On June 18, Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said Atlanta is "not selling." They've gone 7-11 and lost two of their three best starting pitchers to long-term injuries since then. They're 11 games under .500 and have dropped behind the Marlins in the NL East standings. The front office may not have wanted to sell, but the team has left them no choice.
The more interesting question is whether they feel it's necessary to make a major shakeup. They could move a couple rentals and run it back with mostly the same roster in 2026. That'd be a signal they view this season as an injury-wrecked aberration. That wouldn't address some of the issues -- a lack of rotation depth, zero production from the bottom half of the lineup -- that have tanked their '25 season. The Braves have committed to the same core with a boatload of long-term extensions. Do they feel they need a significant change to that group?
Record: 40-51 (5.1% playoff odds, per FanGraphs)
Other series entries: Rockies, Giants, Phillies, Pirates, Astros, Marlins, Athletics, Orioles, White Sox, Nationals, Cubs, Rays, Dodgers
Sell Mode
Impending Free Agents: Marcell Ozuna, Raisel Iglesias, Rafael Montero
The Braves only have three rentals, none of whom would be a massive trade chip. Montero is a league average middle reliever who could be cashed in for a lottery ticket prospect. Ozuna and Iglesias are bigger names and more interesting trade targets, but they've each had inconsistent seasons and are quite expensive.
Iglesias, 35, is playing on a $16MM salary. The veteran righty lost his hold on the closer role last month. He has performed better since moving into more low-leverage situations, rattling off 12 1/3 frames of four-run ball since the beginning of June. Iglesias has not allowed a home run in that stretch, a big turnaround after he gave up seven longballs through the season's first two months. He still has a strong strikeout and walk profile, but he's carrying a career-worst 4.81 earned run average over 33 2/3 innings on the year. The Braves would probably need to pay down part of the contract to move him for a semi-notable prospect.
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Nothing to sell. After the ASB, make a change at Head Coach and Hitting Coach. Give Chipper whatever he wants to come aboard.
Braves don’t need to panic sell or mortgage the future just to make up for the bad injury bug year.
That and also the bad playing and managing bugs. All the bugs.
I haven’t seen much bad play, save the bullpen and baserunning. The defense has been stellar. Snit leaving Sale in for the ninth at over 100 pitches was nothing short of dereliction of duty.
In baseball they are called ‘managers’
Even with a healthy pitching staff. Team still wouldn’t make the playoffs
I don’t believe that’s true at all.
Snitker deserves the chance to finish the season. I think there will be a new manager in the dugout next season.
Last year was an injury bug year. This year is an injury bug year….Every year will be an injury bug year when you don’t have depth to cover it. You can’t go all minor league signings and salary dumps trades in the off-season/trade deadline and still expect to succeed when the injuries pile up.
Our lack of success is not because of injury bugs. We need to stop with that narrative. We still sucked when the team was mostly healthy and for a brief period there when Ronald and strider were back and the entire team was mostly healthy, we actually got worse. And we sucked before all these injuries. So we just need to stop blaming us being terrible on injuries. It’s part of the equation but it’s clearly not the primary reason. The team stinks
100% Agree…Offense and Bullpen is terrible. Now our starting pitching stinx. Just flat out bad all over the place.
One thing is for sure, AA isn’t responsible for this down season.
He should have enough cred to keep his job safe for awhile.
He’s 100% responsible. The Braves are showing why you don’t give every young player you have long term contracts.
Most of the current excellent team was drafted and developed under the previous GM who is banned from the MLB for life. People give AA too much credit. He made a couple trades and caught lightning in a bottle for a World Series win but that was just pure luck.
AA has been horrible. He is 100% responsible for the product on the field. He is stacking one bad trade after another. The money he wasted on the Kelenic deal should have been enough to get him canned. Then you throw on top the weak farm system and terrible extensions he was giving out like candy. I would send him packing.too.
@Bobby Boucher
AA has not been horrible…He was the envy of MLB when he was locking them all up to team friendly contracts.
Every expert LOVED all the signings when they happened and every team wished they could have done the same thing.
The issue with AA is the bench and depth. They have absolutely no depth.
No bench again this year. Weak bullpen. The Murphy trade was bad; the Olsen trade questionable. He has yet to find a suitable replacement at SS since Swanson left. He was the envy of MLB yet no other GM has followed suit. No position talent on the farm. He arguably pulled a horseshoe out of his rear in ‘21. He has been far from solid.
The trades don’t bother me as much as some of the extensions do. The ones to Strider and Harris while they were still in pre Arb bothers me.
How are people still complaining about Murphy and Olson? Other than complaining just to complain?
I would take Contreras or Langeliers right now over Murphy. His salary dollars could have been used to improve the roster elsewhere; especially the bench where they skimp every year.
How was the Olson trade questoonanle?? Shea is the only one who has contributed anything of the players given up.
Way to early to judge Harris or Strider extensions. Strider’s extension is likely going to be a huge bargain when its all said and done considering the $$ commanded by starting pitchers. The Acuna and Riley extensions are enormous bargains.
You conveniently did not mention the Sale trade, where he robbed BOS. The Kelenic trade gave up Kowar who has yet to do anything and Phillips who just had 2nd TJS and hasn’t played one game of baseball professionally. Yes the Murphy trade was bad.
And just trying to dismiss winning World Series as though it was an anomaly does not change the fact that it happened. Nor does hold any water considering they won 6 straight division titles prior to 2024 and have made Postseason 7 consecutive years. All that while they have been rocked by injuries year after year.
AA hasn’t been very good at building depth for this team for a few years now.
No the Olson trade was okay. But not giving Freddie the extra year was very questionable. And the Kelenic trade cost over $20m, close to $30m when you factor in luxury taxes which led to lack of depth this year. Riley contract a bargain?? $22m… that’s questionable.
So because “experts” love extensions, AA is safe? Really? Albies and Harris are young, expensive and unplayable. Acuna can still rake, for now, but will he knees hold up enough to be an OF regular?
AAs extensions have created the disaster. If he survives it will be the single WS. Nothing more and that won’t last forever.
Albies is ‘expensive’…??? LOL. There were some that said his extension was borderline criminal — as he’s only making 7M/season (via options) next 2 seasons. Maybe ATL knew the risk they were taking.
AA already has just as many WS titles as Schuerholz/Cox’s glory years and might miss his very first postseason since becoming a Brave.
@Bostons No depth in a few years? Makes no sense. A “few years ago” (2022) the Braves won 100+ games. A couple years ago (2023) they won 100+ games and broke records with their offense. They have had 1.5 seasons of bad, injury plagued baseball. But the only reason they made the playoffs last year is because they DID have depth.
It was obvious AA was trying to duck under the tax threshold this year so of course it would hurt the depth. Especially starting the season without Acuna, Strider, Jimenez and Murphy and losing Lopez and Profar a few games into the season. I don’t care who your GM is, unless you’re spending $350M+ no team is overcoming months without 4 of your top five SP, the best player on your team, your best setup man in the BP and your one offseason acquisition to add some offensive depth.
Harris will be in the spot next year Ozzie occupies this one. Steady offensive decline after a breakout season, and a trade candidate even though he’s on an affordable contract.
Ozzie may have lingering injuries affecting his swing (lighter bat, anyone?), but Harris is just plain lost. A recent podcast with Eno Sarris discussed how he is not hitting fastballs with any authority, which he did as recently as last year. Plus he hasn’t walked in 150+ plate appearances, or nearly 1/4 season! His glove makes him a valuable 9-hole hitter in a good lineup, but the Braves don’t have that.
@Atlorioles just stop. Acuna’s AAV on his current deal is 12.5M. I don’t care if he breaks both legs tonight the Braves got their moneys worth. And the last guaranteed year is next year with team options after that. So if his knees don’t hold up or he’s injured…don’t pick up the options. Ozzie’s AAV on his contact is $5M. Again, I don’t care if he never plays another game, the Braves got their moneys worth. Harris is TBD but he’s making $8m this year and his salary tops out at 12m in 2030. So no, not a contract that is “expensive” enough to hinder the team much but still could end up being a bargain.
Oh…they’re talking. Trying to get Snit’s attention and putting down the pamphlet for that Mediterranean cruise in October is another thing.
Harris’ contract isn’t as affordable as Albies’, but Harris also has a lot more defensive value at a premium position that will be tougher to fill than Albies at 2B. IMHO, there’s more to work with offensively than Harris and he’s not injured nearly as much as Albies, though he’s had his fair share at a physical position. I don’t understand why they don’t at least shift him back to the 9-hole where he’s had success to start with. Stop putting him back-to-back with Albies — another struggling AB.
6 division titles and 7 straight trips to the playoffs is more than just a ship and flags do fly forever. An entire elite rotation on the IL is the anomaly. Atlanta should be fine next year with better health and a couple savvy moves to shore up the back end of the bullpen. They definitely need to figure out a way to get Harris back on track and not being able to develop a big league SS is the biggest issue. I’d rather have Murphy than Contreras or Langeliers because defense matters, a lot for catchers and he’s worlds ahead of them. Sure there have been missteps, Kelenic, Harris, Profar etc, but no GM is perfect and he’s hit much more than he’s missed. Even Albies has already outperformed his extension even if he never bounces back.Atlanta is among the most talented teams in baseball even now. A 7 year window is already a success even if it has closed and it was time to blow it up and start over (which I don’t believe is the case yet) and I’d want AA to be the guy to do it if that was the case. All this is from an objective outside perspective as I’m not a Braves fan.
I would love to see Chipper as hitting coach, who better than one of the best pure hitters of all time. I do think they need to clean house in the coaching staff. I also think get what you can for Ozuna and Iglesias. I like Allen at short and would leave him there. This season is over, send Harris down and let him earn his way back up, I love his defense, he’s one of the best defensive center fielders in the game. He has all the tools and his confidence has to be near zero. We need to sign 2 to 3 relief pitchers, and add some depth to our starting pitching. Ozzie, I do not know, it’s going to be hard to replace him with what we owe him next year, I would just roll the dice and give him one more year. Harris needs to go to minors and get his confidence back, now.
Braves aren’t going to fire Brian Snitker, who has been a loyal Brave for 50 years. At least, they shouldn’t. Let him play out this lost season and then retire with honor. Hitting coach can go. Let’s gear up for 2026. Hate to think that way. Just being realistic.
They don’t have to “fire” him. He could be given a special assignment or something. But they won’t. Instead the Braves will finish out the season 20 games under and go enjoy their vacation and hope for better luck next year.
They will offer for him to retire.
This would not surprise me. Let him finish the year as a consultant.
The Braves would still be in the playoffs if Riley, Harris and Ozuna were playing up to their previous standards. When only 3 or 4 of the lineup are hitting, you aren’t going to win anything.
Well they just aren’t as good anymore. It happens all the time in baseball. I guess that’s why you shouldn’t give every young player a long term contract.
That’s twice in this thread you mentioning signing young players to long term contracts. Absolutely no one said it was a bad idea when all the young players were locked up. Obviously it never works out 100% of the time. A couple of the players having down years isn’t enough to act like the signings were a terrible idea.
What are you talking about? Lots of people said it was a bad idea. There was absolutely no reason to give Strider, Harris or Murphy extensions. You all were calling to give Schwellenbach an extension this year. Why would you ever give a pitcher an extension you don’t need to is beyond me. Now you all are stuck with injury prone players that are regressing and would be gone if not for bad contracts.
Lol, I’m sure if I look up all the MLBTR articles about the signings you shared these same thoughts.
You 100% can. I wasn’t shy about it.
They were constantly praised for locking up so many young players for under market value. Criticized in some cases bc the contracts were so under market. Recency bias is absurd this year.
The Phillies were lauded for extending Kingery. Moncada, Anderson, Jimenez and Robert were brilliant moves. Strasburg and Rendon assured the Nats of multiple pennants. Prince Fielder? “Recency bias”? In general, extending unproven young players to cover multiple years of FA has been a franchise wrecker. For a long time. Repeatedly.
Strasburg and Rendon were studs for the Nats. They went downhill after they signed FA deals.
FIRE🔥SNITKER!
No don’t fire Snitker. There’s no point. I appreciate we aren’t like a big market teams that do that just for show, which is typically what that is, just for show. He was handed this team by AA (and whoever is the owners are). Off-season fine, but it helps nothing at this point. He seems respected by the club house minus Acuna lol…Stoop to NBA levels when they fire coaches at will and let the players run the team imo.
The Braves (mostly IL) rotation is a bit of an alliteration (and tongue twister) with Sale, Schwellenbach, Strider, and Sweater-Shaver.
Trade Murphy, Iglesias, and Ozuna, Bummer, and Pierce Johnson. Get some prospects and get ready to roll next year. Keep Albies, there’s no better 2B for the price
So don’t delay, act now, supplies are running out
I agree that all 3 are having down seasons, but the main one Harris, has lost all confidence. He needs to go down, start him in A ball and let him work up. The real reason we have no playoff possibility is we have no starting pitching depth and we replaced our bullpen loses with waiver wire pickups, players that were expendable. How many games were lost in the first of season because of the bullpen? Bham Brave
Trade Acuna while he is at peak value. The guy has only played 150 games twice in his career. No matter how good you are no team wins with their best player on IL half the games.
I agree this should be a serious consideration. The haul they would get back would be huge. They’ve proven they can win without him. His injury history is worrisome also. He eventually should be traded regardless, because we know they won’t be re-signing him.
You guys kill me (not you specifically i don’t think lol)….Everyone calls @TradeAcuna a troll for saying that and trade Albies. But yet here we are and it has always made sense to me, especially knowing the Braves won’t sign Acuna to some crazy 700 million dollar contract.
Honestly, what team is trading their superstar with 3 years of cheap control…? They didn’t even do that with Soto. And have you seen someone of the reported trade proposals (there were 3 recently floated that were laughable involving SEA, MIL, and someone else). An injured Bryce Miller and top prospects (Harry Ford, Montes) being the juiciest. That’s not even as good as the 1.5 years SD got for Soto. A deal isn’t going to happen b/c ATL needs the value that Acuna’s contract represents more so than other teams. Just like with Sale and the injury risks that he maintains, he presents value that AA lives for. They’re fine with that risk as long as they have savings giving them payroll flexibility that they don’t have much of right now. If he goes, then they have Profar (and his performance questions), Harris (and his offensive question) and who? They can seriously explore a trade, but I can’t imagine a team willing to part with what it would take for ATL to be interested — regardless of their ability to extend him (though they will have an influx of cash from redoing their TV rights deal that is set to expire after 2027).
The past is not the future. This group is NOT winning with Acuna and without Acuna.
In addition to those 3, Aaron Bummer and Pierce Johnson are prob the only other trade chips and I’d prefer they keep Johnson. They also have quite a few rule 5 pitchers this winter so they could trade some of that surplus if it nets them some position player depth.
For those saying we don’t have assets to trade, yall are insane. We are so far out of contending for a playoff spot this year we need to begin trading in an effort to help the future. It doesn’t need to be a complete rebuild but we have to start making moves that rebuild this farm and either allow us to have more prospect capital to trade or we luck out and develop those assets into quality mlb players. Now we don’t have anything that’s likely gonna bring a top 100 mlb guy. But we have plenty that can bring in a top 30 organizational prospect, which with our horrible farm, would land them high in our ranks. Ozuna and RI must be traded. It would be organizational malpractice to not trade them. We clearly are freaking out about cash and trying to stay below the luxury tax, so trade for cash and a middle tier prospect. Then I would trade Johnson and Bummer. You can always retool bullpens and folks will over pay for them. Again, mid tier prospects. Last, I’d find a taker for Ozzie. His contract is cheap enough someone might take the risk on upside simply from his past and again, over pay simply due to the deadline pinch. But overpay what he’s really worth, not like a great prospect. Last, I’d still dangle Murphy and Sale. Sale would obviously bring in a haul. Murphy might bring in a good package also, but i don’t think his contract is going to age well, so let’s get out now while he’s still performing well enough, we have Bladwin, and get our money back. At this point, this offseason we spend more than we typically do now that we reset the lux tax and we have an improved farm system that will now not be a bottom feeder but a middle tier system. Use those assets as trade packages to hopefully enhance the roster some.
Long story short, AA can’t afford to do nothing again and his “we trust in AA” crap is wearing off. Cause I no longer trust him, especially after this season
I agree with you bravesfan. But if the Braves goal is to stay under the luxury tax going forward they will be looking at Phillies and Mets asses in the standings for years to come. Gotta get back to pre-2025 spending for all this to matter.
They can try n dip under this year and then start spending again once the new year begins.
Its actually smart considering they are going no where this year
Huge off season for AA. Did he take over a great situation as GM of the Braves, sure he did. Did he find lightning in a bottle in ’21 with trades that happened to work out? Sure he did. But he also created this mess..farm system sucks too. He needs to fix it. Coming out 2 weeks ago and saying there’s no way he’s selling and no long term contracted players are being traded is the dumbest thing a GM can say and puzzles me as a Braves fan. Not even listening to offers for Sale, Albies, Murphy make me very concerned as a Braves fan.
As a Phillies fan, I find it hard to believe how quickly the Braves have unraveled. Two years ago, they looked poised for 4/5 dominating seasons. Now they really should tear down, rebuild around Acuna and hope he stays healthy.