Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
The Braves are going to be without Max Fried and Kyle Wright for a while now, so which trade targets should they be eyeing to help the pitching staff?
The Atlanta Braves have the second-best record in baseball through the first month-and-a-half (give or take) of the 2023 MLB season. Ronald Acuña Jr. is perhaps the leading NL MVP candidate, Spencer Strider is a Cy Young threat, and the team is just plain rolling as they eye contending for another World Series.
All of that is the truth, but the fact of the matter is that the Braves have done this despite being completely snake-bitten by injuries this season. The latest update, however, was a doozy with word that ace Max Fried and last year’s 20-game winner, Kyle Wright, will be out at least two months after recently going to the IL.
With Ian Anderson also already out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, the Braves still have pitching depth in the form of Strider, Charlie Morton, Bryce Elder, Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster, in addition to a strong overall bullpen. However, with Fried and Wright out for some time, they could be looking for more options on the trade market.
These three pitchers should be Braves trade targets to combat the injury bug, but there’s one potential option as well that they should be staying away from.
Braves rumors: 3 trade targets to help with pitching injuries and 1 to avoid
3. Lucas Giolito should be a Braves trade target amid injuries
We’re on the precipice of a fire sale involving the Chicago White Sox. Even with some of the talent on the roster, the club has been an unmitigated disaster to start the 2023 season and it seems like upper management is trending toward blowing it up and, in essence, starting from scratch. That presents an opportunity for the Braves, though.
While the pie-in-the-sky option — also the almost surely unbelievably expensive trade option — for Atlanta would be to go after last year’s AL Cy Young runner-up, Dylan Cease. However, it would fit the needs of the Bravos much more soundly if they were to look into a trade for veteran Lucas Giolito.
After an up-and-down and, at times, quite rough 2022 season, Giolito has bounced back in a big way this year, even with his team struggling. Amassing five Quality Starts in eight outings, Giolito has posted a nice 3.59 ERA and 1.11 WHIP on the year to this point, already accruing a 1.3 WAR on the season.
Giolito would be an ideal Braves trade target given their needs. He could come in and be a rock while Fried and Wright miss time, but then slot in as an upper-tier mid-rotation piece behind Fried and Strider that could really bolster the pitching staff. Moreover, as he’s in the final year under team control with the White Sox, Chicago could be looking to just recoup value instead of losing him for nothing.
Not only would that lower the price of a potential Braves trade for the right-hander, but it would also give Alex Anthopolous the opportunity to explore an extension for the 28-year-old, something the GM has been keen on with other high-end trade acquisitions.