{"id":21807,"date":"2019-07-12T12:16:25","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T16:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/\/?p=21807"},"modified":"2019-07-12T12:16:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T16:16:25","slug":"atlanta-braves-top-5-potential-trade-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2019\/07\/12\/atlanta-braves-top-5-potential-trade-targets\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Braves Top 5 Potential Trade Targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coming off a 2018 NL East division title, the Atlanta Braves<\/a> received criticism after being relatively quiet this past off-season. Despite having money to spend, the only significant signings that were made by\u00a0Alex Anthopoulos and the Braves front office was <\/span>Brian McCann<\/a><\/strong> and <\/span>Josh Donaldson\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>\u2014 as well as <\/span>Dallas Keuchel<\/a><\/strong> during the season. Although everyone doubted the Braves front office, these veterans have proven to be great mentors for the young stars that continue to lead the Braves to success. As a result, the Braves head into the second half of the season on a high note with a 54-37 record. However, there’s still plenty of room for improvement and additions that need to be made by July 31st for this team to make a deep postseason run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Atlanta Braves Top 5 Potential Trade Targets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Will Smith<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Despite having the best ERA among relievers in MLB since May 15th, the Braves still need bullpen help. Relievers like Jacob Webb<\/a><\/strong>, Luke Jackson<\/a><\/strong>, and Chad Sobotka<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0have helped fill the role in the pen, but lack experience. As a result, the Braves relievers have blown 16 save opportunities\u00a0\u2014 which has resulted in a Save Percentage of 60.98%. Adding a closer like Will Smith<\/a><\/strong> could help Atlanta fix this problem. While the Braves have struggled to close out games, the San Francisco Giants<\/a> closer has not. Smith has pitched to a 1.98 ERA in 36.1 innings and has been perfect in save opportunities this season \u2014 recording a save in all 23 chances.\u00a0Even though Smith is a Free Agent after the season, don’t be surprised if the Braves give up what is necessary to acquire the reliever and attempt to fix their late-inning issues.<\/p>\n

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Before heading to Cleveland, All-Star Will Smith earned his 23rd save of the season yesterday. He is 23-for-23 in save opportunities, hasn’t allowed a run in 17 of his last 19 outings, posted a .96 ERA with 30 Ks and a .156 batting average against in that time. ?#SFGiants<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/VHsQt9gcp4<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) July 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n