Braves and Giants Should Ignite MLB With This Surprise Trade

The Atlanta Braves look every part of a contender, but could use as much veteran presence in their rotation to supplement their young stars as they can get.

The San Francisco Giants are stuck in the muck, loaded with veteran contracts they don't need, and without enough of a fertile farm to feel confident in their future.

So...let's make a deal? We're sending Jeff Samardzija, coming off a great year you probably didn't notice, to Atlanta, in exchange for Ender Inciarte and a prospect.

Inciarte is locked down for the next two seasons at just over $6 million per year, with a team option in place for 2022, as well. But following a Nick Markakis re-signing and the addition of Marcell Ozuna, Atlanta has to find playing time for everyone (remember, they chose to create this logjam), and it may prove necessary to deal an excellent center fielder in Inciarte whose bat began its inevitable slowdown in '20 (.246 with just five home runs in 199 at-bats, sustaining hamstring and lumbar injuries).

It can be argued (rather easily) that Samardzija would help Atlanta much more than Inciarte would, even if both were fully healthy. We'll forgive you if you didn't watch much Giants baseball last year, but the Shark's 11-12 record with a 3.52 ERA proved his sinker is back up and running. 2020 is the last year Samardzija's set to make $18 million annually; he'll hit free agency next season. With Cole Hamels already dinged up and Felix Hernandez's shine disappearing with every day he's not dominating in Spring Training, a short-term commitment to Samardzija makes a lot of sense.

Inciarte and a young, slugging lottery ticket first baseman like Bryce Ball (Atlanta's 22nd-best prospect) for Samardzija? Makes sense to us.