Ken Rosenthal discusses Braves selling at trade deadline

Coming off another excruciating one-run loss, the Braves now sit 12 games back in the NL East and eight games back of the final Wild Card spot with a plethora of teams standing in their way. Atlanta has lost 12 of their last 15 games, as well as their last eight straight games that have been decided by one run. It feels as if things can’t possibly stay this bad for much longer, but if they do, their playoff chances may be dashed before the All-Star Game even arrives in Atlanta.

For the first time since the rebuild nearly a decade ago, selling at the trade deadline is a distinct possibility for the Braves. But, as Ken Rosenthal recently reported, it’s not going to be easy to convince general manager Alex Anthopoulos to go in that direction.

“I don’t believe the Braves are going to sell,” Rosenthal said. “For them to sell, they’re going to have to fall out of it. They’re going to have to be buried, and even in a league as strong as the National League is this season, it’s hard to be buried in this format with three wild cards. If you’re around .500, you’ve got a chance. Now, they’re not at .500 right now, and maybe instead of seven under at the deadline they’re 17 under and that’s a different story. Then, they are buried. But if they’re three under, four under, two under; well, they were kind of like that in ’21 and look what happened.”

There are two things that will make it very difficult for Alex Anthopoulos to sell at the trade deadline. The first being that 2021 season, in which the Braves weren’t over .500 until August and went on to win the World Series because of Alex Anthopoulos’ aggressive approach at the trade deadline. The National League wasn’t nearly as strong that season, but with three wild card spots up for grabs, it’s going to be very difficult to convince Anthopoulos that the best course of action is to punt on the season.

The other aspect is what exactly the Braves would sell? Marcell Ozuna is the most obvious trade candidate, but the return the Braves would get for him probably wouldn’t be enough for them to give up on the season. Chris Sale will certainly have the entire league buzzing Anthopoulos’ line, but with one more year of team control and so many future questions surrounding the Braves rotation, it’s hard to imagine Anthopoulos would seriously entertain offers unless a club was willing to overpay considerably.

“I just don’t see them (the Braves) punting a season like that,” Rosenthal finished.

There’s still a lot of time between now and the trade deadline. It’s very possible the Braves are one of the more aggressive teams in pursuit of talent as they aim to better position themselves for the stretch run. However, they need to start playing better, and fast. Eight games back of the Wild Card is already a significant hole. If the Braves can’t make up any ground between now and the trade deadline, they may have to consider offloading some of their talent.