Kuzul

The Atlanta Braves have been discussing a possible trade with the Colorado Rockies since the very beginning of the offseason.

The Rockies originally discussed Martin Prado with the Braves, but are also reportedly interested in Jair Jurrjens.

The main Rockies’ player the Braves are interested in is Seth Smith.

Smith is the Rockies’ right fielder, and has an impressive career BA of .275. Last season, he hit .284, with 15 home runs and 59 RBI.

However, a straight up trade of Smith for Prado is not going to happen.

Prado’s BA is higher, and he is much more useful to the Braves.

In his career, Prado has hit .293, and he is an accomplished defender at 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, and RF. He also has the ability to play SS and CF.

A trade that makes more sense for the Braves is Prado for Tim Wheeler and Smith.

Wheeler is one of the Rockies’ best outfield prospects, and has a large amount of potential.

This trade would likely be approved by the Braves; however, according to MLBTradeRumors.com, this deal will not happen for the Rockies.

If the Rockies are going to trade for Jurrjens, they will have to pay a high price, which they are probably unwilling to pay.

The Rockies reportedly have competition for Jurrjens, and as he is one of the best starting pitchers remaining on the trade market, he is likely to be quite expensive.

The discussions between the Braves and the Rockies have continued for a large amount of time, and do not appear to have made much progress.

The Braves need to end trade talks with the Rockies, because a deal that benefits both teams is very unlikely to go through.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

For the first half of the season, the Atlanta Braves struggled mightily to produce offense, and were carried by their amazing pitching.

In this half of the season, so far, their pitching has been declining, and their offense has been surging.

This is not necessarily a negative thing; however, it seems it is now the Braves’ pitching that needs assistance.

Certain hitters have been heating up recently, and producing much more than expected, and certain pitchers have been giving up more runs than expected.

For a basic overview of the Braves’ performance:

Pre All-Star BA—.237.

Post All-Star BA—.270.

Pre All-Star ERA—3.11

Post All-Star ERA—4.11.

Obviously, there has been a change in performance by the Braves.

Their batting average has been raised by an impressive .033, and their ERA has been raised by an unfortunate 1.00.

The Braves’ offensive surge can in part be credited to the addition of both Michael Bourn and Jose Constanza.

The trade for Bourn has certainly helped, and while his .250 BA with the Braves is not the most impressive, it is certainly better than many of his teammates.

Jose Constanza’s impressive offense has been a very pleasant surprise. He is so far hitting .407 in 27 at bats.

All year, fans have been waiting for Dan Uggla to contribute his share of offense, which has finally begun to occur. Since the All-Star break, he is hitting .346, with eight home runs and 20 RBI.

Also, Freddie Freeman is making an impressive case for Rookie of the Year, with his batting average all the way up to .300, and .395 post All-Star break.

The only major offensive disappointment is Jason Heyward, whose pathetic pre All-Star average of .226 has dropped to an even more pathetic .200, post All-Star.

So, with all of this great offensive production, one would assume the Braves are closing in on the Phillies‘ division lead.

However, this is not the case.

Since the All-Star break, the Braves are only 11-10, which is owed to the decline in their pitching performance.

After putting up an amazing pre All-Star ERA of 1.87, the Braves’ ace, Jair Jurrjens, has an ERA of 6.26 after the All-Star break.

Derek Lowe, while his 4.30 ERA before the All-Star break was not impressive, has an even less impressive ERA of 7.97 after the All-Star break.

Brandon Beachy had a 3.21 ERA in the first half of the season, and a 4.30 ERA in the second half.

Hanson had a 2.44 ERA in the first half of the season, and a 6.56 ERA in the second half.

The only starter who is an exception to this curious decline is Tim Hudson, whose ERA has improved from a pre All Star of 3.57,  to a post All-Star of 2.06.

Overall, the Braves’ new style of playing seems as though it should end up being very helpful to them.

If their hitting continues to perform as well as it currently is, the Braves should be in good enough shape to hold their wild card lead.

And because their pitching has already proved itself to be amazing, hopefully a few pitchers just happened to have concurring bad outings, and will pick themselves up enough to assist their team in the playoff race.

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While the trade market is dwindling and two of the Atlanta Braves‘ top targets have been taken, there still remains a trade possibility or two that would be nearly ideal for the Braves.

The most reasonable and beneficial trade would involve the San Diego Padres.

Earlier this week, I wrote an article explaining the Braves’ need for a relief pitcher, and Bryce Sumida responded with an article explaining the Braves’ need for an outfielder.

Both articles present reliable facts, and it seems the ideal scenario for the Braves would land them a consistent outfielder along with a strong reliever.

The Padres are widely known to have one of the best bullpens in the NL and seem willing to make a deal involving one of their relievers.

Among San Diego’s relievers whom the Braves could target, the best option would be Mike Adams.

The Atlanta Big Three of Jonny Venters, Eric O’Flaherty, and Craig Kimbrel has been overused, a problem Adams could solve by contributing above-average numbers to the team.

After pitching 48 innings this season, he displays an amazing ERA of 1.13.

The Padres also happen to have an outfielder whom the Braves have reportedly been looking closely at.

Ryan Ludwick, though he is not the greatest outfielder on the Braves’ list, would definitely be an improvement to their struggling offense.

He is a right-handed batter, which would be helpful to a Braves lineup that is dominated by left-handed hitters. Also, while he plays mainly left field, he has played all three outfield positions and could play center field if necessary.

His career batting average is .262, and this season he has compiled 11 home runs and 62 RBI.

As for the return price for which the Padres would ask for these two players, it would certainly not be low.

While Wren seems extremely reluctant to lose any of his top pitching prospects, it may be necessary.

Especially with Hunter Pence now in Philadelphia, it is extremely important for the Braves to improve their offense.

The Braves need to be willing to give up at least one or two of their top prospects, or as many as four or five lesser prospects.

Wren should definitely consider trading away Mike Minor or Randall Delgado because their potential could be wasted due to Atlanta’s depth. The Braves have so many great young pitchers that they do not have room for all of them in their rotation, and it may be worth it to trade them away in order to receive consistent offense.

It is absolutely necessary to the Braves’ success that they trade for a consistent outfielder as well as a reliever.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

I have recently heard talk of the Braves considering making a trade before the non-waiver deadline on July 31st.

However, I do not think a trade would be helpful to the current situation the Braves are in.

Sure, it would be nice to have a center fielder who could hit, but there are drawbacks to this.

In this article, I will address these drawbacks, and discuss the five main reasons I believe a trade would do harm to the Braves.

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