The Atlanta Braves: Will The Top NL East Team Please Stand Up?

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The NL East has proven to be the free-for-all many thought it would be. The Atlanta Braves are in fourth place, but are only three games out of first place on July 1.

The New York Mets are injured and their roster is depleted, yet they broke out of a five-game losing streak against Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo on Wednesday.

The Florida Marlins have shot up the standings to within a half-game of first place after a 17-11 June.

The Philadelphia Phillies hit the skids in June with an 11-15 mark, but are still at the top in the division.

The Washington Nationals are, well, they're the Nationals.

I have personally written the Braves off more than once over this up and down season.

The most recent time was when Atlanta fell to six games under .500, and five games back of the Phillies just this past week when the Yankees and Red Sox blew through town with four wins in six games.

Now these Braves are riding a modest three-game win streak (tied for their longest such streak all season) and seemingly have tremendous momentum after coming back on Tuesday night against the Phillies, and blowing them away on Wednesday night, 11-1.

One thing I have learned with these Braves though, never get your hopes up. Sure I like what I see lately, but you just never know.

We are seeing what this team is capable of. But you are fooling yourself if you think this team no longer needs one more bat to help out. Some guys are overachieving at just the right time.

The Mets are cooked.

They will not be able to compete while the likes of Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes sit on the bench with injuries. Also hurting the Mets is the fact that Johan Santana is the only starter on the team that can be counted on every time he toes the rubber.

The Phillies do not have the starting pitching to keep up should the Marlins or Braves sustain hot streaks. Sure, their offense is otherworldly, but teams with such imbalance usually struggle—just ask the Braves.

I think the Marlins are built to compete.

Their young pitching is stellar, and they have some serious offensive talent with Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu and others. Their bullpen is currently struggling, but they should address that fairly soon.

The Braves and Marlins are close to flipping this division on its ear. Both teams are relatively young, have solid starting arms, and both seem to be one move away from taking control in the East.

With that in mind, what do the Braves do?

I personally think right now is the time to make a move if at all possible. Get a big bat in here, sustain this mini-hot streak, and get to a few games over .500 at the break.

I've written about Jermaine Dye among others as being possible solutions. But the latest scuttlebutt I'm hearing has everyone from Kotchman to Escobar to Francoeur to Vazquez all being trade bait.

Is it possible that the Braves could pull off a deal for Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres?

Absolutely.

Kevin Towers loves Yunel Escobar and Bobby Cox and Frank Wren, frankly, do not.

I could foresee Yunel, Medlen and Kotchman heading to San Diego for Gonzalez—a young, inexpensive and very talented player whom the Braves would have control of through 2011—presumably when prospect Freddie Freeman will be ready to take over at first.

He wouldn't be the first left-handed Padre to come to the Braves in a blockbuster either (the Fred McGriff trade will forever be a grand day in Braves history for me).

Of course such a deal would leave Atlanta without a shortstop, but that could be fixed in short order as allowing Diory Hernandez to continue playing there until Omar Infante comes back in a couple of weeks. If you remember, Infante was every bit as productive as Escobar before he was hit in the hand and forced to miss six-plus weeks.

Maybe Atlanta could get a big bat like Dye, Adam Dunn, Alex Rios or Nelson Cruz.

Who knows at this point?

But if a deal can be made soon it just might allow this Braves team to sustain this streak and take over the topsy turvy NL East.

No one else seems to want to.

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