It’s been a tough season all around in Atlanta. The club has lost four of its top five starters (Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Schwellenbach, and AJ Smith-Shawver) to the injured list so far, with Spencer Strider having spent time on the shelf earlier in the year as well. The offense has produced well below expectations despite brilliant performances from Ronald Acuna Jr. and the club’s catching tandem, as well as the ever-steady production of Matt Olson at first base. The bullpen, typically anchored by Raisel Iglesias, has looked uncharacteristically shaky. For all the things that have gone wrong this year, perhaps none have been as frustrating for the club as the struggles of Ozzie Albies.
Albies, 28, is a three-time All-Star who entered the 2025 season with a career 108 wRC+ and more than 20 career WAR according to both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference. He has not looked at all like himself this season. Across 90 games and 383 plate appearances, he’s slashed just .223/.292/.315 (72 wRC+). His expected numbers (.291 xwOBA) are stronger than his actual production (.274 wOBA), but both figures are well below par this season. That’s come in spite of a strikeout rate (15.4%) that’s lower than his career norms and a walk rate (8.1%) that’s actually the highest of his career.
With his plate discipline numbers looking better than ever, the culprit behind Albies’ lack of productivity is clear: power. The infielder has just six home runs this year and 19 extra-base hits total. His .092 ISO (slugging minus average) is the seventh-lowest figure in baseball and trails even contact-oriented bats like Nico Hoerner and Bryson Stott. It’s not impossible to be a productive bat with that level of power; Hoerner has a 104 wRC+ with an ISO just two points higher than Albies, while J.P. Crawford has an identical ISO and a wRC+ of 128. It’s a profile that requires even better plate discipline numbers than Albies has, however. Crawford’s production is boosted by an excellent 13.3% walk rate, while Hoerner strikes out at a microscopic 6.7% clip.
Aside from that, both hitters also carry BABIPs over .300. Albies sits at just .251 this season. That’s very low and should be expected to come up at least a little bit, but the switch-hitter has a BABIP of just .289 for his career and has posted a figure over .300 in a full season just once before, in the 2019 season. Rather than better fortune on batted balls, Albies’ previous production came by way of 25-to-30 homer thump when healthy. Unfortunately, that power has disappeared. Albies hit just 10 homers in 99 games last year, and that might’ve looked like an anomaly at the time, but this year’s lack of pop now makes it look like the start of a new normal.
If Albies can’t turn things around soon, how should the Braves approach their second baseman? He’s proven capable of being a star when at his best, so the idea of trading him at such a low point in his value would be difficult to swallow. Declining his $7MM club option for 2026 seems like it should be off the table entirely, particularly given the $4MM buyout that effectively makes it a $3MM decision.
At the same time, Atlanta has just three more seasons of team control over Acuna, and 2026 will be Sale’s final year before he reaches free agency unless he agrees to another extension. The Braves have been clear that they don’t plan to sell much this summer, if they do at all. But the offseason will see players like Iglesias and Marcell Ozuna depart for free agency, necessitating a reconstruction of the roster anyway. Could seeing about an upgrade at second base be a sensible part of that offseason retool?
With so many of Atlanta’s most important pieces nearing the open market in the next few years, it can be argued that the Braves would be better served trying to find more certain production at the keystone by targeting a player like Gleyber Torres in free agency. The flip side of that, of course, is that Albies’ contract is exceptionally cost-effective. Torres’ $15MM salary with the Tigers this year is already more than double Albies’ salary for next season if his option is picked up, and Torres appears ticketed for a much bigger payday in his return to free agency this winter. Rolling the dice on Albies could be easier to stomach if other pieces of the Braves’ current core like Michael Harris II and Jurickson Profar can put up big numbers in the second half and assuage concerns over another season where the team is mired in an offensive malaise.
How do MLBTR readers think Atlanta’s front office should approach the situation they’ve found themselves in with Albies? Should they stick with him going forward due to his potential upside and cheap salary, or should they see what they can get on the trade market in hopes of replacing him with a steadier option? Have your say in the poll below:
Trade him to Boston for Vaughn Grissom
Quality post. Well executed.
Hahaha
Not out of the realm of possibility lol
Could he play 3rd for the cubs?
No. He has one of the worse arms in the entire league
I agree about his arm. At 3rd base he would need a 10 hopper side armed to throw out Ozuna with a bad hip.
Heck no! He’s beyond undersized and his arm strength is very suspect!
I have to be the 4th guy to say “noodle arm” in so many words.
Baseball “experts” have said that Matt Shaw has a Noodle Arm. Those experts is what I like to call talking heads.
He had a elbow injury that killed whatever arm strength he did have. Now he rarely throws the ball as hard as he can so his avg velocity is generally last for 2nd baseman.
He’s also a natural SS. Which is typically the strongest arm on the infield. So his arm plays at 3B. He’s been solid in defense.
His days as a SS were over after he broke his olecranon years ago. Weakest arm at 2B in MLB.
My old man always told me , When in doubt -Punt.
Trade him for Kevin Seitzer.
Didn’t you guys release him to sign free agent Jared Dehart
We traded him for a box of little Debbie devil creams. In defense of AA, devil creams ARE damn good…
I’d tell him he has to swing a lighter bat and see if his hit production goes up. May lose some power but he shouldn’t be a power bat.
Take him off the stove – he’s cooked.
Conspiracy theory, he was doing roids and when profar was caught he stopped. I say this half jokingly, his body type and his swing, especially from the left hand side always seemed wonky and arm strength only, when his hits whould go out it seemed odd to me. Feel like this is really who he always was….
You may have a point there. These days something like your comment is mild compared to the conspiracy stuff I hear.
Who?
Torres is the only available FA 2B of note, and he’s ripe to get overpaid.
They’d have to go the trade market route.
IKF … Luis Urias is a FA …. if eugenio suarez can play 3rd and short im sure he can handle 2b … possibility albies doesnt get his option picked up and you can pick him up and still get what you traded him for … rosario … rengifo
@el chapo: More likely that he hasn’t fully recovered from the broken wrist he suffered late last season.
It’s a no brainer. At a $7M price, you keep him and hope he returns to career norms.
Ahhh, but his price could lead to increased value in a trade. I’d say move him at the TDL and try to upgrade in the Offseason.
I don’t think he has much value in a trade other than a team may be willing to take on the $7 million plus the option in hopes he bounces back.
Maybe they can get some bullpen depth that turns into a productive reliever at best, but he’s not going to fetch a decent prospect, solid starter or lineup option.
“I don’t think he has much value…”
True brandon, but my thought process is a contender might need a 2B for the stretch and ATL would be wise to see what Ozzie can fetch and potentially get out from any owed monies. If you don’t like the offers, you don’t move him and run it back in ’26. All of this is presuming the Braves sell, and that’s not a complete given (yet)!
Right now, today, I think you’re probably close on the value because he is having a down year; which, given his age and affordability is why I wouldn’t move him. You’d be hoping to get a productive reliever and having to replace Albies, versus just spending some money on a pen arm that’s proven and hoping Albies bounces back. If next year looks like this, then you do the tough thing and buy out the contract for 4m.
Maybe he’s playing up to his contract amount ? Or down to it I should say.
I agree it’s a no brainer. And as the article mentions, they’d have to pay him a $4 million buyout, anyway, for next year. So $3 million more and hoping he bounces back is a good deal.
It is a 3 million decision as he has a 4 million dollar buy out. Which I would be surprised if Atlanta didn’t pick it up
What is amazing is how players go from top to bottom pretty PDQ in the last 10 years or so, Im not sure I have ever seen stars go from boom to bust like what appears to have been happening to players in the last ten years. Maybe MLBTraderumors needs to do a Poll on why people think that is.
The pitching keeps getting better.
I think if you honestly look at the history of baseball, this happens much more frequently than you’d imagine. Injuries, league adjustments, the day-to-day grind, conditioning, aging, injuries again. I remember as a kid in the 1980’s studying the backs of baseball cards and thinking the same thing.
Players were far more consistent back then, I mean yeah injuries happen, but you have guys that have no injuries who fall of a cliff these days, and its not due to age either. Then all of the sudden they have a couple of good years (typically around a contract year) and back again.
One wonders if part of it is some of these guys use PEDs to get their big contracts and then get off of them so as to not get caught.
I disagree, only to the extent that your offering conjecture. If you are looking purely at hitters, the biggest difference between now and any era prior to the 21st century is information. Pitchers now have every bit of data necessary to gain an edge on a hitter. Likewise, managers have this information, as well as bullpens loaded with guys who throw in the high 90’s.
Yeah, but that does not explain guys in their primes falling flat on their faces, without injuries mind you, only to then somehow get better again. I doubt a hitter just had a couple of lucky years then pitching caught up to them (and hitters also have the same tools to match pitchers as well).
I wonder if his arm/wrist/hand is still bothering him. He seems to have lost a lot of bat speed.
Right. I see that visually.
Another reason he should at least experiment with a lighter bat.
Sell high on him. Get blown away with an offer, then accept a trade, but otherwise, just hang on to him.
‘Selling High’ shipped has sailed unfortunately….Might as well just keep him at this point.
Idk, I think he has some value if the contract stays in place. It’s a long season and all it takes is a good month for his stats to bounce back
He still plays slightly above average defense. Keep him and hope he rebounds. I wonder if he needs to give up switch hitting.
He looks like me trying to hit left handed which is bad lol….he flails/slap swings at the ball trying to hit a homerun everytime. It looks terrible.
All 6 of his HRs hes hit from left side. Hes hitting .229 RH and .217 LH. Last season his splits were far worse and he hit much better from right side.
He was fairly good right handed last year when coming back from injury would love for this to try only hitting right handed
I have been stating this for years. He is terrible hitting LH. He just needs to give it up.
Probably slightly hurt and playing through it. Definitely keep him. He’s only 28.
I’d definitely keep him because, as you said, he is only 28 years old. I also don’t think he’s a hundred percent, either; complete agreement there. Moving him would be an overreaction to a tough year.
Besides, if they move off of him, you have to find a 2B for next season. That’s money they’d be taking away from shoring up the bullpen and possibly LF again, depending on how Profar plays. Ozzie is a cheap gamble to bounce back.
Poll: What should the Braves do
with Brian Snitker?
1: Give him an office job until the end of the year or until he achieves his 50 years of service or whichever comes first.
2: Just ride him out along with all of his brain buster decisions, low energy reflective to the players, no-clue answers to post-game media questions, and finish 20-30 games under .500.
3: See if you can trade him for a 1st round pick in the ’25 draft plus a bag of 2017-2019 baseballs!
1 or 2 since you can’t trade for 3.
Don’t know the clear rule on trading draft picks, but managers can be traded.
Most recently Ozzie Guillen (2011), Lou Piniella (2002), Chuck Tanner (1976) and Gil Hodges (1967) are among the MLB managers who have been traded for players. How about combining another post and trade Snit to Boston for Vaughn Grissom and Snit can be a bullpen coach for Red Sox farm team. That would be a full circle trade!
The only Draft picks that can be traded are Competitive Balance ones. The essence of my retort is *nobody* is gunna trade a Comp Bal pick (Rd 1, 2 or even 3) for Snit, sorry. Be well Al!
AL: only if Yoshida is added to the deal. AA has a serious taste for subpar outfielders.
No point in firing Snitker now, the season is lost. Just let him dodder off into the sunset.
Bonus points for dodder, nice usage RKing!
Snitker keeps riding his players 9 full innings even in blowout losses. They gotta be worn down. He needs to trust the bench and balance things
@citizen….they don’t have a bench to trust.
Bless your heart Riddler. I enjoy your antics.
Keep on keepin’ on, Ridds!
Do the Rays, Pirates, or As have any dude that’s about to hit gold in Arb? Trade him straight up for that guy. 7M a year is affordable to this teams.
Albies definitely gives me Rays vibes, I can see them trading Lowe for a haul and getting Albies in a separate deal
It’s essentially a $3 million option for the Braves as they have to pay him $4 million. It would be interesting if another team viewed the $7 million plus an option as worth it to see if he can bounce back a full year removed from his wrist injury.
Something else to consider: After AA’s first year in 2018, they “declined options” on Tyler Flowers and Nick Markakis and resigned to the difference. In essence, because of accounting the players got the same amount as if the option was exercised while the option buyout went on the 2018 payroll while the difference went on the 2019 payroll.
The Braves could theoretically decline the option (they have payroll space due to Profar’s extension to put on this year) which pays him $4 million and sign him to a $3 million deal. He gets the $7 million and the Braves save $4 million on 2026 payroll. The rub there is it probably voids the 2027 option as well.
Some interesting accounting and value decisions ahead.
Braves should trade him to phillies for Stott and Aiden Miller
Albies and Stott are both reaching change-of-scenery status but there’s no way Miller gets traded for someone like Albies. Phillies are looking for bullpen help and outfield power anyway.
It’s time to see what they got in Nacho Alvarez in AA…..He has a .786 OPS with a .385 On base. Kid walks a lot for a minor leaguer. I say give him a call-up after the ASG and see what you got. He shows signs ya can trade Albies in the off-season
After Alvarez’ ugly MLB debut last season, the Braves played him almost exclusively at 3B in AAA. Same this season. They seem to believe he’s not going to be a ML middle infielder. He also can’t hit fastballs. Imo, Alvarez has the same future w/the Braves that Grissom had (and for the same reasons)—–none.
A $7M option makes him an easy keeper. Even a modest return to form probably makes him a 2.5 WAR player.
In theory …
But his offense has declined several straight years. Perhaps a healthy offseason would help him recover, but it’s also possible another GM would gamble on that and offer more than his current value suggests.
Lmao the Braves are not moving either Albies or entertaining the ridiculous ideas I’ve seen for Acuna trades. It’s not happening. I get that the hot stove needs some gossip to generate clicks, but damn. Be realistic.
You think either of those guys will sign another contract with the Braves ? Acuna is the most underpaid player in mlb history and albies at the top of his game would be 20 mil plus. He lost a fortune in arb money by signing that terrible deal. Might as well get something for em ?? Braves ain’t turning it around anytime soon
Also Robert had 3 years left on his deal and white sox turned down several offers for him and now he’s a cut player
I could see them trading Albies if they could get a shortstop prospect back in return, as they desperately need some position players, but there’s no world where they are trading Acuna this year or next year. There’s no fair value they’ll get back from a contender.
Keep him. Albies will be more motivated for final 2yrs of deal ahead of free agency. Extensions with fixed pay regardless of performance, unlike arbitration, makes it easier to be on IL and not remain committed to improving weaknesses during offseasons.
I think you overvalue “motivation.” He’s trying. He’s just not delivering.
They are just gonna have to release him sadly. He has no trade value and he’s pretty much washed at this point.
May as well deal Acuna and Sale to the Dodgers for a haul.
Braves better be to proud to deal with dodgers !
At least 1yr to late to trade him
A few years ago the Cubs paid an over the hill Jonathan Villar $4M to stand at 2B and 3B for half a season. At a net $4M, even if Albies degenerates into a #9 hitter, you hold on to him until a year from now.
Truth is, we should shop him and go ahead and make a deal happen. His contract is so cheap that someone will “overpay” for the potential upside he might have. Now I don’t mean overpay with some amazing prospect. I mean overpay in relation to what his current worth is, which isn’t a ton. But it wouldn’t shock me if a decent prospect (within the trading organizations top 30, maybe middle of the pack guy) is the prize return… like a John Gil type prospect or two in our system. We just need to dump all reasonable money and rebuild the farm the best we can with what we have. Ozzie can bring something back, Ozuna, RI, Johnson, and Bummer. Trading all of those for some average prospects would make our truly pathetic farm suddenly look…. Well… average. Then we can spend money again this offseason and use those guys for trade packages next season
It’s “funny” that in 2023, Atlanta hit 307 homers and scored 947 runs. Their opponents hit 187 homers and scored 716.
2024, Atlanta down to 213 homers and 704 runs, and their opponents down to 150 hr and 607 runs.
That’s a huge change, and Ozzie led the charge
Almost like they played with different balls.
Ozzie needs to use a lighter bat.
Hang on to him for another year to see if he’ll rebound. That’s what my Sox did with Luis Robert and now we can’t get a bag of baseballs for him even with paying down his salary.
But….Albies’ contract seems like it’s a pretty easy call to bring him back, especially since they aren’t great options to replace him
For that price? Gotta hold him. Especially if he can still put up solid defensive numbers.
I wonder if his wrist injury last year is the culprit to his offensive woes. Sometimes it takes an extended period of time for a player to get back to normal after that. Sometimes they never do.
Hold onto him at least through the beginning of 2026, and see where things stand around mid season.
Boil him in oil!!!
Community service!
Trade Albies to the Mariners for SP Emerson Hancock.
I broke my wrist in the summer of ’22 and I’m still not right. I know every fracture is different, and he obviously gets much better rehab than I did, but the wrist is a tricky thing. He’s also had several other hand, arm and leg injuries in his career. He might just be wearing out.
he’s small to begin with, so I’m sure those injuries have taken a toll. If he stays healthy and rebounds a little the second half, maybe try to extend him at a discounted rate. He’s like 28, so I’m not buying that he’s already cooked. Harris is more concerning.
Keep him, fire hitting coach and Snitker, sign a SS this off-season. Maybe have Albies stop switch-hitting and platoon him and Profar occasionally.
wayyyyy to early to even consider trading him..some really good players have had really bad season and bounced back the next