The Braves fell in terrible ways Friday night and are currently 8.5 games down in the NL East.
With the All-Star break approaching, the focus will be on the trade deadline and what Alex Anthopoulos plans to do to improve the roster in the coming weeks.
This is the second installment of a brief series in which I spotlight particular trade targets suggested by CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson as potential suitors for the Braves, this time focusing on a veteran starter and former All-Star who might help strengthen the rotation for the second half of the season. Below are previous works from the series.
Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers
Bo Bichette, SS, Blue Jays
Zach Eflin, RHP, Rays
Nathan Eovaldi, RHP, Rangers
The Braves do not have a clear need for a starter, who are famously expensive around the trade deadline. Reynaldo Lopez and Chris Sale were the club’s two starting for the All-Star Game. While Max Fried is putting in another elite-level performance that will almost certainly give him Cy Young honors at the conclusion of the season, the remainder of the rotation is also holding its own.
Spencer Schwellenbach has performed so well that he may eventually push Charlie Morton, the league’s most experienced fourth starter, down the rotation. Ian Anderson and AJ Smith-Shawver are returning from injury, and Bryce Elder has proven to be a reliable backup.
With that said, the Braves understand better than others that there is never enough pitching. They’ve been short-handed at various stages during the previous three postseasons. Furthermore, the rotation’s future is uncertain, with Max Fried poised to enter free agency and Charlie Morton expected to retire. Those are some major voids to fill, but Nathan Eovaldi is not a target that indicates the Braves are looking ahead.
The 34-year-old is expected to hit free agency next winter, but he does have a $20 million vesting option in 2025 that may be activated if he stays healthy in the second half of the season.
Eovaldi is already a playoff icon, having helped two clubs win World Series championships, including the Rangers last season. He’s making $16 million this year and has a 3.10 ERA and an amazing 1.034 WHIP. In the playoffs, he had a 3.05 ERA over roughly 80.0 innings. Eovaldi and current Braves ace Chris Sale helped the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series.
Might we see a reunion of Sale and Eovaldi in Atlanta?