3 Atlanta Braves who should be traded or worse by the end of 2024

Injuries were the downfall of the 2024 Atlanta Braves. Ultimately, they had star players miss way too much time for them to go out and win the NL East again. Losing Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. for the season with torn ligaments ended up costing the organization a chance at making a run for the World Series.

But injuries can only take some of the blame, though they are very prevalent in the story of the 2024 Atlanta Braves. At a certain point, it's on the front office for not building a good enough roster. The front office had sufficient time to replace their injured stars, yet they didn't do so aggressively enough, resulting in a lost season.

Now, the front office is set to make some tough decisions this offseason, including decisions that lead to these three players being traded or worse this winter.

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3. Prospect RHP Cade Kuehler could be included in a big trade

The very first thing that all Braves fans will be excited to hear about is who Atlanta could look to trade for this offseason. There are a ton of options available on the market for the Braves to pursue, but the piece of the puzzle that we will talk about today is who the Braves would need to move in order to acquire their big trade targets.

The player that could and should be included in a trade for the Braves this winter is right-handed pitching prospect Cade Kuehler. This isn't because Kuehler is bad, but more so because he holds a ton of value while he sits below a ton of top ranked pitching prospects in Atlanta's organization.

Kuehler, 22, is the Braves 10th ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Kuehler has a tremendous fastball and a wipe out slider, leading to some pretty high upside. His numbers in the minor leagues have been good, but not great in his short time in pro ball. Kuehler holds a 3.30 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 60 professional innings.

He sits behind six top pitching prospects in the Braves system, while the MLB roster also has a few former top prospects on the roster. Trading him for a proven player would be a good idea for Atlanta.

2. OF Adam Duvall will be let go in free agency

When building a postseason roster, a team needs to have as many competitive players on that roster as possible, obviously. But the Braves didn't put together a roster of all competitive players in 2024. One of the worst players on the roster was outfielder Adam Duvall, which could come as a surprise considering how successful Duvall had been in Atlanta in the past.

Duvall, 36, slashed .182/.245/.323 with a WAR near -2.0 on the season. He wasn't a threat to get on base and he wasn't doing much damage with the bat either. On the defensive side of things, Duvall had a negative FRV and one of the worst arm values in all of baseball. There's not much of an argument for bringing him back to Atlanta in 2025.

But as Duvall is set to hit unrestricted free agency this Winter, the Braves are going to let him walk. Atlanta would be foolish to bring him back, even if it was at the minimum. He was a net-negative to the roster this season and Atlanta can't afford to have a net-negative back on the roster in 2025.

1. OF Jorge Soler could be traded as soon as possible

The Atlanta Braves went out and acquired Jorge Soler as a short term fix to one of their holes in 2024. But keeping Soler on the roster isn't sustainable for more than just the back half of last year and it's not because Soler wasn't good enough. In fact, offensively, he was great for the Braves.

In 49 games with Atlanta, Soler slashed .243/.356/.493 with nine home runs, 11 doubles and 24 RBIs. He brought a legit power bat to the Atlanta outfield, but keeping him on the roster doesn't make a ton of sense. Let me explain.

Soler was horrific on defense last season. According to Baseball Savant, he was worth -7 FRV and -7 OAA, both in the bottom 20 percent of the league, though he didn't play defense in enough games to even qualify, meaning if he had a full season of defense, his numbers would be even worse.

Atlanta already has their DH in Marcell Ozuna, so slotting Soler in at DH isn't an option. Consistently playing him in the outfield isn't an option either. He needs to land somewhere that can pay his hefty contract while also giving him the ability to slot in as the everyday DH rather than as an outfielder.

That won't be with Atlanta.