With around 24 hours remaining until the MLB trade deadline, the Atlanta Braves have continued to largely stand pat. Many have called on Alex Anthopoulos to add some depth to a recently depleted bullpen. A.J. Minter, Jesse Chavez, Dylan Lee, and Nick Anderson were all contributors that have landed on the injured list and the World Series favorites suddenly have a chink in the armor.
While the Braves don't have a pressing need at closer, adding another lights-out arm to the bullpen like Josh Hader would always be a welcomed addition. John Fricke discussed whether the team should make this move and what it could cost to make it happen.
"[The Braves] could do a modern Night Shift if they went out and got Josh Hader in the next 24 hours," John said about the current state of the bullpen. "Then put Kirby Yates at 7, Josh Hader at 8, and [Raisel] Iglesias at 9 or Iglesias at 8 and Hader at 9. I'd be okay with that as a back-end bullpen."
Josh Hader is one of the top bullpen arms in baseball and certainly not someone that the Padres will want to move off of if they can avoid it, but if they want to jump into the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes come November then they might have to. San Diego also appears destined to miss the playoffs, so shedding some contracts could make sense for them.
The left-handed flamethrower has been lights out this season. Across his 39 innings pitched, Hader has posted an absurd 0.92 ERA and has 24 saves in 28 opportunities for an otherwise pedestrian Padres squad. His ERA+ of 445 and 13.8 K/9 are simply outrageous.
Hader's pending free agency could help mitigate the cost for Atlanta, but the tag price will still be pretty intimidating. In 2022, Hader was traded by the Milwaukee Brewers for four higher-end prospects despite his struggles that season. In 2023, fresh off his fifth All-Star appearance, Hader will command at least that much on the trade market.
No matter the cost, the potential two-headed monster of Raisel Iglesias and Josh Hader in the eighth and ninth inning of a playoff matchup could be enough to entice the front office to make this move happen.