The Atlanta Braves are hoping that Tuesday night's dramatic late-inning rally against the New York Mets will be the inflection point that helps turn a disappointing season around. The Braves are still 12 games back in the NL East and 6.5 games back of an NL Wild Card spot, but if you think Atlanta has any intention of selling at the trad deadline, GM Alex Anthopoulos is here to set the record straight.
Anthopoulos hopped on for a radio interview with 680 The Fan on Wednesday morning, and he was unequivocal: No, the Braves aren't selling, and they certainly aren't considering getting rid of Chris Sale. Instead, they're looking to add Major League pieces ahead of what they hope will be a postseason push this summer.
But while that sounds great as a soundbite, it's a little more complicated in reality. The fact is that Atlanta simply doesn't have a ton of assets with which to acquire impact big-league talent, with a mediocre farm system and precious pending free agents who aren't part of the long-term core. That puts Anthopoulos in something of a bind, and could put the writing on the wall for one of the team's longest-tenured hitters.
He reiterated the Braves are absolutely not selling and are certainly not going to sell anybody with club control. Said they are trying to make trades now https://t.co/SJiH5YKHyS
— SportsTalkATL.com (@SportsTalkATL) June 18, 2025
In the midst of Anthopoulos' insistence that Atlanta wasn't going to move off of its biggest names, there was an interesting little hedge: The Braves aren't selling anybody with club control. That's an important distinction, one that leaves the door open for really the only path Atlanta has left to make a splash at the deadline: a trade of Marcell Ozuna.
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Marcell Ozuna trade is the Braves' only path forward at the deadline
Why else would it be necessary to specify that the team isn't moving players who are under contract beyond this year? That applies to just about every member of this current core ... that is, except for Ozuna, who's set to hit free agency this winter.
The veteran is in the midst of yet another solid season at the dish for the Braves, with an .817 OPS and 11 homers in 68 games. But he's also going to be 35 in November, and he's strictly a DH at this point in his career. Given Atlanta's financial constraints moving forward, it seems highly unlikely that he's in the team's plans beyond 2025 — and that makes him the team's most valuable trade asset at the deadline.
Of course, taking Ozuna's bat out of an already struggling lineup would hurt. But the team has other options in his stead, like maybe finding more at-bats for promising young catcher Drake Baldwin alongside incumbent starter Sean Murphy. And Ozuna is the only viable way for Anthopoulos to patch other holes, specifically in the bullpen; the Braves simply don't have the prospects to win bidding wars in July, and nearly every other regular in the lineup is locked up for years to come.
Plenty of teams would figure to be interested in Ozuna were he to become available. The Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals and even the San Diego Padres are great fits on paper. It's hard to imagine this Braves team going anywhere unless it finds more reliable arms; Ozuna is the only path to acquiring them, at least ones that would make a true difference down the stretch, and Anthopoulos seems to recognize that as well as anyone.