A Braves-A's trade for a Ronald Acuña Jr. dream replacement

Losing Ronald Acuna Jr. to an ACL tear has placed a huge grey cloud over the Atlanta Braves for the 2024 season. But, Acuna suffered the same injury in 2021 and the Braves rebounded to win the World Series.

In 2021, they added multiple outfielders in the weeks following Acuna's tragic knee injury. This season, they're being a bit more cautious, but that might be because the trade deadline is still two months away.

They need to look to the trade market for an everyday corner outfielder and they need to do it as soon as possible. They could replace Acuna with a power bat, like the Athletics Brent Rooker. That would certainly be a good start to replacing their superstar outfielder.

An A's-Braves trade that replaces Ronald Acuna Jr. with a serious slugger

Rooker is almost certainly going to be traded over the next few months. He's having way too good of a season for a struggling franchise. He is slashing .280/.365/.554 with 11 home runs and an OPS over .900. Truly great numbers for an outfielder who has a career batting average of .240.

And Atlanta needs to jump on this idea of making a move for Rooker soon.

A trade for Brent Rooker isn't a rental. Rooker is still under three more years of team control after this season. That would provide Atlanta with much-needed security in a trade for him. But this also increases his value and means the Braves would have to part with some of their more valued prospects.

It's safe to say that the Braves top five prospects, all pitchers, are safe within the system. With five highly valued pitching prospects like this, it leaves the pitchers down the line a bit more expendable, like Cade Kuehler and Darius Vines.

Kuehler, who holds a big league ETA of 2026, currently sits in Low-A. He would be given the opportunity to progress up the ladder of the minor leagues faster in the A's system, as there's less pressure to succeed at the big-league level.

The same can be said with Vines. Vines has been given a few MLB chances and now seems to be getting passed up for guys like Bryce Elder, AJ Smith-Shawver and Spencer Schwellenbach. Vines, a good talent, doesn't have a place in Atlanta but he could find his home in Oakland. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Geraldo Quintero is added as a lottery ticket piece of the trade. The expectations with him wouldn't be very high, but he could definitely develop into a good fielder and base runner, at the very least.

For the Braves, acquiring Brent Rooker and keeping him in their outfield rotation for three and a half years would be well worth these prospects. Rooker is the outfielder of their dreams, given the scenario they're placed in.

You have to make do with the hand that you're dealt. Atlanta was dealt a pretty horrible hand in 2024, but Alex Anthopoulos will have to make do. He always does. Trading for Rooker would be a massive step in the right direction.