Almost everyone agrees that the Atlanta Braves did poorly at the trade deadline. The moves they made themselves weren't bad, but you will struggle to find anyone who thinks Alex Anthopoulos did enough to address Atlanta's rotation. The upside to how the Braves handled things is that they did not trade basically any of their top prospects, although that seems likely to change after the season.
With all the uncertainty around the upcoming lockout and CBA negotiations, predicting anything about this upcoming free agent class is impossible. As we saw with the Matt Olson trade just days after the last lockout ended, the Braves could lay the groundwork for deals before the next lockout so they can act quickly once it ends.
When that happens, Braves fans may want to brace for top pitching prospect Cam Caminiti to be among the prospects that end up getting traded.
Cam Caminiti remains the Braves' top trade chip despite staying put at the trade deadline
The idea here is pretty much the same as it was before the trade deadline. With guys like Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Austin Riley either reaching the ends of their contracts soon and/or showing real signs of regression, in addition to the ongoing void at shortstop, the Braves are probably going to be a little hesitant to trade top position player prospects Eric Hartman, Tate Southisene, and John Gil. That doesn't mean they are off limits, but it does mean they are likely to prefer deals that are centered around pitching prospects.
However, the Braves also have a pitching deficit at the big league level. That makes moving guys who are big league ready or close to it like JR Ritchie, Owen Murphy, or even Brett Sears a bit dubious as well. For those doing the math at home, that means in order to land a top-quality starter in trade (which is going to be a must), it will require a top pitching prospect or two to be the centerpiece of a trade, and Caminiti is basically THE trade option alongside Briggs McKenzie and MAYBE one of the arms that Atlanta just picked in the 2026 MLB Draft.
For those who saw Caminiti's recent start where he had a career day with 14 Ks, this could be disconcerting. However, you can't keep everyone, and with Caminiti being moved along pretty slowly so far and the fact that he dropped in the draft, there are some clues that he could have a lower value to the Braves than to another team looking to unload a proven starter.
That doesn't mean any trade involving Caminiti wouldn't be painful, but it does feel like the best option available for Atlanta to address their rotation struggles heading into next season (whenever that ends up being).
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