The Atlanta Braves keep surging as favorites in the NL, which means an active MLB Trade Deadline, and the bottoming-out Cubs are rich with trade targets.
Maintaining their lead in the NL East and holding the National League's best record, the Atlanta Braves are the goods. They should be among anyone's favorites to win the World Series, especially doing what they've done to start the year despite a myriad of injuries. The Chicago Cubs, however, are on the opposite end of the specturm.
With a loss on Wednesday night to the Angels, the Cubs dropped their third straight game and their fourth in their last five games. Chicago now sits nine games below .500 and seems to have no answers for how to fix the issue.
Unlike the Braves in the 2023 season, though, the Cubs have started building the roster with eyes toward the future of the franchise, not necessarily intent on contending right now. Subsequently, players who could be gone after this year are prime candidates to make Chicago sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline. And with the Braves being surefire buyers, it's worth exploring what the Cubs have to offer.
And when you take a look at the roster, there are three clear Braves trade targets that Alex Anthopoulous definitely needs to call the Cubs about before Aug. 1.
Braves Rumors: 3 trade targets to poach from the Cubs
3. Trading for Marcus Stroman would give Braves baseball's best rotation
One thing that we don't know about the Braves and Anthopoulos is just how aggressive the organization plans to be at the trade deadline. But if they choose to get frisky and go after the top of the market, then Cubs ace Marcus Stroman should be one of the first players they look at.
Given the season that Stroman is having in Chicago, it might seem ludicrous that they would trade him. After all, the 32-year-old right-hander has given the Cubs 11 Quality Starts in his 13 outings this season, posting an absurdly good 2.39 ERA and 1.00 WHIP over his run this season as well with a 7.7 K/BB rate as well.
The rub with Stroman, though, is that he has a player option for the 2024 season in his contract and, at his age and with his performance this season, he's surely trending toward opting out and cashing in big on one final big contract.
That may not be what the Braves want. At the same time, though, with Charlie Morton nearing the end of his career, maybe they would like another veteran arm in the rotation and Stroman is about as good as it could get in that regard.
More importantly, though, as Atlanta has been searching for answers with the rotation this season amid the numerous injuries they've suffered to Max Fried and more, adding Stroman to the mix to eventually give them a 1-2-3-4 of Fried, Spencer Strider, Stroman and Bryce Elder would be a nightmare for every other team in baseball to face at any point, but especially in the playoffs.
And when it comes to the Braves, the postseason counts more than anything else. So perhaps the hefty price tag on Stroman would indeed be worth it.
2. Trading for Cody Bellinger gives the Braves elite outfield depth they lack
Even with Marcell Ozuna having bounced back mightily since the calendar turned to May, the Braves could still be in the market to improve the depth in the outfield. Eddie Rosario has been hot recently but, overall, has been maddeningly inconsistent. And for whatever reason, Brian Snitker seems reluctant to utilize Kevin Pillar and Sam Hilliard too often.
What has made things trickier for Atlanta, though, is the struggle of Michael Harris II this year. Not only did he miss a few weeks with injury, but the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year has been a negative at the plate for the most part this season — his go-ahead home run against the Mets on June 7 aside.
It would be most logical for the Braves to look to increase the depth in left field, but what if they, instead, looked to the Cubs and at a former MVP in Cody Bellinger?
Bellinger is a centerfielder by trade, which does complicate things as Snitker and the organization don't want to move away from Harris as he battles through his prolonged slump. However, Bellinger does have experience outside of center and could be a potential piece to move around between left and center field depending on the game.
And Bellinger is enticing. After falling off a cliff in Los Angeles, he's been resurgent in the 2023 season with Chicago, slashing .271/.337/.493 with seven home runs, 20 RBI and 17 total extra-base hits over 37 games.
The Cubs only signed Bellinger to a one-year deal this past offseason and, with him excelling, it remains to be seen if they'd want to hold onto him as part of their rebuild for the future. If not, then he is going to be a hot trade commodity, one that the Braves could undoubtedly pursue in order to fill a need that's glaring at them, even if it's another move that could be quite costly.
1. Kyle Hendricks is a cheaper Braves trade target who still upgrades the rotation
So let's say that the Braves want to upgrade at the MLB Trade Deadline, specifically in regards to upgrading the back end and depth of the starting rotation. But let's also say they don't want to have to go out on the market and pay top-dollar for guys like Stroman, Dylan Cease or a number of other stars that could be dealt.
Should that be the case — and it's actually likely that is the case given how Anthopoulos has operated more often than not — then the Cubs also have an option for them to pursue in a trade: Kyle Hendricks.
The 33-year-old righty is another player who is in the final year of his contract and, given his age, that Chicago might not want to pursue keeping around beyond this season, making him a proverbial rental that they'd love to get some return for at the trade deadline.
Hendricks returned in mid-May from a shoulder injury suffered last season and has made three starts this year, posting a 4.70 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. Given that he hadn't pitched in nearly a year, though, the signs have been promising, most notably with a 5.0-inning gem against the Rays where he allowed just one run in an eventual win.
With his age and the fact that he's had an ERA over 4.75 in each of the past two seasons, though, Hendricks isn't going to be an ultra-coveted commodity at the deadline. At the same time, in a situation with more protection from the offense and in the heart of a better rotation, something the Braves could offer, he could improve on that. And again, his stuff has been promising since he came back.
All of the factors at play with Hendricks mean that the trade cost should be reasonable and, if all the Braves are looking to do is find a veteran to plug the hole in the rotation, then there isn't a better answer on the Cubs — and few elsewhere either — than Hendricks.