As the trade deadline draws closer, it seems Frank Wren and the Braves are primarily focused on bolstering the bench and bullpen. This makes sense, given how bad the bench is and how the bullpen would be even greater with the addition of a shutdown left-handed reliever.
One guy who would be a nice bench piece is Chris Denorfia.
#Mariners and #Braves are teams talking most to #Padres about adding Denorfia for their bench
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 28, 2014
Denorfia, 34 and a free agent at the end of the year, isn't having a great season, but he's been quite good since 2010 with the Padres. He's hitting just .244/.295/.321 with a 78 wRC+ and 0.7 WAR in 2014, though he's at .275/.332/.400 with a 108 wRC+ since 2010. Denorfia has also stolen 11+ bases in each of the last four seasons.
He can easily handle both corner outfield spots, as well. Another perk: he has a .301 career average with an .810 OPS against lefties.
Given that he's not having a great season and will be a free agent in three months, the Padres probably won't get much for him. It's easy to see why Denorfia would be a welcome addition to the Braves.
We'll see which team lands him in the next day or two, because it looks likely he's traded somewhere soon.