A surprise Braves-Blue Jays trade to replace Orlando Arcia backed by insider

The Atlanta Braves have long been connected to starting pitchers and outfielders in the trade market because of the injuries to Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. These two holes are obvious for Atlanta to need to address ahead of the deadline.

But that's not the only pair of issues that the Braves need to address. In fact, they need to replace a player that was an All-Star last season, Orlando Arcia at shortstop.

In his Tuesday trade deadline primer, ESPN senior writer David Schoenfield wrote on this, discussing how Atlanta needs to replace Arcia and mentions Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette as a potential replacement.

"Arcia has regressed in a big way, hitting .211 with a .245 OBP," Schoenfield said. "He does provide good defense, but Bichette could be an impact player for 2024 and 2025."

A trade for Bichette would need to be a massive one, but the Braves have the prospect capital to go get a trade done in the coming weeks if they decide to pursue it and Bichette is made available.

A Braves-Blue Jays trade to replace Atlanta's slumping shortstop

Bichette might be slumping right now, but he's an elite talent that would provide Atlanta with a high potential player at a position of need. While Bichette has slumped, he's still been significantly better than Arcia and if he returns to form, he'll be a true difference maker for Atlanta.

Atlanta is able to put together the perfect package for the Blue Jays here.

They are able to offer the high floor, high potential prospect in shortstop Nacho Alvarez Jr. Alvarez could and should slot right in at the big-league level if this trade is made and Bichette is sent to Atlanta. He's been tremendous this season, slashing .291/.398/.397 across two levels in the minor leagues.

Then the Braves add in two pitching prospects, one big league ready arm in Darius Vines and one ridiculously high potential arm in Cade Kuehler. Vines is stuck in the minor leagues of the Braves system because of how loaded their pitching is above him. Kuehler is an incredibly high potential 22-year-old righty that's only made 14 professional starts.

If this package isn't enough, Atlanta could likely get a deal done by adding one more prospect in the backend of their top 30 prospects, potentially Sabin Ceballos or Jesse Franklin V.

Before the year, it would have been asinine to think that the Braves would need to upgrade over the reigning All-Star, Orlando Arcia. But Arcia has regressed into an offensive liability and it's having a true impact on the Braves record. If Atlanta wants to compete for the World Series, they need to upgrade at shortstop and Bichette is the best player on the market.