Which prospects should the Braves be open to trading?

Like many of you, I’m sitting here scrolling through my phone — anxiously awaiting that beautiful blue box from the Braves social media team.

I’ve covered this year’s trade deadline from just about every angle, but one I’m not sure I’ve discussed enough is which prospects they should actually consider moving. It’s something I feel very strongly about, because the answer is easy: the Braves should be willing to trade every single pitching prospect in their organization.

From Cam Caminiti all the way down, they should have no hesitation about moving them if they’re getting an impact player back, and the reasoning is quite simple.

The Braves have been hoarding pitching prospects for over a decade. The entire rebuild was built on drafting and developing pitching, yet the number of those pitchers who’ve actually contributed to the team’s success has been minimal.

Seriously, think about the last decade of Braves baseball. How many homegrown pitchers have had a significant impact for multiple years?

The answer is one: Max Fried. And it’s not because the Braves can’t develop pitching. They’ve produced numerous frontline starters like Michael Soroka, Spencer Strider, Kyle Wright, and Spencer Schwellenbach. Unfortunately, drafting and developing is only half the battle when it comes to pitchers. Keeping them healthy has been an entirely different story.

This isn’t unique to the Braves, either, even if they’ve probably had worse luck than most organizations. Keeping pitchers healthy these days is nearly an impossible task. Almost every single arm is headed for a 12-month absence at some point early in their career.

So why treat any of them like they’re sure things?

If I’m the Braves, I’m aggressively shopping every single prospect arm in the organization in return for a proven frontline starter who can make an impact now. They’re much better used as trade chips than as guys you’re counting on to deliver in the future.