If recent history has taught us anything, it’s that John Coppolella will trade anybody. I make this prediction knowing that, within 24 hours if not by Aug. 1, the Braves’ general manager could prove me as wrong as I’ve ever been, which would be saying something. But I make it nonetheless:
The Braves will not trade Julio Teheran.
I base this largely on what Coppolella told me last week. “I’m not trading Julio Teheran for prospects,” he said. There was no equivocation in his voice. The only way the Braves would consider trading Teheran is for proven big-league hitters of a comparable age under comparable contract, and therein hangs the tale: There aren’t many of those, and what few there are almost surely are unavailable.