By: TJ Hartnett

The Braves have already traded Jason Grilli and Kelly Johnson, and logic dictates that they will just be the first of many veteran pieces Atlanta will move this year as they continue to build up their minor league talent base.

There are a handful of players who have question marks by their name as to whether or not they are likely to be elsewhere come September, but the guy getting talked about the most is Julio Teheran.

Trading Julio is an interesting notion, and one that could very well come to pass. The Braves brass have said they’d have to be blown away by an offer to consider trading the young righty. There are certainly pros and cons to the idea.

So the Braves are bad, and Julio is good; this is the starting point for any solid trade rumor. Trade the current talent for future talent to use when the team can win games.

He’s also started this season strong, is young, and has a very team-friendly contract. Put that together with the lack of arms on the market this season and in the upcoming free agent class, you’ve got a very appealing player for teams looking for impact arms.

There’s a decent chance the Braves could use Julio to pry some Major League ready talent away from contenders or teams close to it.

Look at what the Braves scored for Shelby Miller – two highly rated prospects, one of which has already made it to the big leagues, and a Major League outfielder (despite his statistics).

That kind of return would certainly help Atlanta pull the trigger on moving Teheran and it probably should. He could bring back pieces that help now and for years into the future.

On the other hand, Teheran is the Braves best pitcher, and this is a team that has been aiming to compete by next year.

Matt Wisler has been very good and Folty and Perez have shown flashes of brilliance, but Julio has been a Major League pitcher for more years than the rest of them combined (at age 26, mind you) and for a team that hopes to contend next year, unloading your most valuable piece and putting the rotation in the hands of a staff with mostly freshmen and sophomores seems like it might be a recipe for failure.

The contract, as mentioned above, gives the Braves the best years of a pitcher that may not be a definitive ace but can clearly pitch near the top of a Major League rotation.

He’s earning salaries of $3.3MM, $6.3MM and $8MM for his arbitration seasons and can be controlled for just $23MM total for his first two would-be free-agent seasons. There’s an enormous amount of value to the Braves themselves in that deal and a strong reason to keep him.

I wonder too about fan backlash. The Braves have struggled to fill Turner Field even halfway during its final season, the product on the field is bad and there are those that will curse and yell if the best player on the team is shipped off for yet more prospects.

At least, that’s what I’ve read. I would honestly have to disagree.

Yes it would be too bad to see Julio leave as he is one of the few watchable players on the roster right now, but I think that the vocal outcry to this hypothetical trade would come from those who don’t follow the sport all that closely.