Ronald Acuña Jr. is back doing what Ronald Acuña Jr. does, and that’s making any trade speculation around him a lot harder to sustain.
The Mariners were linked to Acuña ahead of last year’s trade deadline by MLB Network insider Joel Sherman, and Bill Shanks of NBC’s Georgia affiliate has now tried to give that idea new life. On paper, it still makes a certain kind of sense. Seattle is expected to need a major right-handed bat this offseason, while Atlanta could use starting pitching and youth, the kind of pieces the Mariners can offer.
But the timing has shifted sharply in the Braves’ favor.
Acuña, the 2023 NL MVP, had a rough stretch for much of the season and finished last month with a .754 OPS, which projected to be the second-worst mark of his nine Major League seasons. Since September began, though, he has caught fire with a 1.086 OPS and started looking like the superstar who changes everything around him. That kind of surge matters, especially with the postseason approaching.
Shanks’ argument is that this is the moment for Atlanta to move him, pointing to Acuña’s injury history and the two club options left on his contract. The idea is that the Braves should think ahead and avoid the risk of losing him for nothing.
Still, that does not necessarily mean Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos sees it the same way. If Acuña keeps raking into October, the Braves could become even less likely to deal him this winter. And if Atlanta does entertain offers, a strong playoff run would only push his value higher.
So the Mariners’ window may already be closing, if it was ever really open at all. Seattle badly needs impact help, but the franchise has a habit of watching the promising path turn into something else. Brendan Donovan’s injury-plagued first season in Seattle left him with the fewest games of his Major League career, and Josh Naylor has looked like a dud in the first year of his five-year, $92.5 million deal.
That’s the backdrop here: even a star as obvious as Acuña can feel just out of reach for the Mariners.
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