3 players the Atlanta Braves must consider trading, and 1 they absolutely can’t
By Josh Wilson
Players the Braves need to consider trading: Travis d’Arnaud, C
The plan coming into the year after the Atlanta Braves traded for Sean Murphy was for Travis d’Arnaud to still be heavily involved in the plans.
The story from the team was that they would split catching duties and get plenty of designated hitter at-bats for both.
Here’s how that has panned out so far:
Catcher at-bats, Braves 2023:
- Sean Murphy: 146
- Travis d’Arnaud: 60
Catcher innings, Braves 2023:
- Sean Murphy: 323
- Travis d’Arnaud: 85.2
I mean, it’s not even close to a balance between the two. Part of the reason was discussed on the slide before this, Marcell Ozuna is actually filling the designated hitter role better than the Braves may have expected him to, which while good, creates inflexibility in the DH spot for talent-dense areas of the roster like at catcher.
So, it may ultimately depend on what happens with Ozuna, but considering trading d’Arnaud is in the picture. Remember, insiders tabbed that as a plausible outcome when the trade first went down:
Anthopoulos said he talked to Travis d'Arnaud before making the deal and said the plan is for both to split the catching duties and get plenty of DH at-bats. (Still won't surprise me if d'Arnaud is eventually traded.)
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) December 12, 2022
The possible blockade there is the de facto call-up to serve as backup to Murphy if the team trades d’Arnaud would be Chadwick Tromp. He’s not hitting well at AAA so there may be understandable trepidation there.
Still, d’Arnaud is a player worth at the very least, considering bringing up in trades, especially if it returns a major piece.