The Atlanta Braves’ outfield has been a mess for far too long.
Ronald Acuña Jr. will be back soon, but he’s been out for nearly a full year now. Michael Harris II can’t seem to recapture his Rookie of the Year form, Jarred Kelenic can’t stay in the majors, and Alex Verdugo is already in the negatives in terms of WAR.
All of that, plus the 80-game suspension for Jurickson Profar that will keep the Braves’ signature offseason acquisition out of the playoffs, means the Braves could go out and look for an insurance policy before the Jul. 31 trade deadline.
Meanwhile, one New York Yankees outfielder has gone gangbusters to start the season after everyone projected him to be the team’s fourth outfielder. Could Atlanta swoop in?
On Tuesday, TJ French of Heavy proposed a hypothetical deal that would see the Braves land Trent Grisham from the Yankees in exchange for starting pitcher Grant Holmes, who would slot in immediately as a member of New York’s rotation.
“The Yankees (have) a great opportunity to sell high on Grisham, who is bound to come back down to earth,” French wrote.
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“Holmes would be the perfect third-fourth rotation option for New York as they get things settled with the rest of the pitchers in the rotation… The bottom line is that the Yankees’ rotation has been hampered with injuries, and reinforcements are needed now.”
Grisham, 28, no longer looks like a throw-in from the Juan Soto trade with the San Diego Padres. He’s got 12 home runs, second on the team behind Aaron Judge, with a remarkable 1.025 OPS through 35 games played.
However, Grisham doesn’t currently have the at-bats to qualify for the major league statistical leaderboards, and the Yankees still have three other outfielders who will command lots of playing time. He is making exactly $5 million this season and will be a free agent this winter.
If Grisham’s numbers come back to earth a bit and the Yankees still need starting pitching, it wouldn’t be too big a surprise to see this deal unfold.
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