help

All offseason long, Dylan Cease has been tied to the Atlanta Braves. The Milton, Georgia native grew up in Braves Country, drafted out of high school by the Chicago Cubs in 2014. Cease has spent his entire five-year big-league career playing for the Chicago White Sox on the South Side. Firmly in his 20s, he may be a trade target for Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos with two years of control.

Of course, the dollars have to make sense in any blockbuster trade Anthopoulos decides to make on behalf of the Atlanta franchise. Cease would look good in his hometown Braves uniform, but he could have other suitors, if the White Sox were to make him available for trade. It is why Anthopoulos may need to look at other avenues to round out the starting rotation after moving on from Kyle Wright.

Right now, Atlanta has four reliable pitchers in its rotation: The ageless Charlie Morton, the fireballer Spencer Strider, the ace Max Fried and the crafty right-hander Bryce Elder, all of whom are All-Star-level pitchers who can carry a rotation at times. However, Morton is old, Strider can be streaky, Fried has dealt with injuries and Elder cooled off considerably in the second half of his breakout season.

Should Anthopoulos want to add another pitcher besides Cease to the rotation, he will have options.

Atlanta Braves: 4 more moves to make to improve starting pitching

4. Trade for Cleveland Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber

This one is a bit of a dark horse, but I don't completely hate it. You could argue that when healthy, Shane Bieber is among the very best pitchers in all of baseball. Still on the good side of 30, the right-hander for the Cleveland Guardians could be a huge boost in the back-end of the Atlanta rotation after he finds his footing after a down year for his lofty standard. This is all about arm health issues.

Despite their penny-pinching ways, Cleveland has fielded a highly competitive baseball team for the better part of a decade now. While a World Series championship has eluded them, the Guardians are among the most consistently solid teams in the American League, year in and year out. The big question is if the Cleveland brass wants to reload a bit around their biggest star in one Jose Ramirez.

With one more year of control, Bieber could be had either this offseason, or if Cleveland fades in the hot summer sun. The idea behind trading for Bieber now is to give him enough of a reason to re-up with the Braves in free agency next winter. Better yet, it may be a sign-and-trade of sorts for Atlanta. I think a three-year deal involving Bieber could be something Anthopoulos might actually be into here.

We know the upside of Bieber as an ace pitcher, but we also know that injuries have added variance.