Busy Day of Trades for the Atlanta Braves
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Coming into Friday the MLB offseason was relatively quiet when it came to trades. There were a few small trades, but most included minor league players. The Braves are now the first team to trade for big names. They started out the day trading for left-handed relief pitcher Aaron Bummer from the White Sox in exchange for RHP Michael Soroka, LHP Jared Shuster, infielder Braden Shewmake, infielder Nicky Lopez, and RHP Riley Gowens.
Bummer had a bad season last year throwing 58 1/3 innings with an ERA of 6.79 allowing 53 hits and 45 runs while also walking 36 batters. The good news is last season was by the far the worst of Bummer’s career. Bummer has a career ERA of 3.84 and in 2021 posted an ERA of 3.51 and 2.36 in 2022. In addition, the Braves had to give up multiple pieces in this trade, the two reasons for that are the quality production from Bummer over his career, and the fact Bummer is under team control through 2026. There’s no doubt the acquisition of Bummer will improve an already solid Braves’ bullpen and will be a staple there for years to come.
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The Braves didn’t stop there as they traded right-handed relief pitcher Nick Anderson to the Royals for cash considerations. This trade came as a surprise as Anderson had a good season in 2023. Anderson posted an ERA of 3.06 over 35 1/3 innings while also striking out 36 batters. Not to mention Anderson is under team control through 2026 and is on a cheap estimated 1.2 million dollar per year contract.
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The Anderson trade began to make more sense following the Braves’ second trade with the Royals. The Braves acquired right-handed relief pitcher Jackson Kower in exchange for right-handed starting pitcher Kyle Wright. Jackson Kower just began his MLB career in 2021 but has continued to improve over the past three seasons. Kower struggled mightily his first year with an ERA of 11.27 over 30 1/3 innings pitched allowing 43 hits and 38 runs. Then in 2022 Kowar didn’t pitch much only throwing 15 2/3 innings while posting an ERA of 9.77. Finally, last season Kowar pitched in 28 innings, allowing 34 hits and 24 runs with an ERA of 6.43. It seems the Braves are expecting Kowar to continue to improve and become a reliable piece of the bullpen in the future.
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Now taking a look at what the Braves gave up to acquire Kowar it came as a slight surprise as Kyle Wright had a great 2022 season. Wright pitched in 180 1/3 innings, allowing 156 hits and 67 runs while posting an ERA 3.19. With that being said, Wright has been bad every other year of his career and struggled in limited action last season with an ERA of 6.97 in 31 innings pitched. It’s possible the Braves viewed Wright’s 2022 season as an outliner and thought now was the best time to move off him.
With the unloading of players, it’s likely the Braves are clearing up money to spend in free agency likely to acquire a top of the rotation starting pitcher to team up with Spencer Strider and Max Fried. Even with an aggressive start to the offseason this is just the beginning of what should make for a very exciting offseason for the Atlanta Braves.
