Jeff Francoeur has bold take on Braves trade deadline acquisition
The noise surrounding the Braves’ trade deadline has taken a significant turn for the better because of how the new faces have actually performed. Most notably Tyler Mahle, who Jeff Francoeur called the best pitcher to move midseason — ahead of Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, and Kevin Gausman. Sorry, Tarik Skubal, Kevin Gausman and Casey […]
The noise surrounding the Braves’ trade deadline has taken a significant turn for the better because of how the new faces have actually performed. Most notably Tyler Mahle, who Jeff Francoeur called the best pitcher to move midseason — ahead of Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, and Kevin Gausman.
Saying Tyler Mahle is better than Tarik Skubal might be a bit of a stretch, but Francoeur’s statement does carry some weight when evaluating the context.
There’s no arguing who has been better up to this point. Mahle owns a 1.25 ERA in his seven starts since being traded, while Skubal has experienced a bump or two since moving to Los Angeles, boasting a 2.93 ERA over the same number of appearances.
Then, when you take into account the price, the question of who was the better trade deadline acquisition really becomes a no-brainer. The Braves got Mahle in what was essentially a salary dump. All they had to do was give up a journeyman reliever and pick up the remaining $2 million left on his salary for this season. Meanwhile, Skubal cost multiple top-100 prospects, and the Dodgers are on the hook for nearly $10 million.
Of course, if Skubal ends up being an integral piece to another Dodgers World Series run, the tune of this debate would change pretty quickly. But right now, Tyler Mahle has been the addition of the entire trade deadline, and if he pitches like he has over the last six weeks come October, he could go down as one of the better midseason acquisitions of all time. Alex Anthopoulos may not be perfect, but this was incredible work by the Braves front office to find a really talented starting pitcher for basically nothing.
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(Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)
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