Braves are 'trending to the sell side' according to three MLB pundits

Alex Anthopoulos didn’t hesitate recently when asked if the Braves could potentially sell at the trade deadline. 

“We’re not selling,” the Braves GM said emphatically in an interview with 680 The Fan. “A month from now, we are 30 games under or something crazy, I guess I would reconsider. I’ve been in the postseason personally — talking about myself, totally selfishly — ten seasons in a row. I don’t remember what it feels like to not be contending.”

Anthopoulos did leave the door open to him changing his mind if the situation got really dire, but with 10 wins in their last 14 games, it’s hard to imagine the Braves GM is thinking anything other than buy with a little over a month to go before the trade deadline.

Still, that hasn’t stopped MLB pundits from speculating the Braves are leaning towards selling, or at least thinking that they should, especially after the recent injury to 2024 NL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale. Over at The Athletic, Chad Jennings, Aaron Gleeman, and Tim Britton recently did their first edition of trade deadline tiers, with the Braves falling in the “trending to the sell side” category.

“We’ve spent three months waiting for the Braves and Rangers to make a run. Their rosters have plenty of talent, including remnants of recent championships, but it just hasn’t happened. Both have a positive run differential but a losing record, and now Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle are on the IL. Time is running out for a couple of preseason favorites to actually make a case for being buyers at the deadline.”

The injury to Chris Sale certainly complicates things, but only because it will be much harder to go on a run without him. It’s not like he’s out for the season or anything close to that. He should return around August. If the Braves can right the ship until then and continue to make up ground, as they have over the last couple of weeks, Sale’s injury really doesn’t change much.

If anything, it could convince the Braves to be even more aggressive at the trade deadline, knowing they will get a massive boost when Sale returns.