The Braves are trying to trade for upgrades in what has been a shaky bullpen, reports David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter), but the team is reluctant to part with young talent or pay significant money in order to make it happen.
Clearly, that hesitance will make it rather difficult to procure a meaningful upgrade by way of trade. The Braves’ farm system has improved rapidly over the past eight months thanks in large part to a strong offseason rebuilding effort from new president of baseball operations John Hart. It’s logical that Hart, having only recently collected so much minor league talent, would be loath to part with meaningful future assets when his goal has seemingly been to build a sustainable core for the future as opposed to putting an immediate contender on the field.