A few weeks back Atlanta Braves' general manager Alex Anthopoulos made the claim that the organization would not be sellers at the trade deadline despite their agonizing record. With a postseason bid already out of the question and contracts soon to expire, many thought Anthopoulos would change his tune when offers came in. Turns out, he held true to his word.
Players like Marcell Ozuna, Sean Murphy and Raisel Iglesias all drew interest from other teams but ulitmately all of them stayed in Atlanta. By doing nothing at the deadline in 2025, the Braves have created more questions than answers regarding their future.
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Does anyone know the Braves long-term plan?
They say history has a tendency to repeat itself, and the current state of the Braves organization feels a lot like the 1990s. Over the last few seasons (besides 2024 and 2025), Atlanta has had a great deal of success in the regular season, has captured many division titles but has only one World Series championship during this run.
If the Braves continue to try to fix all of their issues internally, they will fall into another World Series drought. On paper, this team is built to win right now, especially when they are completely healthy. However, the cold-hard truth is that those alll-stars on paper have underperformed for the last two seasons.
At some point, it has to stop being a coincidence that the entire team is underachieving. Sure, the injuries the Braves have had to face over the last two seasons has done no favors but it remains inexcusable for them to be at the bottom of the National League standings.
There is a chance that by remaining idle at the 2025 trade deadline, Atlanta could be indicating that they expected to be better once everyone is healthy again. Nearly the entire Opening Day starting rotation, along with Ronald Acuña Jr., are currently on the injured list and most are not expected to return until 2026.
Slugger Marcell Ozuna is also set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and it would be a bold strategy not to trade him if there is no plan to extend his contract.
On the other hand, it makes too much sense to consider trading players like Sean Murphy. Rookie catcher Drake Baldwin is on the rise and has proven he has what it takes offensively and defensively to be an every day backstop.
The only assumption we can make right now is that the Braves are hoping for a miracle turn around from their current roster in 2026 and that has the Atlanta fan base rolling their eyes. However, that is just an assumption.
This upcoming winter could be more telling as we see what unfolds as far as contract extensions, recoveries from injuries and coaching changes are made. We can expected an almost all-new coaching staff in the Braves' dugout in 2026. Perhaps the organization wants to give new leadership one more crack at the team's current build before making major changes to the roster.