Atlanta Braves: Identifying Tradable Organizational Surplus

Apr 11, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Atlanta Braves center fielder Mallex Smith (17) walks off the field after being called out during fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Smith was injured on the play and left game. Washington Nationals defeated Atlanta Braves 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 11, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Atlanta Braves center fielder Mallex Smith (17) walks off the field after being called out during fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Smith was injured on the play and left game. Washington Nationals defeated Atlanta Braves 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
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Sep 17, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte (11) and center fielder Mallex Smith (17) celebrate a victory with teammates against the Washington Nationals at Turner Field. The Braves defeated the Nationals 7-3. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte (11) and center fielder Mallex Smith (17) celebrate a victory with teammates against the Washington Nationals at Turner Field. The Braves defeated the Nationals 7-3. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves having money to spend this off-season – but few places to use it wisely.  Instead, the Front Office could get creative and deal from a position of strength.  We all know that the organization is loaded with prospects of all varieties but where are the surplus players located?

Today, I completed the exercise of identifying the surplus talent inside the organization to navigate and find a few areas that the Atlanta Braves could use for trades without sacrificing the future of the farm system.

The problem with this exercise is that prospects are just that – the prospects of a forecasted future –  and are therefore unpredictable.  The player one chooses to keep might become a career Minor Leaguer while the player traded becomes a perennial All-Star.

Want an example?  Here’s a good one that worked out well.

So, let’s look at the organizational depth chart, shall we? I listed most players who, at current projections, could be useful major league ballplayers at some capacity. Albeit, this is an incomplete list and even being the author, I understand that.

Most of the international prospects are not listed here so just bear with the process.  It is not often that they are included in trades at their ages anyway.

For the most part, I worked off of the prospect lists generated by our own Benjamin Chase’s as a reference, extinguishing many of the 16-to-17 year-olds for now…

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