August 3, 2022
The Trade Deadline has now passed us, and a lot of trades were made. I will be looking at each team’s trades (at least the ones with the most impact) through the next series of blogs. The first team I will be examining is the Braves. I expected them to add an outfielder and second baseman at this deadline, but they did a little more than I expected.
The most interesting trade they made is the Raisel Iglesias trade. The Braves traded pitchers Jesse Chavez and Tucker Davidson for him. Iglesias is a major piece to add to their bullpen. He has a career 3.13 ERA in 517.2 innings with 630 strikeouts. The 32-year-old pitcher has a 4.04 ERA this year, but his xERA is 3.41, and he has been very consistent over the years. Iglesias has a great K% and low Walk%, so he should be an excellent pitcher for the Braves. While it always hurts to trade a young pitcher like Davidson, I think this trade will be worth it for the Braves. Iglesias won’t be a FA until after the 2025 season.
The most shocking trade the Braves made, in my opinion, was swapping Will Smith for Jake Odorizzi. Smith has been a big part of the Braves over the last two years, especially in the playoffs last year. Giving up Smith hurts the depth of their bullpen a lot. Of course, Iglesias will help that, but I’m not sure if giving up Smith will wind up being a good decision. Odorizzi is a good pickup, but I’m not sure who’s spot in the rotation he’ll be taking. The only reasonable options are a 6-man rotation or sending Strider back to the bullpen. I don’t expect Strider to be a bullpen piece, so I guess the Braves will be going with a 6-man rotation. I feel like getting Odorizzi wasn’t super important and cost a fairly good reliever, so I’m not really seeing the logic here.
Ehire Adrianza is a fine pickup. He is liked in the clubhouse already, didn’t cost too much, and will be a valuable backup man. He’s certainly better than Cano (who they DFA’d), and can help out Arcia at second, or play some outfield. Will he move the needle? Probably not. But he will help the team. They gave up a 26-year-old outfielder in return that’s not a highly touted prospect, so I can’t really see this deal going badly.
They also got Robbie Grossman for a young lefty pitcher, Kris Anglin. Grossman hasn’t been particularly good this year, but this seems like one of those moves from last year. Grossman won’t hit for a lot a power, and consistently will have an average around .240, but he does draw a lot of walks. He really just seems like a back-up outfielder for the Braves, so once again, this trade won’t move the needle, but it’s a low-risk trade that will help the team out. They needed another outfielder, so why not.
The Braves had a pretty successful deadline in general and filled all their needs. I’m not sure if they will overtake the Mets in the division, but they will make a tough series for anyone in the postseason. Iglesias is definitely the big fish they got at this deadline.