3 Players the Atlanta Braves Should Have Traded Before Their Value Dropped
Trades are a tough business as sometimes a team has to take a chance and hope a player will be everything they wanted and that doesn't happen. Vice versa, a player can be held on to by a team and suddenly lose value. The Atlanta Braves are no strangers to either of those things.
We always talk about who the Atlanta Braves should trade for and who the Braves should consider trading, but what about the players the Braves should have traded earlier? The ones who lost value?
Trading players, especially prospects, can sometimes be viewed as playing the stock market. Buy good players for cheap, like Jorge Soler. Sell guys at their highest values, like Bryce Ball, to improve the Major League team.
How about we look at a few that the Braves should or should have traded a bit earlier.
Vaughn Grissom
He is arguably the best trade chip the Braves have at the 2023 trade deadline, but there is no denying that Vaughn Grissom's value was at its highest during the most recent offseason.
Coming off a great 2022 campaign which saw him jump from AA to the Majors and provide an immediate impact. While he did slow down toward the end, we got a glimpse of what made him a valued prospect. The bat has the potential to be special in the Majors.
He did get figured out a bit but for a guy who had 98 plate appearances, it was impressive. Of course, there were still kinks to work out, especially on defense. The Braves believed in him though, and there was some thought that he could be the Braves starting shortstop in 2023. He started the year in Triple-A, losing the job to Orlando Arcia and when he did get to the Majors, his defense was an issue.
He was sent back to Triple-A Gwinnett and is still playing shortstop for the Stripers but it does appear that his future in the Majors will not be at the shortstop position. However, the bat is still good and provides plenty of reasons to love Grissom. In Triple-A, he is hitting .322/.398/.471 3 HR, 46 R, 40 RBI, and 11 SB with a .388 wOBA & 120 wRC+. The quality of contact metrics like his game as well.
He will have to find a defensive home but he will still have some appeal to some teams. A rebuilding team could give him the time at the MLB level to get right. That's something a contending team like the Braves cannot afford late into a season. Maybe the Braves still believe in him long-term and will stash him in Gwinnett and give him another run in 2024?
Whatever the case, the value is certainly not what it was 6 months ago.
Jared Shuster
Jared Shuster is another player the Braves would have gotten more from this Winter. While he came into the year as the Braves' top prospect according to some outlets, Shuster has always had a limited ceiling. The ceiling looked like a mid-rotation pitcher which could have had value this winter.
It made sense for the Braves to hold onto Shuster. Pitching is something a team can never have too much of and there was an opening for a fifth starter at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, Shuster was not able to take hold of the spot and has had a rollercoaster of a year for both Gwinnett and Atlanta.
Now, that ceiling looks more like a number 4 starter at best. His stuff did not play well in the Majors which is something he will need to improve. Similarly to Grissom, there is no room for someone to figure it out in Atlanta while they chase a championship.
Teams will still value young controllable pitching but it certainly will not be the same return that it could have been before Shuster made his MLB debut.
Bryse Wilson
Bryse Wilson was the Braves 7th ranked prospect back in 2019. Back when the Braves farm system was one of the best in baseball! In fact, he was the 82nd-ranked prospect in baseball! He would pitch in 4 seasons with the Braves from 2018-2021, never really claiming a spot within the rotation.
It began to look like Wilson was destined for a bullpen role. He ended up being traded at the 2021 trade deadline for the only move that did not turn into gold. Wilson was moved to Pittsburgh for reliever Richard Rodriguez. Now, he finds himself as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen.
This entire article is obviously in hindsight, and no GM is ever going to get every single move right, but looking back Wilson would have made for an attractive trade piece around 2018-2019. I imagine he brings back much more than Rich Rod.
Thankfully, the Braves have seen several trades end in their favor over the last few seasons. These are just a few guys that the team may consider trading earlier if they could go back in time.
Who are some other names the Braves should have moved on when their value was higher?