3 Braves MVP candidates, and 1 player who should be benched

Marcell Ozuna is the reason why Alex Anthopoulos refuses to pay big money

While it has been mostly good for the Braves this season, there is an elephant in the room, and it has not been the injury-plagued nature of this ballclub. Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna had been a walking out for the Atlanta offense. Though he supposedly looked like what he did in 2020 with the Braves, it has been beyond pulling teeth watching him try to figure anything out at the plate.

It seemed like a good deal at the time, but the four-year contract Ozuna signed has been the bane of Alex Anthopoulos’ existence. It made sense initially, but bad defense, no feel whatsoever for the outside part of the plate and all the extracurriculars of the field have made Ozuna persona non grata in The ATL. If he was not making this much coin, Atlanta would have likely already cut him.

What makes this tough financial decision a tad easier is that Atlanta is getting production from other hitters in the DH role, as well as in left field. With another season and change left on his four-year deal and change with the Braves, there will probably come a time when cutting bait is no longer like cutting off an appendage. The hope is for the contract to no longer be an albatross, but it is…

Atlanta is too good of a baseball team to have an unlikeable former star be three guaranteed outs.