The Atlanta Braves made several trades this winter, an area where president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos usually excels. However, some fans are questioning if he made a mistake this time.
The team traded a five-player package, including right-hander Michael Soroka, to the Chicago White Sox to acquire reliever Aaron Bummer last November. Soroka has been impressive in spring training, raising some eyebrows among fans.
Jake Mastroianni, host of the Locked on Braves podcast, addressed this concern in a recent mailbag episode, stating that the trade was not a mistake for several reasons.
First, despite Soroka’s strong spring performance—posting a 2.00 ERA with twelve strikeouts and four walks in nine innings—spring training stats should be taken with a grain of salt. Jake emphasized that spring training numbers aren’t always predictive, and what’s more important are the actual elements of Soroka’s pitching, such as velocities, movement, and any new adjustments.
While Soroka’s results look promising, there is no available Statcast data to confirm if his pitches are genuinely different or improved.
The second reason Jake cited is Soroka’s lack of roster flexibility at this stage in his career. After spending nearly three seasons on the injured list due to an Achilles tear and subsequent re-rupture, Soroka is out of minor league options. This made it difficult to keep him on the major league roster all season. If he didn’t make the Opening Day rotation, the Braves would have had to DFA him, risking losing him through waivers.
Faced with this dilemma, the Braves decided to trade him to ensure they received value in return. Jake argued that the trade benefited both Atlanta and Soroka, allowing Soroka to get a fresh start with less pressure.
Jake concluded, “As much as I wanted him to succeed with the Braves, it was the best thing for him. To be able to go somewhere, get a fresh start in a place where there’s not a lot of pressure to win now so you can roll him out there every fifth day. Let him work through some things, and hopefully he gets it back together.”
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