3 missed opportunities for Braves at 2024 MLB trade deadline

The 2024 MLB trade deadline officially ended at 6 p.m. EST on Tuesday evening and there was a lot of movement this year. Atlanta wasn't one of those teams as they made just one trade. The Braves acquired two familiar faces, Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson in exchange for former postseason hero Tyler Matzek and third base prospect Sabin Ceballos.

Ahead of the deadline, the Braves had to consider changing their approach with uncertainty surrounding Reynaldo Lopez's health. However, encouraging MRI results on his forearm allowed Lopez to miss the injured list and Atlanta to stick to their plan of adding an outfield bat.

Jorge Soler is a familiar face and has a fantastic walk rate of 11.2% which is 23rd best in baseball and the highest on the Braves roster. He also boasts a respectable .329 on-base percentage. His power is down a bit from last season but he is still a threat with incredible barrel percentage (10.5%) and bat speed (74.4 mph average).

Luke Jackson hasn't had the best season as indicated by his 5.40 ERA. But Jackson pitched better in July with a 3.00 ERA over 9 innings with one walk and 13 strikeouts. Atlanta hopes he's able to continue that success in August.

However, it's understandable to feel like the team didn't do enough at the trade deadline. There are some missed opportunities Atlanta could have considered to give the team a tad more confidence.

Missed opportunties for the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline

Not trading for middle infield help

Nacho Alvarez Jr. tore up Triple-A pitching before getting a chance to get his first MLB stint when Ozzie Albies fractured his wrist. Unfortunately, it hasn't gone well as he's struggled at the plate. There's still some room for development for the Braves prospect.

Albies will be out until at least September so it wouldn't have been a bad idea to trade for a middle infielder to fill the void. Someone like Brandon Lowe from Tampa Bay could have been the perfect addition to that role. Lowe is having a decent season with a .261 average through 60 games with two homers, 11 doubles,12 RBI, and a .354 OBP.

He would have been a great acquisition for the Braves and had two club options left for 2025 and 2026. The price for Lowe could have been too high for Atlanta considering Albies isn't too far from returning. It's likely Alex Anthopoulos and the Braves viewed Whit Merrifield as a suitable enough replacement for Ozzie and passed on the chance. Merrifield hasn't been the best this season and is a good defender but his bat leaves a lot to be desired. The next month will determine if this was a mistake or not.

Holding on to players in walk years

This is an opportunity every team should consider at the trade deadline and the Braves could have done so as well. There are a few candidates for this such as Charlie Morton, Jesse Chavez, AJ Minter, and Ramon Laureano.

There's no guarantee these players would have returned anything major but Atlanta could have considered moving some of them to get some prospects in return. However, holding on to them makes sense as they've been helping the team. Morton has struggled a bit this year but has been eating innings for the team. Chavez and Minter have been impressive in the bullpen and have valuable playoff experience.

Perhaps the team could have also looked at moving a low-leverage reliever like Aaron Bummer in a trade to get a decent return at the deadline. It's possible he and others mentioned above were talked about in trade talks. It may be that the team just values their experience over any potential additions. This is the lowest missed opportunity as it wouldn't have moved the needle very much for Atlanta.