The Atlanta Braves are going to be in unfamiliar territory at the trade deadline this year. Normally, the Braves are firm buyers and Alex Anthopoulos is in the middle of the chaos trying to improve Atlanta's roster. Sadly, the team's performance this season has the Braves positioned as moderate sellers in 2025 with pending free agents very likely to get dealt. However, there are also some scenarios where things could actually end up much, much worse.
Moves that only impact this season aren't likely to matter much to the Braves or their fans as the rest of 2025 is about getting things back on track heading into the offseason. There are some moves, though, that could have long lasting impacts on Atlanta's chances going forward.
Here are the true nightmare fuel situations from the trade deadline for Braves fans
The goal here is to avoid talking about moves for pending free agents of any stripe. Yes, it would suck if the Phillies or Mets improved at the trade deadline with rentals or the Dodgers got bailed out from all their pitching injuries, but those sorts of moves don't really change much for Atlanta. Instead, the focus here is on players with multiple years of team control that either the Braves cannot afford to lose or that could head to rivals and terrorize Atlanta for years.
Phillies landing Steven Kwan would be truly awful
The Phillies already have Trea Turner on their roster who has been causing havoc against the Braves going back to his days with the Nationals. Kwan is exactly the kind of pesky hitter who is tough to strikeout that would give Atlanta fits AND he is arbitration-eligible through the 2027 season. We don't need any more players on division rivals to cause headaches and in Kwan's case, he would almost certainly be a migraine in player form.
Braves fans would shudder at the thought of the Mets trading for Jhoan Duran
It is still unclear if the Twins will even make Jhoan Duran available and if he is, he is the type of player that the Braves could actually justify targeting in a trade. However, the Mets also could use bullpen help and with all of the fanfare New York got after signing Juan Soto last offseason, you can bet that Steve Cohen is pushing for a splashy move and Duran would qualify. Making matters worse is that Duran also isn't a free agent until after 2027. The idea of Duran laying waste to the Braves late in games is not a pleasant one.
If the Braves actually traded Ronald Acuña Jr., fans might riot
Look, the Braves are not going to trade Ronald Acuña Jr. at the deadline as much as the experts and content creators out there would love for it to happen. However, it is technically a move that could happen and if it were to go down, it would immediately signal that the Braves are going into full rebuild mode. Given how painful those rebuilding years were before Atlanta's run began in 2018, if that isn't a nightmare scenario especially given the expectations before this season started, we don't know what is.