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Atlanta Braves: Ranking Best Available Outfield Options

By Jake Mastroianni|
ATLANTA, GA - JULY 26: Outfielders (from left to right ) Ronald Acuna, Jr. #13, Ender Inciarte #11 and right fielder Nick Markakis #22 of the Atlanta Braves kneel during a pitching change in the seventh inning during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at SunTrust Park on July 26, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JULY 26: Outfielders (from left to right ) Ronald Acuna, Jr. #13, Ender Inciarte #11 and right fielder Nick Markakis #22 of the Atlanta Braves kneel during a pitching change in the seventh inning during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at SunTrust Park on July 26, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
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CLEVELAND, OH – OCTOBER 08: Michael Brantley #23 of the Cleveland Indians hits a sacrifice fly ball in the third inning to score Yan Gomes #7 (not pictured) against the Houston Astros during Game Three of the American League Division Series at Progressive Field on October 8, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH – OCTOBER 08: Michael Brantley #23 of the Cleveland Indians hits a sacrifice fly ball in the third inning to score Yan Gomes #7 (not pictured) against the Houston Astros during Game Three of the American League Division Series at Progressive Field on October 8, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

With Michael Brantley off the board, the Atlanta Braves are running out of high impact options in the outfield for 2019.

The Atlanta Braves continue to search for a corner outfielder for the upcoming season, and that list is getting smaller.

At the Winter Meetings the Philadelphia Phillies took Andrew McCutchen off the board when they signed him to a three-year deal — apparently that was one year more than the Braves were willing to go.

And then late Monday night it was reported that the Houston Astros signed Michael Brantley to a two-year deal worth $32 million.

I think the Braves would have loved to get Brantley on a two-year deal, but my guess is they couldn’t afford that high of an AAV.

In all honesty, I’m a little upset the Atlanta Braves weren’t able to get Brantley for this deal. I think he was the perfect replacement for Nick Markakis and would have been a huge addition to the lineup.

To me, this takes the best outfield candidate off the board for the Braves, who now have to re-assess the market.

With that, we are going to rank the best outfielders available to the Atlanta Braves – either through free agency or trade.

I will only include players in trades that are known to be available. For instance, it doesn’t sound like the Seattle Mariners are willing to part with Mitch Haniger, nor the Diamondbacks with David Peralta.

If that were to change, those two would likely be one and two on this list. But we are going focus on players the Braves have been tied to — expect for number four on my list.

2 Quick Hits

6. Carlos Gonzalez

5. Nick Markakis

I’m going to skip over five and six because I don’t like the idea of signing Carlos Gonzalez, and we all know what Markakis brings to the table.

So we will begin the countdown with a surprise at number four.

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