The Braves came into the trade deadline with arguably the worst outfield in baseball, and the expectation was that Alex Anthopoulos would bring in a similar haul as he did in 2021.
Though Jorge Soler was a part of both trade deadlines, this year featured only Soler. The Braves also came away with Luke Jackson, but that was more of a salary dump than anything at all.
It was a strange approach, given Atlanta’s struggles in the outfield. A recent piece from Mark Feinsand cleared up some of that confusion, but it also reaffirms what Braves fans have been saying.
“There is overall parity driven by the extra playoff team, plus fewer teams in full rebuild mode,” the NL exec said. “With teams either in really good shape from a playoff odds perspective or in a huge clump of contending teams, there were only a few that were ready to make a big push to improve their odds.”
With the expanded playoffs, the trade deadline has become a buyer’s nightmare and a seller’s dream. Every club within spitting distance of a Wild Card spot believes if they can just get into the dance, they have a shot. Why wouldn’t they either? The Phillies, Rangers, Diamondbacks, etc. are all proof that as long as you get into the postseason, you have a chance. That dynamic drives prices up.
“The prices on elite players were so high that nearly every team pivoted to the second and third tiers,” an NL exec said. “There were more complementary moves than usual as a result.”
The Braves didn’t need elite players, though. They just needed complementary pieces as the All-Stars got healthy. As another NL exec puts it, other clubs were able to upgrade without dealing their top prospects.
“My biggest takeaway was the sheer volume of moves coupled with the lack of big-time prospects dealt away,” one National League executive said. “Most competing clubs were able to upgrade around their margins without touching the tops of their systems.”
Another NL exec believes teams “value their own prospects very highly,” which very well could’ve been the case with the Braves, but it still doesn’t make sense how other clubs were able to trade non-top 100 prospects to improve the margins while Alex Anthopoulos stood pat.
Sticking to the status quo shouldn’t have been the approach. The Braves are now banking on Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies to come back and contribute immediately while maintaining health everywhere else. That’s wishful thinking, at best.
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Photo: David John Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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