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Deals made at the Trade Deadline


Matt Kemp (top), Travis Demeritte (bottom)

The trade deadline has come and gone with the Braves managing to make a pair of deals. This post will discuss the deals that the Braves were able to make and in a subsequent article I'll talk about the deals the Braves failed to make and what the roster might look like next season.

Last Wednesday the Braves made a deal with the Texas Rangers acquiring an infield prospect in exchange for two traveled veterans they signed in the offseason to one-year-deals. The Braves dealt Lucas Harrell after just four starts with Atlanta this season and the majority of his season spent in Gwinnett along with left handed relief pitcher Dario Alvarez, who also hasn't spent an entire season with the Atlanta club. Both served as valuable replacements for pitchers on the disabled list, but neither pitcher was intended to be apart of the future on the club. In return, the Braves acquired a Winder, GA native and Rangers top-10 infield prospect Travis Demeritte.

Demeritte was drafted in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft and has played all over the infield, except 1B. He was set back a year in his minor league development after failing a drug test for performance enhancing drugs and missing 80 games. In 88 games at High-A so far this season he has averaged .272 at the plate with 25 HR and 59 RBI - his best attribute is undoubtedly power. He has had issues with strikeouts, averaging a strikeout rate as high as 36%, but the return when he makes contact is worth the risk if he can develop better plate discipline. Demeritte was selected to the same MLB Future's Game that Dansby Swanson was selected to during the MLB All-Star Break, and he will be sent to the Braves High-A affiliate Carolina Mudcats.

There's no doubt the Braves won this deal, turning a late season waiver wire pick up from 2015 (Dario Alvarez) and a Spring Training invitee (Lucas Harrell) into a promising prospect that could end up being the top power hitting prospect in the organization.

On Saturday, the Braves finally got rid of the Hector Olivera issue and John Coppollela did his best to fix the awful trade he made with the Dodgers at last year's trade deadline. The Braves acquired Matt Kemp from the Padres in exchange for Olivera - Olivera was subsequently designated for assignment by the Padres to clear roster space for top minor league outfield prospects. Kemp is less than 6 months older than Olivera, but their resumés are stark in contrast. Kemp was an MVP runner-up the year Ryan Braun won the award and later tested positive for PEDs (ip-so-facto, Kemp was the real MVP), but injuries have plagued him since he signed the monster contract with the Dodgers which is why they were (and still are) willing to eat a large portion of his contract in a trade that sent him to the Padres last season. He is signed through the 2019 season and I am unsure exactly how much of his contract the Braves are paying - it's definitely less than or in the same range as the $30 million still owed to Olivera, but Kemp is actually going to play in the field and he has a proven track record at the major league level for several years. This season Kemp has a .262 AVG, 23 HR and 69 RBI - he will step into the batter's box for the Braves on Tuesday night as the clubhouse leader in both homers and runs batted in. His numbers at the plate this year are a far cry better than they have been in the last three injury plagued seasons, but his glove in the field is definitely a liability. He will most likely serve as the cleanup hitter for the remainder of the season to protect Freddie Freeman in the 3-spot, and if a premier bat is not added over the winter he might sustain the position as the cleanup hitter going into SunTrust Park next season. As far as positionally in the field, he will most likely assume left field duties with Markakis still on the roster, and it will be interesting to see how Snitker deals with a crowded outfield when or if Mallex Smith returns from his broken thumb.

For a team with no chance of contention the Braves made two moves that have bolstered the roster for the remainder of this season and possibly next as well as added a much needed power bat to the farm system. Overall, I would give the Braves a C grade at this years trade deadline not because of the deals the club made, but because of the deals the club failed to make. Simply put, the Braves had plenty of veterans that needed to be moved and they weren't able to do so - which is what will be discussed in a subsequent article.


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