Braves trade deadline primer: 3 early storylines to watch

New York Times

17 hours ago

ATLANTA — If the Atlanta Braves had been swept for a third consecutive series this week at Milwaukee, we might be leaning toward their being sellers at the trade deadline for the first time since 2017. That was when they traded away pitcher Jaime García and catcher Anthony Recker.
The Braves pursued controllable starting pitchers at that deadline, including Sonny Gray and José Quintana, but weren't willing to part with their No. 1 prospect, a kid named Acuña.
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Yes, it's been a while.
And it'll probably be a while longer before the Braves are trade-deadline sellers. Because as disappointing and frustrating as this season has been for the Braves and their fans, one of the worst stretches of baseball this team has had in decades wasn't bad enough to make them move to likely seller mode.
At least not yet.
There are nearly seven weeks until the July 31 trade deadline, and only five teams have double-digit deficits in the wild-card standings: the Pirates, Marlins and Rockies in the NL, and the Athletics and White Sox in the AL.
The Braves were nine games behind the third-place team in the NL wild-card standings before Thursday. That's an undeniably large deficit, and what makes it even more difficult is that five other teams were closer than Atlanta to the third and final wild-card spot — the Cardinals, Brewers, Reds and Diamondbacks all were five or fewer games behind the Phillies and Padres, the second- and third-place teams in the NL wild-card standings.
Still, the Braves are in a unique position in that they have a lineup featuring several former All-Stars who are in their primes led by the aforementioned Ronald Acuña Jr., who has only been back from a yearlong knee surgery rehab for three weeks and has looked terrific, giving the Braves another reason to believe their offense is going to improve.
They are a team with position players signed to long-term extensions (including club options) through at least 2027 at every spot except shortstop. It's not a team in any position to consider rebuilding.
The Braves want to win another ring or two while they have the likes of Acuña, who's under contract through 2028, including two club options, Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Michael Harris II, all under control through at least 2030.
What they do at this year's July 31 trade deadline could depend on how things transpire between now and then, but here are a few scenarios.
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Though it's unlikely the Braves will become sellers barring a continued slide further behind the wild-card leaders, trading veteran catcher Murphy could be a possibility.
As good as the strong-armed 2023 All-Star is behind the plate with blocking, framing and game calling, and as much of a power threat as Murphy can be — he's rebounded from a career-worst .636 OPS and 76 OPS+ in 2024 to post a .784 OPS and 118 OPS+ — the Braves have a potential star emerging at catcher in rookie Drake Baldwin and might be a better offensive team with Baldwin catching four of five games.
LOVE the Drake#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/tcLTXYOGBU
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 5, 2025
There'd be risk in going with a rookie as the main catcher, and if Baldwin were to get hurt, it'd be an obvious problem after trading Murphy. But the Braves have veteran James McCann at Triple A who could be a solid second catcher, and they could trade for another in an emergency.
Baldwin is one of the better hitting catchers in the NL already, and the Braves could occasionally DH him if Marcell Ozuna needs a day off for his balky hip, or after this season when Ozuna exits as a free agent. Trading Murphy would also clear up cash and $15 million annually over each of the next three seasons.
The Tampa Bay Rays and San Francisco Giants are contenders getting woeful offense from catchers who could use Murphy, who has the intellect and personality that teams know he could step in at midseason and immediately gain the confidence of pitchers.
The Braves were two games under .500 and five games out of first place at the 2021 trade deadline, when president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos finished remaking the outfield with trades for Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall and Eddie Rosario, after trading for Joc Pederson on July 15.
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Beginning Aug. 3, they won 16 of 18 to go from third place and five games back in the NL East to first place and 4 1/2 games ahead. Those outfielders played major parts in getting the Braves' turnaround and World Series title that year.
Granted, this year's deficits and record are a lot worse than in 2021. But again, the Braves have Acuña now and believe the likes of Olson, Riley and Ozuna can get hot and carry an offense that's underperformed.
There's an additional unknown element: Jurickson Profar, the left fielder who was their only significant free-agent addition last season and then got slapped with an 80-game performance-enhancing drug suspension in the first week of the season.
He's eligible to return June 29 but can't play in the postseason. The Braves don't know what he'll provide after missing three months and coming off a steroid suspension that cast doubt over his career-best 2024 statistics with San Diego, but Profar should be able to give them better production than the platoon of Alex Verdugo and Eli White.
And if they could add a decent middle-infield bat, to provide more offense than they're getting from all-glove shortstop Nick Allen and protect in case of another injury to second baseman Ozzie Albies, the Braves' offense could reasonably be expected to perform at a higher level the rest of the way.
The Braves lost 14 of 17 before taking two of three from the Brewers. The way they see it, eight of those 14 losses were by one run, and four others were by two, meaning they might've won many of those games with just a big hit here or a shutdown inning there.
They outscored the Brewers 14-7 in the series that ended Wednesday, when the Braves flexed considerable power, the kind that carried them to a historic-level offense in 2023 but has been erratic ever since. It's still there, if sometimes dormant.
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Now, they need to add a back-of-the-bullpen arm. Braves relievers have a league-high 15 losses and a league-low 10 saves, making them the only NL team with more blown saves (12) than saves.
They can't wait for closer Raisel Iglesias, at age 35, to start pitching as he did the past two seasons (2.30 ERA, 89 hits, 11 homers in 125 total innings) rather than in 2025 (6.48 ERA, 31 hits, seven homers in 25 innings).
They also don't know whether setup man Daysbel Hernández, out with forearm inflammation, will miss much longer or whether that'll be a lingering issue.
They need to add a closer, or at least someone who fits the profile and could step into the role.
Potential target: Félix Bautista of the Baltimore Orioles. What could make him particularly attractive to the Braves is the fact he's under team control through 2027 and could take over at closer for the rest of this season and the next two after Iglesias exits as a free agent.
Bautista had converted 12 of 13 saves and has a 3.32 ERA in 22 appearances in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, with 28 strikeouts and 16 walks in 21 2/3 innings. The walk rate is high but not unusual for a post-TJ season, and lately he's been dominant, with a 1.29 ERA in his past seven appearances.
Problem is, a bunch of other teams are also looking for bullpen help, including contenders with better prospects to dangle, including Philadelphia, Arizona, Seattle and Milwaukee.
(Photo of Sean Murphy: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)