Atlanta Braves Could Trade For Third Baseman Adrian Beltre
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Braves could attempt to trade for third-baseman Adrian Beltre. Beltre would be a perfect fit in Atlanta for a team still focused on youth and building their future.
Adrian Beltre has long been one of the more consistent third basemen in the League. For the Braves he would fit perfectly as a short-term solution at a very weak position.
Atlanta is reportedly interested in trading for Beltre as a rental option. So far this season Adrian is hitting .314 and producing at a consistent level. Adding Beltre to the Braves current lineup would be a perfect compliment.
The team has Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis as their consistent veterans sitting in the middle of the lineup. They lack a consistent righty they can count on a nightly basis to produce and have an advantage against a tough lefty.
No slight is intended to Freeman or Markakis who have both hit lefties well this season but Beltre would balance their lineup and give them a skill set they do not have.
Beltre has hit .350 so far this year against lefties and would give the Braves a better hitter at third base.
Now we run into the problems with this potential deal. The first is the fact we are still very unsure how willing Texas will be to trade their veteran. They are in the middle of a very bad season but they value Beltre as a leader and a member of the organization.
If they deal him it seems likely it would be to a team he approved of or the organization feels is a good fit. It is also possible they ride out his contract and opt not to trade him at all.
The second issue with a potential deal is what it costs the Braves who have Austin Riley on his way in their system.
He is the third baseman of the future not an almost forty-year-old vet. Beltre would be a three month rental for a team betting on making at least some noise in the postseason.
They won’t be willing to sacrifice any top prospects for such a rental. There are many hypotheticals in this deal though at face value it seems to be a good deal for both teams.
Going into the playoffs with Johan Camargo as your starting third-baseman isn’t a good option and the team needs to improve the position if they plan to make the postseason in 2018.