Rotation leader Teheran too valuable to deal

This rebuilding of the Braves is baseball’s version of watching sausages being made. It’s not pretty, but it’ll taste good in the end. With that big picture in mind, every trade of a Jason Heyward here or a Craig Kimbrel there makes sense.

Braves officials wish to build for the future, with their immediate thoughts on 2017, when they open SunTrust Park just northwest of Atlanta. So they’ve exchanged as many established players as possible for prospects who are destined for their Major League roster or who will help them acquire significant players down the road for a championship run.

I get it. I just don’t get these whispers that are slowly becoming shouts about the Braves letting Julio Teheran play somewhere else in the near future.

Well, I do get it. At 25, and with an impressive right arm, Teheran would fetch a lot for Atlanta as the ace of the Major League’s youngest pitching rotation, where he is the old man of the group. Not only that, but he has a trade-friendly contract. Teheran is signed through 2019 with a club option of $12 million for ’20. In a year with so many teams already positioning themselves for a mad dash toward a division title or Wild Card spot, you can’t get enough quality pitchers, and Teheran fits well with most staffs.

Teheran fits better with the Braves. Just ask him.

“Yeah, of course I’d love to stay here, because it’s the organization I first signed with, and I want to be with the Braves my whole career, but I understand it’s a business,” said Teheran, who was a non-drafted free agent when he signed with Atlanta at 16 out of Cartagena, Colombia.

It was a splendid move for both sides. The Braves were continuing their tradition since the mid-1980s of …

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