The Braves are about to be one of the loudest teams in the trade deadline market, and the reason is simple: they need starting pitching, badly.
If Atlanta wants to line up with the Dodgers in October, it has to find a real frontline arm to go with Chris Sale at the top of the rotation. That’s the missing piece, and without it, a deep postseason run feels like a stretch.
Tarik Skubal sits at the top of the wish list, and the price would be steep. One proposed Braves package would send AJ Smith-Shawver, John Gil and a player to be named later to Detroit.
Smith-Shawver is the kind of young, major-league-ready pitcher who should draw real interest from the Tigers, who are still hanging around the playoff race. Gil would be the sweetener in the deal, and he brings plenty of appeal of his own despite an underwhelming season so far.
His defensive range is elite, he can fly on the bases, and his power has started to show up.
Casey Mize is another Tigers arm who could be in play, and he comes with a different kind of appeal. He’s on an expiring deal, but this is not some throw-in rental.
Mize has put together a breakout year, posting a 2.70 ERA and 2.59 FIP over 16 starts. The suggested return here is JR Ritchie and Nacho Alvarez Jr.
Ritchie is already close to the majors, while Alvarez is a second-round pick from last year who just moved up to High-A Rome after hitting his 21st home run of the season. For a rental starter, that’s a strong haul.
Mize also looks like the kind of pitcher Atlanta could realistically try to keep, unlike Skubal, who would almost certainly be gone after the season.
José Soriano is the other name worth watching, and he may be the most intriguing of the group because of the contract situation. The Angels do not have to move him, since he still has two more years of affordable team control, but they could be tempted by the right offer.
Soriano has been excellent this season with a 3.29 ERA across 22 starts, and there’s a belief he could be even better in Atlanta under Braves pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. A deal for him would need to be massive, and the proposed package is exactly that: Hartman, the top prospect in the Braves organization and a top-50 overall prospect, plus JR Ritchie and Owen Murphy.
It’s a heavy price, but that’s what it takes when the target is a starter with multiple years of control.
In Other News...
Braves Make Intriguing Pitching Change Right Before Mets Doubleheader
The Braves shuffled their pitching staff on the eve of a doubleheader with the Mets, a move that brings a familiar arm back into the mix and adds another fresh option to a rotation that has been asked to do a lot. AJ Smith-Shawver has been activated for his season debut after working his way back through Gwinnett, while Elieser Hernndez has also been added to the major league roster as Atlanta tries to manage the strain of two games in one day.
The timing matters because the Braves needed a response after Connor Thomas was sent to Triple-A Gwinnett following a rough outing, and now they are hoping the new look gives them a better chance to navigate the matchup. Hernndez has offered some recent signs of stability, and Smith-Shawvers return gives Atlanta another layer of depth as it heads into a stretch where every inning can shape the rest of the week. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Fans Could Hardly Believe How Long Braves Let This Go
Connor Thomas night against the Mets quickly turned into one of those outings a team wants to forget, and the Braves never really found a way to stop the bleeding. In 2.2 innings, Thomas was tagged for 11 runs on 10 hits and issued five walks, a rough line that put Atlanta in a deep hole and left the game feeling out of hand long before the final outs were recorded.
What stood out even more was how long the Braves stayed with him. Rather than turning to more bullpen arms, they let Thomas keep going until his pitch count reached 78, a decision that only added to the frustration around the outing. For a club trying to piece together innings, it was the kind of night that raises questions about workload, damage control and how quickly Atlanta can move on from a performance like this. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Cannot Afford These Deadline Mistakes Again
As the Braves look toward the trade deadline, the temptation is always to chase the biggest name or the flashiest fit. But this is one of those stretches where Atlanta has to be careful not to spend prospect capital on players who look more appealing in theory than they do in the context of this roster, especially with bigger needs still sitting elsewhere on the club.
That caution applies across a few different lanes, from Brandon Moniaks Coors Field-driven production to the kind of premium price a reliever like Mason Miller would command. It also extends to the infield and rotation, where shortstop depth makes a move there less urgent and a starter like Brady Singer would not move the needle enough to justify the cost, leaving the Braves with a simple but important task: avoid the wrong kind of upgrade. [Read more 🡒]