If you could "steal" one player from a rival, who would it be?

We're at peak offseason.

Over the holidays, not much was happening in the baseball world.

(except for Atlanta Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos trading for Boston Red Sox starter Chris Sale, because he's built different.)

And because of the lull in activity, trying to find ways to drum up engagement and activity became a thing. Our attention was drawn to this attempt from Bleacher Report:

If you could take one player from your favorite team's biggest rival and add them to your team, who would you pick? 👀 pic.twitter.com/5JbH3j5nJr
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) December 29, 2023

We have thoughts.

First, delete that photo immediately. That's awful. Aaron Judge in a Red Sox uniform? No thank you.

Second, a lot of teams don't have clearly defined rivals. There were Milwaukee Brewers fans taking a Seattle Mariners pitcher, and New York Yankees fans taking players from the Houston Astros.

But finally: If the Atlanta Braves were to do this, who from the New York Mets or Philadelphia Phillies do you select? We have some ideas, based on the criteria.

If it's for one season: RHP Zack Wheeler

If the goal of stealing a player is to give Atlanta the best chance to make it to the World Series in 2024, give me Zack Wheeler.

The 33 year-old, entering the final year of a five year deal signed with Philly in December of 2019, has been a model of a workhorse during his time in the majors. In the last five full seasons (excluding 2020), he's made at least 26 starts and pitched 150 innings, with four of those coming in at 29 or more starts and more than 180 innings.

And he's not been a bum on the mound, either - his ERA's been between 2.50 and 3.50 every season from that group but one, when he had a...3.96 in his final year with the Mets in 2019.

If we're lining up with a rotation of Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Zack Wheeler, Charlie Morton, and Chris Sale, I'm feeling pretty good about our chances of getting to the postseason with at least three of those arms available, if not more.

Want the ultimate offense? OF/1B Bryce Harper

In this hypothetical exercise, we're tired of getting beat by Bryce Harper so we just add him to the squad.

This does a few things to the roster, starting with the team control - Harper's signed through 2031, so you have every single defensive position locked up for multiple seasons AND can rotate someone into DH as much as you want.

Also, adding Harper gives the Braves yet another lefty power hitting threat - imagine slotting the two-time MVP Harper into the #2 hole behind Ronald Acuña Jr and ahead of Austin Riley and Matt Olson?

It's absurd just to think about it.

(It'll also do some wild things to Atlanta's luxury tax payroll, as Harper's making $27M per year on his deal and the Braves are already close to that third luxury tax threshold.)

If money doesn't matter? SS Francisco Lindor

Adding the 30 year-old Lindor, who just finished the 3rd year of his ten year contract with the New York Mets, would give the Braves a long-term defensive option at shortstop and yet another MVP candidate to add to the offense.

Lindor is a career .274 batter that's finished with 30 or more homers four times in his career, finishing with MVP votes in six different seasons. He's a three-time Silver Slugger and a two-time Gold Glove winner, a rare combination of awards for any MLB player.

Remember the caveat of "if money doesn't matter" we threw up there? That's the only scenario where this works, because Lindor's owed $34.1M a year for the next eight seasons, taking him through the age of 37. There's just no way to fit that kind of deal into Atlanta's payroll and not absolutely blow through all of the CBT penalty tiers.

Under the radar option? RHP Kodai Senga

Hear me out, because there's a lot of reasons to like Kodai Senga on the Braves.

First, he's a strikeout artist. Senga, who debuted for the Mets in 2023 at the age of 30 after a prolific career in Japan, struck out 202 batters in only 166.1 innings last season. And he's not a one pitch pitcher, sitting in both the 99th percentile (Statcast) in fastball performance and 98th percentile for offspeed, thanks to his "Ghost Fork" splitter.

Kodai Senga, 97mph Fastball and 84mph Ghost Fork, Overlay.

HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO HIT THIS??? pic.twitter.com/qX9rT4MgyT
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 28, 2023

Second, he's affordable. Senga, who signed a five year deal with the Mets last year, has four years and a total of $60M remaining on the contract. He's owed only $15M each season, with a club option for 2028. He does have a player opt-out he can exercise after 2025 if he pitches 400 combined innings across 2023-2025, so we'll need AA to work his magic on this one.

Third, and perhaps the biggest one: That Ghost Fork splitter is the single most effective pitch in all of baseball last season. Know who else throws a splitter?

Top prospect Hurston Waldrep.

What better way to help him reach his full potential than by bringing in MLB's preeminent splitter artisan to help him hone it?

Hurston Waldrep's Splitter (home plate view) pic.twitter.com/JHZIhOcizy
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 19, 2023

Who did we miss?

Let us know!

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