The Braves are heading toward the trade deadline with all the usual questions, but the bigger headache may be coming from inside the clubhouse. Atlanta can debate the market, the price, and whether this season is worth pushing in on, but a handful of its own players are making the front office’s job a lot messier.
That’s the trap for Alex Anthopoulos right now: every spot the Braves might want to upgrade is being clouded by someone already on the roster. Some of those players are struggling.
Some are bouncing between roles. And some are forcing Atlanta to shop for help even after the team already committed real money to fill the same need.
Austin Riley is the clearest example. Atlanta’s offense is getting hammered by left-handed pitching, and the club is leaning heavily on lefty bats that can actually do damage, especially with Ronald Acuña Jr. among the injured.
That has made the need for a right-handed bat more urgent, but it would look a lot different if Riley were simply giving them something useful. Instead, he’s “unplayably bad,” yet he keeps getting run out at third base every day because of his contract and his track record.
Even if he’s no longer the middle-of-the-order force he once was, just being decent would ease the pressure. Instead, the Braves are forced to keep shopping for the kind of bat they already thought they had.
Grant Holmes has created a different kind of problem. The rotation is already a mess, and his regression is a big reason why.
Last year, he looked like a found piece, a steady source of starter innings. This season, after returning from an arm injury he chose not to address with surgery, he hasn’t been the same.
Atlanta has already moved him to the bullpen, and there’s still no clear answer on what he should be going forward. That uncertainty doesn’t just deepen the need for starting help - it also clouds the bullpen picture.
Reynaldo Lopez is living in that same gray area, only in reverse. He opened the year as a starter, struggled badly after coming back from shoulder troubles, shifted to the bullpen with mixed results, and then moved back into the rotation because the Braves needed him there.
That kind of back-and-forth makes it impossible to project what he really is right now. If he ends up in relief, the rotation need gets even louder.
If he stays in the rotation, the bullpen loses a piece. Either way, the Braves are stuck guessing.
Left field has become another sore spot, and Mike Yastrzemski has been part of why. With the human toilet known as Jurickson Profar suspended again, Atlanta has been left with a black hole in left field.
The Braves have used a platoon for much of the season, but Yastrzemski has gotten most of the chances on the left side of it. He didn’t need to be a star.
He just needed to be competent. Instead, he’s sitting on an 82 wRC+, and that number is only propped up by one decent month in May.
After giving him $23 million last offseason, the Braves now have left field back on the shopping list.
Then there’s Ha-Seong Kim, who was supposed to help solve the shortstop issue in the short term. Atlanta traded for him last year, liked him enough to give him a one-year deal for 2026, and then got hit with unexpected finger surgery right before the season.
Since coming off the IL, he’s been one of the worst hitters in baseball. At this point, the Braves can’t really count on him to shape their shortstop plans at all.
That puts more pressure on Mauricio Dubon’s day-to-day usage and raises the likelihood that Atlanta gets aggressive about adding a shortstop at the deadline.
That’s the bind for the Braves. They don’t just have holes to fill. They have players already on the books who are making those holes harder to define, harder to trust, and harder to fix.
In Other News...
Former Braves Outfielder Just Hit Another Troubling Turning Point
Jarred Kelenics latest turn in Texas has become another reminder of how quickly a promising talent can slide into roster uncertainty. The Rangers designated the former Braves outfielder for assignment and brought up Cameron Cauley from Triple-A, a move that fits the clubs need to balance its bench and find a better short-term match for the role.
Kelenic had only a brief look with Texas this year, and the organization ultimately leaned toward a right-handed option that better fits the platoon and fourth-outfielder picture. For Atlanta fans, it is a familiar kind of setback for a player who arrived with real expectations, then spent last season trying to steady his profile while still flashing the power that once made him such an intriguing piece. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Entering A Stretch That Feels Far More Serious Than Expected
A road trip that was supposed to be a measuring stick has turned into a much starker warning for Atlanta. The offense has gone flat, scoring just seven runs in five games, and the broader slump has left the lineup looking far less threatening than it did earlier in the year. Walt Weiss has made it clear he is trying to keep the focus on the Braves own work rather than the division picture, which makes sense when the current issue is less about standings and more about the way the club is playing right now.
June has only sharpened the concern, with Atlanta sitting at a 65 wRC+ and lagging well behind league average. Add in the pitching issues and the continued absence of Ronald Acua Jr., and the margin for error keeps shrinking while the trade market remains mostly theoretical for now. The Braves are at the point where the next stretch feels less like a routine midseason grind and more like a test of how long they can keep this version of the roster afloat. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Lefty Just Answered A Big Question About His Fast Rise
Briggs McKenzie has moved fast enough to make him one of the more intriguing names in the Braves system, especially for a 2025 fourth-round pick who has already climbed from Rookie ball to Low-A and then High-A in just two months. The left-handers early run has come with the kind of swing-and-miss stuff that tends to travel well, led by a curveball that does most of the damage, along with a fastball in the 90-95 mph range and a low-80s changeup that gives him another lane to develop.
The jump to High-A did not look smooth at first, but McKenzies third start there offered a much better snapshot of why Atlanta is so interested. He struck out 8 in 4.2 innings, and his season line now sits at a 2.08 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 26 innings, a strong number for a pitcher still adjusting to each new level. The bigger question is whether he can keep turning that raw stuff into consistent production as the competition gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]