With a little more than a month left before the MLB trade deadline, the Braves’ needs are already pretty plain. June made that impossible to ignore.
Atlanta has to fix the rotation if it wants to stay in the division race and think seriously about the World Series, but the lineup needs help too. The Braves posted the worst wRC+ in baseball during June, finishing 35% below league average and 18 points behind the next-worst offense.
Ronald Acuña Jr.’s eventual return should help, but it won’t solve everything. There are still two clear trouble spots in the lineup: designated hitter and left field.
That leaves Atlanta watching a shrinking trade market and trying to figure out which clubs will actually be willing to talk in the coming weeks. A few teams stand out as the most likely partners.
The Rockies fit the bill first. Colorado doesn’t have the flashiest trade chips, but a last-place team in the NL West should be open for business. The Braves have already done well with the Rockies in recent seasons, landing relievers Pierce Johnson and Tyler Kinley in trades that worked out for Atlanta.
The Giants are another obvious club to monitor. They may have just taken another series from the Braves, but they look headed toward selling at the deadline. Unlike Colorado, San Francisco could offer some real impact pieces, with starting pitchers Robbie Ray and Logan Webb among the most intriguing names.
Then there’s the Reds. Cincinnati opened the season well, but the slide has put them at 39-43 and 11 games back in the NL Central. They are not a lock to sell yet, but they’d need a major turnaround over the next month to avoid that path.
The Angels are in a strange spot, which is hardly new for that organization. They did fire their GM recently, adding another layer of uncertainty. They should be sellers, even if their 36-49 record still leaves them only 6.5 games out in the AL West.
Detroit is one of the most closely watched situations because of Tarik Skubal. The two-time AL Cy Young award winner is in the final year of his contract, and most around the league expect him to be moved.
But the Tigers are still within reach in the AL Central, sitting 9.0 games behind the White Sox and Guardians. If they catch fire in July, Skubal could stay put through the end of the season.
Kansas City is in a similar lane. The Royals have been a disappointment at 35-50, enough that a sell-off would make sense. At the same time, they’re close enough to believe a short hot streak could keep them in the mix.
Boston is the team Braves fans may want to track most closely, outside of Detroit. If the Red Sox decide to sell, they have pieces that line up neatly with Atlanta’s problems.
Jarren Duran would help in left field. Sonny Gray would give the rotation another option.
And Boston’s bullpen includes several relievers who would draw interest across the league.
Baltimore could also become part of the conversation. The Orioles entered with a prospect group that was supposed to become the backbone of the franchise, but instead they’ve slipped back toward the bottom of the AL East. That kind of slide can lead to a deadline where a lot of names go out the door, including players once viewed as long-term building blocks.
In Other News...
Braves Bullpen Plan Is Running Into A Problem Fans Saw Coming
The Braves went into the season built to win games late, with the front office leaning into bullpen depth and trying to keep its best relievers fresh for October. In practice, though, that plan has had to survive a stretched rotation and a month of uneven starting pitching, with June exposing how quickly one part of the roster can unravel when another is being protected.
Chris Sale is a big part of the tension. Atlanta has kept him off regular rest for much of the season, and he is lined up for his fourth start of June and his first in 10 days, a reminder of how carefully the club has managed its ace while trying to cover for thinner starting depth. Add in injuries that have taken Raisel Iglesias and Robert Suarez out of the late-inning mix at different points, plus high-leverage innings that have already gone sideways, and the Braves are finding out what fans feared when the roster was built: a strong bullpen plan only works if the rest of the pitching staff can hold up around it. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Offensive Collapse Puts One Uncomfortable Question Front And Center
The Braves lineup has gone from one of the National Leagues more productive groups in May to a far murkier operation in June, and the numbers tell a frustratingly familiar story for a team that expected its offense to carry more of the load. Injuries have been part of the backdrop throughout the month, with Ronald Acua Jr., Michael Harris II, Sean Murphy, Drake Baldwin, Eli White and Ha-Seong Kim all dealing with their own issues or delays, leaving Atlanta to patch together run production as the roster has thinned out.
Mauricio Dubon has at least given the club a modest lift with a stronger June, but the larger concern is whether the Braves are seeing a temporary slump or something more systemic as the lineup keeps shuffling. When the bats are this quiet and the available pieces keep changing, the conversation naturally drifts beyond the players on the field and toward how much responsibility still falls on the coaching staff to find answers before the season drifts any farther off course. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Make A Veteran Move As Pressure Builds During Brutal Slide
The Braves have been searching for answers during a rough stretch that has left them with 11 losses in their last 15 games, and the issues have not been confined to one area. The offense has been uneven, the starting pitching has not held up its end, and with the July trade deadline approaching, general manager Alex Anthopoulos has already signaled that the club expects to be active in the market.
Carlos Santana is part of that broader effort to stabilize the roster, bringing a long track record and some postseason pedigree from his time with Cleveland, including the 2016 World Series run. The veteran first baseman will begin at Triple-A, with the possibility of working his way into the major league picture if the Braves decide they need more help on the right side of the infield and in a potential platoon role. [Read more 🡒]