Report: Braves 'more involved' in Gray sweepstakes
The Atlanta Braves have fallen well back of the pack in the National League wild-card race - and even acted as sellers on Monday by trading Jaime Garcia to Minnesota - but that might not be stopping them from looking to make a splash at the deadline.
Atlanta has reportedly gotten "more involved" in the race to land Oakland Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray, perhaps the most coveted arm of this deadline period, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
It's not known how far talks between the Braves and A's have progressed, if at all.
Although making the playoffs in 2017 may not be a realistic goal for the rebuilding Braves, Gray - who's under club control for another two seasons - is likely their best hope at landing a controllable pitcher who can help them compete in 2018 and '19. They were linked to another controllable arm in Jose Quintana before he was dealt to the Cubs after the All-Star break.
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The Braves entered their current 10-game stretch within shouting distance of a playoff spot, but have since fallen to 8 1/2 games back of the second NL wild-card berth.
Despite the Braves' apparent hot pursuit of Gray, Sherman added that the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers are still viewed as the "strongest pursuers" for the Vanderbilt product, with the Houston Astros - whose talks with Oakland were reportedly "heating up" earlier this week - also still involved.
The Seattle Mariners are also reportedly interested in Gray.