The Braves ended up getting a reliever at the trade deadline after all.
The Braves already beat the buzzer at the trade deadline once with the acquisition of Jorge Soler, now it appears that Atlanta had a second deadline deal drop after the deadline, with the addition of Pittsburgh reliever Richard Rodriguez, as reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Richard Rodriguez goes to Atlanta, source tells ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2021
As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports, Bryse Wilson and Ricky Devito are the prospects going to Pittsburgh in exchange for Rodriguez.
Bryse Wilson and Ricky Devito from Braves to Pirates for Richard Rodriguez, source says.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 30, 2021
Rodriguez has been very good in three of the last four seasons and solid in the other one. He is under team control through 2024, meaning that Atlanta gets two more seasons after this one with Rodriguez. The price seems very reasonable for Rodriguez, despite some worse numbers since the foreign substance crackdown. Wilson has seen his prospect star fall lately as he has never been able to consistently string together good results in the majors and Devito is a low level prospect who is nearly 23 years old and still only in high-A.
The one piece seemingly missing from the Braves’ deadline additions was a relief pitcher, and Rodriguez is exactly that, with the news coming in very late. In 37 appearances for the Pirates this season, Rodriguez has posted 1.4 rWAR and 2.82 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 38.1 innings.
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