Ken Rosenthal: Braves and Rangers “had trade in place” for Jacob deGrom
· Yahoo Sports
In the press conference immediately following the MLB Trade Deadline, Atlanta Braves President of Baseball Operations Alex Anthopoulos stated that outside of Tarik Skubal, there was only one other starting pitcher who they viewed as an “impact starter” at this year’s trade deadline. There was a lot of speculation surrounding both the Braves and Texas Rangers starter Jacob deGrom and it appears that there may have been some legitimate activity going on there.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic is reporting that the Braves and Rangers apparently had an agreement in place for a trade that apparently hinged on whether deGrom wanted to stay in Texas or waive his no-trade clause in order to go to Cobb County. Rosenthal is using two anonymous baseball executives as his source in the reporting. Here’s the relevant quote from his Trade Deadline aftermath story:
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For deGrom, [Anthopoulos] was willing to take on a sizable portion of the pitcher’s remaining salary — about $11 million this season and $37 million next season.…Two executives said a trade almost certainly was in place. The execs, granted anonymity for their candor, pointed out that teams do not approach players about waiving no-trade clauses so close to the deadline unless something is done.
The Braves also were involved in discussions for right-hander José Soriano and other starters, according to a person briefed on their talks. But other than Skubal and deGrom, they did not view those pitchers as difference-makers, or even better than what they had.
The news about José Soriano is interesting and considering what we know about the Blue Jays and their organization’s relationship with Anthopoulos, there was maybe a bit of extra satisfaction on Toronto’s part that they were able to beat AA to the punch when it came to pulling off a deal with the Angels. As far as deGrom goes, that’s a very significant commitment to make in terms of salary so that really tells you just how much Atlanta’s front office wanted to add deGrom into the fold.
I recommend that you read the article if you’re subscribed, as Rosenthal also discusses what the Braves were willing to give up for Tarik Skubal (reader, unsurprisingly it was a lot). There’s a lot in there to think about and it’s to the point where if you were disappointed with the deadline (I’m right there with you), you at least understand what the approach was for Atlanta heading into this year’s intense trade deadline.
With that being said, it does at least appear sincere that the Braves figured that it would be “deGrom (or Soriano) or bust” and they ended up getting the latter as a result. We’ll see how this all ends up going as time passes. For now, the Braves have to be feeling at least a little confident that things may end up working out after the performances that their starters had earlier this week (and also after Casey Mize got blown up for eight earned runs against the Diamondbacks in his Padres debut) but time will tell when it comes to figuring out if AA was right to pass up on all other deals going forward. We’ll see what happens!