4 Buy Low Trade Targets For The Braves

Nobody loves a good buy-low situation more than Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos. We’ve seen it time and time again this time of year — mostly in free agency but also through trades. Most notably, the Braves took a swing on the oft-injured Chris Sale, acquiring him for Vaughn Grissom in a deal that probably still haunts Red Sox fans.

History tells us Anthopoulos prefers to make his blockbuster acquisitions via trade, but that doesn’t change his stance on value. He’s typically looking for high-upside guys with legitimate track records who, for one reason or another, aren’t being viewed as highly at the moment. Here are a few names that fit that M.O. this winter.

Sandy Alcantara

Alcantara is easily the most noteworthy name on this list. Just a few seasons ago, he was discussed in the same tier that Paul Skenes occupies now — a dominant young arm who posted an 8.0 WAR season on his way to winning the 2022 NL Cy Young Award. However, injuries have derailed that trajectory. He missed all of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery and followed it up with an unsightly 5.36 ERA over 31 starts this year.

Still, the big arm is very much intact, and he posted a much more respectable 3.33 ERA in the second half. With two years of team control remaining, taking a gamble on his upside could be a worthy venture for teams looking for a frontline starter who won’t cost a king’s ransom.

Alek Thomas

A move like this might scare off some Braves fans while the Jarred Kelenic experiment is still fresh. Thomas was once a top-100 prospect, praised for a plus bat and elite defense. The glove has mostly held up in center field, but the bat has failed to come around, and it’s fair to wonder if it ever will. With a surplus of outfielders, the Diamondbacks could move him this offseason, and the Braves make sense as a team that needs a fourth outfielder but may not want to spend real money on one.

Thomas is essentially a lottery ticket with a decent floor — someone who could help shore up an area that ranks low among the Braves’ needs but still must be addressed.

Luis Severino

The A’s shocked a lot of people when they handed Luis Severino a three-year, $67 million contract last offseason, but year one wasn’t exactly a glowing success. He posted a lukewarm 4.54 ERA over 29 starts and struck out just 6.9 batters per nine innings. With two years and $42 million still remaining, the ever-frugal A’s would almost certainly love to offload him.

The Braves could be interested, given Severino’s resurgent 2024 season came with the Mets under pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, who now holds that role in Atlanta.

JJ Bleday

Another Athletic who fits the buy-low profile, Bleday put together a strong 2024 season, hitting 20 homers with a .762 OPS and 2.1 WAR. However, he hit just .212 this year, lost his starting role, and there isn’t a clear path back with the talent in front of him.

Bleday doesn’t do anything at an elite level, but he has consistently handled right-handed pitching from the left side, is cheap, remains under team control through 2028, and should cost very little to acquire. The Braves could do far worse in their search for a fourth outfielder.

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