Braves Trade Idea Lands $110 Million 2-Time All-Star to Fill Spencer Strider Gap

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Alex Anthopoulos has spent the past month watching his rotation dissolve one man at a time, and the trade deadline is fast approaching with less than three weeks left to fix it. Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Martin Perez and Joey Wentz are all shelved, and Hurston Waldrep was just pulled from a Triple-A start with arm discomfort. Atlanta’s answer might be sitting in the AL East cellar, wearing a Toronto Blue Jays uniform, according to a new trade idea from analyst Chris Landers.

The Braves still top the NL East at 58-41, a cushion built during a scorching first half before the injuries piled up. That security buys Anthopoulos a little time.

Atlanta’s Rotation Crisis

GettyKevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported Sunday that the Braves have grown pessimistic about former 20-game winner Strider returning in 2026, a serious blow for a team that entered the season believing its ace was working his way back from elbow inflammation. Strider has been out since mid-June.

“I think it’s been pretty obvious, if there’s a playoff-caliber starter out there, we would jump at that,” Anthopoulos said on MLB Network Radio. The Aug. 3 trade deadline is fast approaching, and Landers of FanSided on Monday proposed the fix that would bring Gausman back to Atlanta, where he pitched in 2018 and 2019.

Gausman for Hernandez Makes Sense: Analyst

GettyManager Walt Weiss of the Atlanta Braves.

FanSided named Gausman as a potential fit, noting the 35-year-old righty already spent parts of two seasons with the Braves, posting a 5-3 record and a 2.87 ERA over 10 starts after a 2018 midseason trade there. The idea, according to Landers, is a low-cost reclamation bet built around a splitter that never stopped working.

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The 2026 results back up the concern. Gausman carries a 4-8 record with a 4.32 ERA, 108 strikeouts and a 1.22 WHIP through his Blue Jays starts this season, a steep drop from the 3.16 ERA and 237 strikeouts that made him an AL Cy Young finalist in 2023. Toronto, meanwhile, sits fifth in the AL East at 46-54.

Gausman, an All-Star in 2021 and 2023, is in the final year of a five-year, $110 million contract, carrying a $23 million salary in 2026 before hitting unrestricted free agency this winter. Trading him now would let the Blue Jays recoup value instead of watching him walk for nothing in a few months.

Herick Hernandez fits what a rebuilding farm system wants back, according to Landers. The 2024 fourth-round pick is a 22-year-old left-hander who ranks No. 13 among all Atlanta prospects, per MLB Pipeline, and has already flashed frontline stuff at Double-A, including a start where he retired his first 16 batters and finished with nine strikeouts, an outing that left him with a 1.83 ERA, second-best in the Southern League at the time.

Hernandez’s fastball sits in the low-to-mid 90s, but command remains the question that keeps him from ranking higher on Atlanta’s prospect list. He’s currently dealing with a minor injury-list stint of his own, a small wrinkle that shouldn’t scare off a team hunting for pitching depth. For Atlanta, the math adds up. For Toronto, turning an expiring $23 million salary into a controllable young arm might be the best offer left on the board.