3 Braves trades that helped get them to World Series

Alex Anthopoulos traded a panda head for the 2021 NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario

Of the five trades Anthopoulos made in July, this one was the most peculiar. Atlanta completely reshaped its outfield by adding Pederson from the Cubs, Duvall from the Marlins and Soler from the Kansas City Royals. Though many in Braves Country were ecstatic about getting a high-quality relief pitcher in Richard Rodriguez from the Pittsburgh Pirates, he was not an Eddie Rosario.

At the time of the deal with the Cleveland Indians, Rosario was on the mend with a muscle injury. He was not going to contribute upon arrival in Atlanta. So in a glorified salary dump that saw Pablo Sandoval and his giant panda head go to Cleveland for like an hour, the Braves somehow, someway, ended up trading for the NLCS MVP. Nobody could have forecasted what was coming.

Rosario made his way back from injury down the stretch. While he would occasionally make a boneheaded play in the outfield, everybody said he could rake. Boy, could he ever. Having to take down the NL’s Goliath in Los Angeles was not going to be easy, but with Rosario hitting just about everything thrown his way, he ran away with the NLCS MVP faster than you can say Waffle House.

The return on investment from this trade is up there with John Smoltz leaving the Detroit Tigers.