Tell me you are uniformed without telling me you are uniformed... I came across this delightful post from The Athletic ($) and asked myself this: Have Chad Jennings, Aaron Gleeman and Tim Britton watched the Atlanta Braves play baseball the last two weeks? All they have done is beat the snot out of the arch rival New York Mets. Yes, they are still below .500, but let's not write them off just yet, y'all.
With their powers combined, Jennings, Gleeman and Britton decided to put the Braves in the "Trending to the sell side" tier along with the Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers. I am not going to speak on behalf of either of those teams because I do not watch them play on a daily basis. I will say that putting Atlanta in this tier is totally wrong because they do not understand Alex Anthopoulos.
If Chris Sale was healthy and the team was playing worse, maybe you could argue in favor of selling high on the future Hall of Famer? Well, he fractured some ribs and is on the IL for the time being. Before that even happened, Anthopoulos said no, he would not be trading Sale. As for Marcell Ozuna, he can veto any trade Anthopoulos puts forth. He is on an expiring deal, but he has to approve of it.
No matter what I think, if the Braves sweep or take three-of-four from the Mets, they are back in this.
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Another series win over the New York Mets is huge for the Atlanta Braves
Entering Game 3 of their four-game series at the Mets, Atlanta has improved to 37-41 on the year after taking the first two over New York. That gives them an 18.9-percent chance to make the postseason. I will take that, given how bad the first half of the year has been. Right now, Atlanta is 9.5 games back of Philadelphia in division and six behind St. Louis for the last wild card spot in the NL.
So if Sale is not available and Ozuna may not have as robust of a market as people tend to believe he might have, who are the Braves going to put on the trading block? I would say maybe Sean Murphy could become available, but the Braves have always liked having a great backstop tandem. It is too premature to think rookie Drake Baldwin can carry the weight of the world on his shoulders already.
While there may be some lesser players on this roster who could be dealt, there is not much in the farm system I find appetizing. Prospects do nothing for me. More importantly, it is in not Anthopoulos' best interests to give off the vibes of being a seller. He built this team. It has not worked as well as it should. Why would he admit defeat in the face of a corporation that only cares about making money?
From an outsider's perspective, I can understand why it is easy to come to the conclusion that the Braves will be sellers. From a local standpoint, there is very little chance of that happening. They just got Ronald Acuña Jr. back from the IL, and he has been on fire for about a month now. There is also a chance they may have found their next closer internally. Will Brian Snitker give Dylan Lee the ninth?
If the Braves fall apart right before the All-Star Game, they could be forced to sell later next month.