A Braves reunion with Kevin Gausman would fit the deadline almost too neatly.
Atlanta is chasing rotation help, and with starting pitchers expected to move before the trade deadline, Alex Anthopoulos has a chance to land at least one arm that can matter in October. The bigger question is how aggressive he wants to get.
Tarik Skubal has been connected to the Braves for months, but a costly rental has never really matched Anthopoulos’ approach. The Angels could dangle a pair of frontline starters with multiple years of control, though that kind of deal would likely ask Atlanta to give up prospects it may prefer to keep.
That leaves a wide range of possibilities, and one of the cleanest fits is Kevin Gausman. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden called him the perfect trade candidate for Atlanta.
“The Braves are looking for a starting pitcher who can start a playoff game and if the Blue Jays decide to sell, then the impending free agent Gausman, with his postseason experience, would be a realistic target,” Bowden writes. “He’s pitched for four different teams in the playoffs (including Atlanta in 2018) and carries a 3.83 ERA in 56 1/3 postseason innings.
He’s probably a Game 3 or 4 starter at this stage of his career, but he’d improve the Atlanta playoff rotation. The Braves are not on his eight-team no-trade list.”
Toronto’s direction is still unsettled. The Blue Jays are sitting in last place in the AL East, but they were one game short of the World Series a year ago, and being six games out of a Wild Card spot with two months left still leaves room for a push. Even so, a sell-off looks like the likelier path right now, which puts Gausman squarely on the board.
He’s in the final year of his contract, so the price tag should be manageable, especially since this hasn’t been his sharpest season. Through 21 starts, he owns a 4.51 ERA. But the underlying numbers tell a different story: his 3.68 FIP and other peripherals point to some bad luck, and he was excellent during Toronto’s playoff run last season.
There’s also the Atlanta connection, and that matters here. Gausman came to the Braves from the Orioles at the 2018 deadline, which, as it happens, was the last time Anthopoulos made a major midseason move for a starter.
His stint in Atlanta wasn’t especially memorable. The better years came later with the Giants and Blue Jays, when he turned into a regular Cy Young contender. Still, there doesn’t seem to be any friction between the sides, and Atlanta isn’t on his eight-team no-trade list.
That’s why this idea keeps circling back with so much force. Gausman has the postseason track record, the Braves know him, and the acquisition cost shouldn’t be prohibitive. For a front office looking for the right kind of starter rather than just any starter, he looks like a very natural answer.
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