The Atlanta Braves overcame a lot of obstacles to win the National League East in the 2022 season, but that didn’t prevent them from crashing out of the playoffs in the NL Divisional Round at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies. After losing their divisional foe in the playoffs, the Braves are going to have some work to do to reemerge as the team to beat in their division.
Despite that, they have had a fairly discouraging start to the offseason so far. While they have shown no interest in re-signing their top free agent in Dansby Swanson, they have watched the Phillies and New York Mets go out and make some massive moves that will undoubtedly assert themselves as the frontrunners to win the division in 2023.
The Braves are going to need to do some work to keep up with the competition right now, and while re-signing Swanson would obviously help, they could find some reinforcements on the trade market. Let’s take a look at the perfect trade that the Braves should make this offseason and see why it could end up being so beneficial to them in the 2023 season beyond.
Braves perfect offseason trade
Acquire Cavan Biggio from the Toronto Blue Jays
The Braves still have a solid squad, even if they do end up losing Swanson in free agency this offseason. But they could use an influx of high-level talent if he does end up leaving, which makes Cavan Biggio of the Toronto Blue Jays an interesting potential trade target who could end up being the perfect fit for Atlanta.
Biggio has had an interesting start to his career with the Blue Jays. He’s flashed his potential at times, but he’s largely become an afterthought as an everyday starter for Toronto. He has some positional versatility, which has helped him get at-bats over the past season or two, but even when he’s in the lineup, he hasn’t done much.
Biggio has a lot of potential, but his numbers in 2022 (.202 BA, 6 HR, 24 RBI, .668 OPS) don’t exactly show that. Biggio has shown flashes of being a guy who can hit around .250 with 20 home runs early in his career, but he’s never been able to put it all together. And right now, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get much of a shot to do so in Toronto.
That could make him an interesting trade target for a Braves team that could be looking to take a flier on a young player with Swanson potentially headed out the exit door. Biggio may not be an everyday starter right off the bat, but he’s shown enough to at least be a low level utility player with his versatility, and that should make him enticing enough for Atlanta to at least consider a move for him.
Biggio has spent most of his time throughout his career at second or third base, but he’s played at every single position in the field aside from catcher and shortstop at least once in his career. It may not seem like that when you consider his hitting numbers, but there’s value in adding Biggio for his fielding capabilities alone.
There doesn’t seem to be much of a floor for Biggio at the plate right now, as the 2022 season was easily the worst of his career. He’s going to have to hit at a far better rate than he did last season if he wants to earn consistent playing time, whether it be with the Blue Jays or another team in the league. He has the potential to do so, but until he does it, it won’t really matter.
Biggio likely wouldn’t cost much since the Blue Jays don’t really have a need for him at this stage of the game, which could make him a low risk, high reward option for the Braves. Sometimes, all you need is a change of scenery in order to provide a player a spark, and given how things have gone for Biggio in Toronto lately, that may very well be the case for him.
The Braves have more of a need for Biggio, and an easier path to getting him playing time, which may make a move for him here a real possibility. If Swanson leaves, that need becomes even bigger even though Biggio has never played shortstop in his life. Biggio isn’t going to be the Braves savior, but he could fill a need for them off the bench to start the season, and who knows, maybe he’s able to reach the potential that always seemed to evade him during his time with Toronto.
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