The Atlanta Braves have a clear need for starting pitching help ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline.
Atlanta has a clear need to bolster the rotation ahead of the deadline, and the Braves have been linked to several starters. So, ahead of the deadline, CBS Sports analyst Mike Axisa predicted Atlanta will acquire Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers.
“If the Tigers trade Skubal, something that seems increasingly likely, they might as well trade Casey Mize too,” Axisa wrote. “He’s another rental. The Braves really need another starter to buttress a rotation that is counting a little too much on Bryce Elder and Martín Pérez these days.
“Mize’s ongoing groin issue (he’s currently on the injured list for the third time this season with it) is the X-factor here. For our purposes, we’ll assume the Braves or whichever team trades for him are comfortable with the medicals. Mize has been terrific when healthy this year and might be a better bang for the buck than Skubal, given the potential asking prices.”
Mize would be a nice addition to the Braves’ rotation. The former first-overall pick was an All-Star in 2025 and is 4-6 with a 2.70 ERA in 16 starts this season, showing how effective he can be.
Mize is also a pending free agent, so the cost to acquire him wouldn’t be as high as some other starters.
Mize Knows Trade Could Happen
With the Tigers out of a playoff spot, Mize’s name has come up in trade rumors.
Mize is set to start on Friday, and he admitted he’s thought about it potentially being his final start with the Tigers.
“I’m certainly thinking about it more now,” Mize said Wednesday morning. “There is a lot of unknown about what the next five or six days are going to bring and I am just as curious as anybody. It’s coming up more. It’s all around us. But we’ll see. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Friday could be my last one.”
Detroit selected Mize first overall in 2018, and as he could be dealt, he has said his goal is to win.
“I want to win,” he said. “I want to play somewhere I am comfortable, a place that wants me. Those are my priorities. I really want to win. That’s why we play. Whether that’s Monday comes and goes and I’m still here or if I’m elsewhere, I’m going to continue to want to win. There’s just so many scenarios that I try not to get sucked into that. But I know it’s a possibility.”
Mize made 2 playoff starts in his career, both last season.
Braves Looking to Pitching Help
Atlanta is expected to be a buyer ahead of the August 3 MLB Trade Deadline.
Braves insider Mark Bowman of MLB.com named pitching help the biggest need for the team, and that’s both starters and relievers.
“López, Holmes and Perez aren’t starters you can rely upon to give you six-plus innings on a consistent basis,” Bowman wrote. “That’s not necessarily a problem in the playoffs, because off-days create ample rest for bullpens. But the Braves’ bullpen has been heavily, taxed while the team’s starters have completed six-plus innings just five times in the past 34 games. There’s no doubt the Braves need a playoff-caliber starter. But getting to the playoffs is going to become a greater challenge if they continue to put a heavy tax the ‘pen over the season’s final two months.”
The Braves are 62-44.
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