Matt Harvey Trade Rumors: Braves, Brewers, Cubs interested in Cincinnati Reds pitcher

The Matt Harvey Era in Cincinnati is likely to end here before 4 PM ET, as the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline is at that very time. Harvey, a free agent at season’s end, has been the member of the Reds most prominently mentioned in trade rumors - Adam Duvall actually being traded included - and according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Atlanta Braves are the team most interested in adding the right-hander.

Yes, just a dozen or so hours after Atlanta and Cincinnati hooked up on a deal that sent Duvall to the NL East contenders, the two might be mixing it up again on another deal.

The Braves have been quite active in their search for starting pitching, and have been connected to numerous names, many of them who come with team control beyond just the 2018 season. Tampa Bay Rays starter Chris Archer, who is being pretty aggressively shopped, has been one of those names, but should the asking price be too high for Atlanta’s liking, odds are they’ll make a run at a less costly acquisition - particularly one on Harvey’s tier. Add-in that he’d be returning to his familiar NL East stomping grounds, and there’s a good bit of reason to suggest it could be a solid fit.

Much like with the return for Duvall, I’d doubt you’d see any real prospect of note coming over from Atlanta should they strike a deal. They sport one of the richest farm systems in the game, but also have shown a willingness to keep those players and instead deal from their upper minors and from the fringes of their big league roster, which is likely the best type of deal the Reds could hope to get for the reclamation project they’ve got in Harvey.

Of course, just as soon as we could smack this thing together for an update, FanCred’s Jon Heyman dropped this incredibly timely, topical nugget from his sources:

Trade season, man. It’s the absolute best.

Stay tuned...