San Francisco Giants: Building a trade with the Atlanta Braves

The San Francisco Giants rebuild has begun. The best remaining players on the roster will soon be leaving the bay. As the trade deadline approaches, Marc Delucchi will look at how each contender fits as a potential trade partner. Next up, the Atlanta Braves.

After last night’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants are now 11 games under .500 and 18.5 games back in the NL West. To add some salt into the wounds, their run-differential actually suggests their record should be worse than it already is.

Recent rule changes have eliminated August waiver trades for big league players. That could make both buyers and sellers more aggressive earlier than we’ve seen in years past. Contenders won’t want to miss the chance to fill a hole and sellers won’t want to miss the opportunity to move their best assets set for free agency.

The Atlanta Braves clearly fall into the contender category.

They surprised a lot of people last season when they won 90 games en route to an NL East title. As we approach the end of June, they’ve built a 4.5-game lead on the Philadelphia Phillies and appear primed for another postseason run.

It will be interesting to see how the Braves approach the deadline They have one of the five best farm-systems in baseball, but also don’t have a lot of holes to plug. Go look through their lineup and you’ll find eight players who would be one of the most productive players on the San Francisco Giants roster.

That said, the bullpen is the clear area of need. Closer Luke Jackson is the only reliever with a FIP below 3.10 and they don’t really have any relievers with a long history of success. The starting rotation has been an area of concern for some time, but they inked Dallas Keuchel to a one-year deal and he’s slated to debut on Friday.

However, even after adding Keuchel, here’s how the Atlanta rotation stands:

• Mike Soroka (2.12 ERA/3.08 FIP)
• Julio Teheran (3.40 ERA/4.35 FIP)
• Max Fried (4.03 ERA/3.97 FIP)
• Mike Foltynewicz (5.53 ERA/6.04 FIP)
• Dallas Keuchel (no 2019 stats)

Both Sean Newcomb and Kevin Gausman are on the IL, but Newcomb was strong out of the pen and Gausman’s ERA is 6.21 on the season. Bumgarner would still fill a hole for Atlanta in the rotation.

Furthermore, the Braves would be playing keep away from some of their biggest NL competition. As I’ve written about in previous editions of the series, the Phillies, Brewers, and Cubs are all prime candidates for at least one of Bumgarner or closer Will Smith.

I’ve been adamant that the Giants are very unlikely to package Bumgarner and Smith together in a deadline trade. As two of the best players available this summer, the Giants should be able to find solid markets for both. However, the Braves are one of the few exceptions. Their farm system is flush with top talent and the Giants best means of extracting a big return might be to ship them to Atlanta as a pair.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few potential trade packages that could make sense for both the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves.

San Francisco Giants Trade Proposal #2

To Braves: RHP Sam Dyson
To Giants: LHP Kyle Muller, RHP Trey Riley

If the Atlanta Braves go for a more standard conservative to the deadline, Sam Dyson makes a lot of sense. Atlanta’s best reliever, Luke Jackson, is right-handed so Tony Watson could make sense as well, but Dyson has been the Giants second-best reliever this season behind Smith.

The 31-year-old has quietly been one of the best setup men in all of baseball. He holds a 2.91 ERA with 31 strikeouts against just five walks in 34 innings. He’s also been a ground ball machine with a ground ball rate of nearly 60 percent.

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Furthermore, Dyson is under team control via arbitration through next season. So, unlike Smith or Bumgarner, the Braves could pencil him onto their roster at a reasonable price in 2020 as well.

Kyle Muller is one of my favorite prospects in Atlanta’s system. While he isn’t ranked on any major publication’s top 100 list, he’s performing very well at Double-A.

The 21-year-old has a 3.18 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 73.2 innings on the year. A second-round pick out of high school in 2016, he works off a low-to-mid 90s fastball, an above-average slider, and plus changeup. At 6’6”, 225 pounds, Muller profiles as an effective mid-rotation arm.

Trey Riley is not at the level as Muller in terms of prospect pedigree, but he has two potential plus pitches. After struggling at Oklahoma State, Riley transferred to a junior college and touched 97 mph as a starter. The Braves selected him in the fifth round last year and sent him to Single-A Rome to begin 2019.

A lack of command is the biggest concern for Riley. He’s walked 31 batters in 50.2 innings this year, and while he has a potentially plus fastball-slider combo, he will need a lot of refinement as a pitcher. There is a dream scenario where Riley remains a starter, but he likely projects as a high-leverage reliever.

Dyson would solidify the Atlanta bullpen without them touching any of their elite prospects, while Muller would be a strong centerpiece for the Giants and Riley would be an interesting project.

If the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants are going to match up on a deal, it could very well look something like this.

Previous Editions: Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers.