Braves Trade Proposal Lands All-Star After Chris Sale News

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Chris Sale winds up for a pitch against the Diamondbacks.

Suddenly, the Atlanta Braves are playing much better baseball, sitting at 7-3 over their last 10. Unfortunately, the Braves are still 10.5 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East and nine games behind the second-place New York Mets.

However, if the Braves continue to play this type of baseball, they should be in a decent position to make the postseason, even if that means they’ll get in via the Wild Card. It’s still way too early to panic about the standings, but a few weeks ago, the Braves were the most disappointing team in the league. Now, they’re playing the type of baseball they were expected to.

With Chris Sale going down with a fractured rib cage, it’s possible that the Braves could be interested in adding at the trade deadline to help replace him, even if it’s in the short term.

In a recent trade proposal from Christopher Kline, they’d accomplish just that by acquiring Charlie Morton of the Baltimore Orioles.

“Over his last 10 appearances, including six starts, Morton has a 3.12 ERA and 3.09 FIP with 48 strikeouts in 40.1 innings,” Kline wrote . “While Morton is not the ace Baltimore needed after Corbin Burnes’ departure, he’s a totally functional mid-rotation option with a wealth of experience under his belt.

“Trading for Morton gives Atlanta a far better option than either Didier Fuentes or Bryce Elder in the short term. Looking ahead, he would presumably transition to the bullpen come October, assuming Atlanta makes the playoffs.”

How Does Morton Compare to Sale?

To suggest that Morton would be anything like Sale would be completely unfair, as the 41-year-old hasn’t exactly aged well. However, for the Atlanta Braves, they may want to prioritize getting Sale healthy, despite Brian Snitker not considering it a major issue, stating that Sale should return sometime in the near future.

“It’s just a freak thing. An unfortunate thing,” Snitker said , per ESPN. “I saw him after the game that night and he was doing his postgame workout. And then I saw him the next day and I think he maybe felt a little uncomfortable the next day. But then [Friday] is when he wanted to get it checked out.”

Morton is throwing to the likes of a 5.64 ERA, but has been much better in his most recent outings, only allowing seven runs in his past five starts. He’s lowered his ERA from 7.09 to 5.64 in that span.

Would the Braves Trade Sale?

Some have suggested that the Atlanta Braves could move on from Sale, but according to general manager Alex Anthopoulos, that isn’t in their plans. He even added that there’s no chance the Braves will trade him, and anyone suggesting otherwise is simply lying.

“No, zero [chance],” Anthopoulos said , per Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com. “I’ve seen the speculation. It’s completely ridiculous to me. We are not selling, especially someone that has club control beyond the current year. Will not happen. I never make definitive statements unless I’m going to stick to them. Once you make definitive statements and then you go back on them, you’re a liar and you’re done.

“Will. Not. Happen. Bold, italicize it, caps. So much so that I’m trying to make a trade now — it’s very hard right now to make a trade in June — just to signal to everybody that we will not sell.”

Given that’s the case from Anthopoulos, perhaps a trade could be what happens.

Jon Conahan covers the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com. Since 2019, his sports coverage has appeared at Sports Illustrated, oddschecker, ClutchPoints and Sportskeeda. More about Jon Conahan