Braves Must Now Go All Out for Kris Bryant After Dodgers' Mookie Betts Trade

It's hard to improve on a 106-win team, but the Los Angeles Dodgers found a way. After falling short of a World Series title yet again, the seven-time defending NL West champions went out and acquired 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and David Price from the Boston Red Sox in a trade with colossal implications for the seasons to come.

The move put the rest of their rivals in the National League behind the eight ball as far as World Series aspirations are concerned. The Atlanta Braves, who particularly felt like they were coming into their own thanks to an exciting young core, are now facing even more of an uphill battle in the race to catch the Dodgers. That's exactly why they need to set all of their concerns aside and trade for a different former MVP: Kris Bryant from the Chicago Cubs.

The Atlanta #Braves had trade talks earlier with the #Cubs on Kris Bryant, but considered the asking price too steep. Those talks are expected to be revisited.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 15, 2020

There's no reason not to at this point. The Dodgers have just assembled the closest thing to a superteam in baseball outside of the Yankees. Acquiring Bryant is the only way they can hope to compete, and Atlanta has a boatload of talented prospects -- pitchers, especially, not all of whom will be able to fit on the big league roster -- that might catch the eyes of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer.

And it's not like he'd be an unnecessary acquisition; far from it. The Braves couldn't retain Josh Donaldson this offseason, and now they're headed into the 2020 season with a gaping hole at third base. Bryant, whose .903 OPS actually surpassed Donaldson's .900 last season, would be the perfect replacement given that young buck Austin Riley surely isn't quite ready to take on the full-time role.

The Atlanta Braves have yet to figure out how to handle the third base position after the departure of Josh Donaldson. Our own @sportsnstuff13 notes their options: https://t.co/Mi79AkCvmk pic.twitter.com/BI6YCf9x5g
— Overtime Heroics Baseball (@baseball_oth) January 31, 2020

This would be the perfect move to help the two-time defending NL East champs go toe-to-toe with LA next year. They've got a strong roster already, and swinging a trade for Bryant would round things out swimmingly. He could slot right in at the cleanup spot in the order where Donaldson previously stood, right in between Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis. Not a bad place to be.

This is how the Braves can usurp the Dodgers as the top team in the NL: by matching their MVP acquisition with an MVP acquisition of their own.