Braves trade rumors: Braves continue to publicly deny Teheran trade interest

Another day has come and gone as the march towards the trade deadline progresses, and publicly, the story remains the same as far as Julio Teheran is concerned — the Braves are declaring that he isn’t for sale. Jon Heyman relayed the news in his latest column for Today’s Knuckleball, and although he did mention that the Braves are still taking calls on their top pitcher, they still aren’t budging on their steep price. Additionally, Heyman mentioned that the Braves are also battling perception problems as well.

Teheran would be a major trade chip. But the Braves still won’t hear of it. “We have no intention of trading him,” a Braves official said for the third straight week. Braves higher-ups love Teheran and don’t want to be in position where they’re seen as trading “everyone,” which can be a bad look. They are getting calls, naturally.

Additionally, John Coppolella told Mark Bowman that he’s received calls from a dozen of GMs on Teheran but has rejected all of them.

"I have told about 12 different general managers we aren't moving [Teheran]," Coppolella said. "We have gotten some hits on some other starting pitchers and we've got to at least listen. But I think young pitching for us is what we're trying to build around."

Now, you could translate this from “GM-speak” to mean that the Braves haven’t gotten a good enough offer on Teheran yet, but you could also take these words at face-value as well. If the Braves seriously believe that they’ll be good again while Teheran’s under contract (and if all goes well as far as player development and future acquisitions go, that could very well happen), then this could be a smart move as far as the future is concerned. However, there’s a chance that Teheran’s value on the trade market will never be higher than it is right now, so if they’re going to capitalize on that, then now is their best chance to do so.

If the Braves are bluffing when it comes to their intentions with Julio Teheran, then they’re keeping a mean poker face.

Meanwhile, here are a few other trade notes to keep an eye on:

• Heyman reported that “bit players” like Jeff Francoeur, Gordon Beckham, and Jim Johnson have received trade interest recently. Each of those players could definitely provide some help as bench players for a contender, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of those guys on the move.

• Erick Aybar’s name was also mentioned, but it’ll probably take a miracle for him to get traded at this point. Again, contenders value “veteran presence,” but I don’t think that they value it enough to take on a player who is currently hitting .213/.264/.268 with 38 wRC+ and -1.6 fWAR.

• Arodys Vizcaino may be on the DL but according to Heyman, the Braves are still receiving a decent amount of trade interest. Remember, players on the DL can still get traded, so it wouldn’t be too crazy to see a team decide that they want to pick up Vizcaino at or near the deadline, and I’m sure that the Braves will be taking all calls on their current closer. Of course, the oblique injury is a concern and Vizcaino’s recent performances haven’t exactly been promising. Still, the market for pitching is pretty bare, so there’s always a chance that a team could come calling and make a decent enough offer.

• Ever since he joined the Braves, there’s been an idea that Nick Markakis probably won’t finish his four-year contract in a Braves uniform. As far as a deadline trade is concerned, Mark Bowman believes there’s a “chance” that the current starting right fielder for the Braves could be on the move.

Things may be a bit slow at the moment, but I’d imagine that the trade market for the Braves will heat up as the deadline draws closer. The Braves figure to be one of the busier teams at the deadline, so it won’t be a huge shock to see a trade or two get done either before or on Deadline Day.