With no trade for top-end starter, did Braves get better with Deadline moves?

ATLANTA -- Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos made three acquisitions over the past few days. But it was the one he didn’t make that highlighted the chatter when this year’s Trade Deadline arrived on Monday at 6 p.m. ET.

Anthopoulos landed a right-handed bat in Lane Thomas, added a back-end starter in Tyler Mahle and gained bullpen depth with the acquisition of Brent Suter. But while holding on to all of his top prospects, he didn’t land the playoff-caliber starting pitcher his team needed to strengthen its World Series bid.

"We didn't go into the Deadline with the thought that we have to get this or we have to get that,” Anthopoulos said. “We were just trying to make the team better. A few years ago, we could have gotten one of the elite starters in the game, but Drake Baldwin would have been going out the door. That's not to say those are easy decisions. You'd like to get deals done. But there's certain asks you say yes to, and those are the deals that you do. And there's certain ones you say no to."

Multiple sources have said Anthopoulos asked about Jacob deGrom multiple times over the past couple of weeks. It would have essentially been a swap of large contracts, one of which belongs to Spencer Strider, who is owed $66 million over the next few years. The Rangers didn’t show initial interest, possibly because of the uncertainty surrounding Strider’s arm. By Monday afternoon, deGrom said he wouldn’t have approved a trade to any team.

When Anthopoulos was asked if one of the potential deals he tried to complete might have been blocked by a no-trade clause, he laughed and told the reporter, “You should have been a lawyer.”

"There are various reasons why deals don't get done,” Anthopoulos said. “It's not appropriate for me to discuss deals that didn't get done."

The Braves didn’t dip into their prospect capital for Tarik Skubal, who ended up with the Dodgers. Nor did they land any of the consolation prizes like Robbie Ray and Casey Mize, a couple of potential rotation upgrades who were both traded to the Padres. The Cubs also acquired a pair of starters in Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes.

As for the Braves, their rotation addition was limited to Mahle, who was acquired from the Giants on Sunday. Mahle might be the No. 4 starter in Atlanta. But he’s not the frontline guy Braves fans have been seeking since Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach were both injured during Spring Training.

Will the Braves regret not adding to a rotation that has seemingly been thin since November? The answer will develop over the next few months. If the playoffs would start now, Chris Sale, Bryce Elder and Martín Pérez would likely be Atlanta’s starters in the first three games of a postseason series.

That’s not going to harken memories of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. Heck, it’s not even close to being the same as Fried, Morton and Anderson.

Still, Atlanta is currently in good position, sitting 22 games above .500 and eight games in front of the second-place Phillies in the NL East. The Braves will also get some reinforcements before Tuesday’s game against the Marlins.

Thomas, Mahle and Suter will all join the club. So, too, will catcher Sean Murphy and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who were both activated from the injured list on Monday night.

The Braves opened a roster spot for Murphy by trading Joey Bart to the White Sox for Minor League pitcher Duncan Davitt. They opened a roster spot for Thomas by trading Eli White to the Red Sox for Minor League pitcher Tyler Uberstine.

Jorge Mateo was designated for assignment to create a spot for Kim. Both James Karinchak and JR Ritchie were optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett to create spots for Mahle and Suter.

Thomas, who has an .800 OPS against left-handed pitchers this year, will platoon with Mike Yastrzemski in left field and provide a right-handed bat to use off the bench. Mauricio Dubón will be used as a utility player and Jim Jarvis will remain the everyday shortstop.

Mahle will make his first start for the Braves at Yankee Stadium this weekend, and Suter will take some strain off of other relievers with his ability to frequently pitch both multiple innings and on consecutive days.

Did the Braves make themselves better? Possibly in a few areas. But time will tell how much they might regret not improving the one obvious area of need.