The Braves were rumored to be one of the finalists in the Mike Clevinger sweepstakes. However, once the Padres acquired him, Alex Anthopoulos was forced to pivot to the next best option — Lance Lynn of the Rangers.
As we know now, Lynn wasn’t traded at the deadline. With one more year of control after this season at a more than reasonable rate, Texas thought it was better to hang on if their asking price was not met, which was obviously WAY too high, considering how many teams with deep farm systems were in on him.
This morning, David O’Brien of The Athletic provided us with insight into what Texas might have been asking for in return from the Braves, and if this is true, we should all be thrilled Anthopoulos didn’t pull the trigger.
#Braves were talking to the Rangers right up until shortly before the trade deadline Monday. Lance Lynn price obviously was a bit higher than either Braves or other teams were willing to go. I heard they wanted either Pache or Waters.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 1, 2020
I’m a fan of Lance Lynn. He’s a rock-solid arm with postseason experience that would have been perfect right behind Max Fried in the rotation. Lynn also came with another year of control, making him even more appealing for the Braves. But the Rangers are smoking crack if they really thought he was worth Drew Waters or Cristian Pache.
Those are the type of players teams ask for when they are trading a sure-fire frontline starter. Lynn, while amid an incredible season, is not that. He’s much closer to a #3 than he is a #1, and he only had one extra season of control. The Rangers would have been lucky to land one Top 100 prospect for his services, let alone a Top 50 (like Waters) or Top 20 (like Pache). This would have been a massive overpay by the Braves, and it’s clear the Rangers did not want to deal Lynn, which is insane considering the circumstances, but that is another story for another day.
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