Atlanta Braves: Trade Deadline Pieces If The Braves Retool

The Atlanta Braves are struggling in 2021, and if things do not change in the next month, it could end up being a very long season.

On paper, the Atlanta Braves have a very solid roster. Before the season started, some could have argued that they could have made it to World Series if the cards played right. Unfortunately, none of the cards seem to have played right.

Mike Soroka is done for at least most of the season, Travis d’Arnaud’s season seems to be all but done, Marcell Ozuna is virtually guaranteed to never play another game in an Atlanta Braves uniform, Huascar Ynoa is on the IL for 60 days, just to name a few.

All these misfortunes, mixed with many players just simply not performing at their expected level have resulted in the Atlanta Braves not once having a winning record this season.

There is a chance that the if the season does not turn around in June, and with the Mets continuing to win even with 17 players on the IL, the Atlanta Braves may not be buyers at the trade deadline this season. They have the pieces to turn the season around, but there is a chance they don’t.

The Atlanta Braves are not in a place of a full rebuild needing to happen

There are many core pieces in place for years to come for the Atlanta Braves. With a core of Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies, Max Fried, Austin Riley, Ian Anderson, and Mike Soroka (if he can get healthy) under team control for many years to come, the Atlanta Braves will continue have a chance to compete.

With this core in place, and at a very cheap cost, it does not make sense for the front office to do a full breakdown of the roster and fall back into rebuild mode, even if the team ends up having a terrible season.

Retooling the Atlanta Braves roster could be an option

If the Atlanta Braves do not turn things around, it would make sense to do a sort of retooling of the roster. Something similar to what the Yankees did in 2016 when they traded Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs.

Odds are that any trade the Atlanta Braves make in a retool scenario would not be as successful as the aforementioned one, but if the team is not going to win this year, it makes sense to trade players that are not guaranteed to be on the team next year to gain players to help in the future.

It is no secret that Liberty Media is all about the bottom line. Not making the playoffs this year would hurt revenue. However, if trading players this year would result in deeper playoff runs in the future, the return on investment would be well worth it from a financial standpoint.

The Atlanta Braves have quite a few players that could help other teams that make a lot of sense to move now to help in the future. Again, this is if the Atlanta Braves do not turn things around and look like they can make a run at the playoffs.

We will group them in categories of very likely, possible, and probably not going to happen.