While they have not been perfect, the Atlanta Braves front office under Alex Anthopoulos has been one of the better, more consistent units in all of baseball for years now. When they make a big move, they generally work out and when it comes to minor moves, few teams in all of baseball have gotten more out of outside-the-box moves than the Braves the last several years.
As much wheeling and dealing that happens with this front office, there were always going to be some forgotten Braves players that played important roles and a good number of them. However, the list of under-the-radar former Braves that are both still playing AND fans probably wish would come back is much smaller.
Here are some former Braves that fans probably wish they could get back right now
Going to head something off right now: this is not the article for you if all you are interested in is seeing an airing of grievances about Freddie Freeman. Yes, he left. Yes, it sucks. However, he is very well-known as a former Brave and Atlanta, contrary to popular belief, has a really good first baseman in Matt Olson. We did break the "forgotten" rule with one name on the list, but Freeman felt too disingenuous and too low a hanging fruit.
Caleb Durbin
Anyone remember the Braves trading for reliever Lucas Luetge? Yeah, that definitely didn't work out very well. In order to acquire Luetge, Atlanta to give up prospects Indigo Diaz and Caleb Durbin. Diaz hasn't done much since leaving the Braves, but Durbin got traded again and then was a top Rookie of the Year contender with the Brewers.
Had Durbin stayed with the Braves, they would have already had a Mauricio Dubon-type of player on their roster and an easy heir apparent to Ozzie Albies at second base. Instead, Milwaukee is reaping the benefits while Atlanta is wondering why they ever traded the guy.
Kevin Gausman
It remains deeply odd that Kevin Gausman's time with the Braves went as south as it did. He was really good after being acquired at the trade deadline in 2018, but he was so bad the next season that Atlanta had little choice but to put him on waivers where the Reds snatched him up.
After the 2019 season, Gausman has gone on to make 170 appearances with a 3.36 ERA across 985.1 innings with the Reds and Blue Jays and finished in the top 10 of Cy Young voting three teams. For a Braves team that would love some added frontline starter depth right now, seeing Gausman blossom into a stud definitely hurts.
Gabe Speier
If you look at Gabe Speier's stat page, you won't see an obvious connection to the Braves or that he was ever with the organization at all. That is because the Braves acquired Speier in the Cameron Maybin trade during the offseason before the 2016 season. Then, almost three weeks later that same offseason, Speier was thrown into the blockbuster deal that brought Dansby Swanson (more on him in a second) and Ender Inciarte to the Braves.
It has taken a while for Speier to find consistency in the majors after the trade, but he has morphed into a quality lefty reliever with the Mariners. Given how much the Braves have overhauled their bullpen so far, it sure would be nice if they still had him around.
Dansby Swanson
Okay, Dansby isn't forgotten and we are sorry about that. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that Braves' shortstop situation is a mess and Swanson is still providing good defense and solid offense for the Cubs right now.
Should the Braves have tried to beat Chicago's insane offer for Swanson? No, they shouldn't have. Giving Dansby a $177 million guarantee over seven years remains an insane choice to make and Anthopoulos was right to wish him the best. However, despite remaining a flawed player, it would be nice to have Dansby around right now if you completely ignore the financial side of things.