Clutch your pearls: A Braves-D'Backs trade to replace Ronald Acuña with World Series hero

The Atlanta Braves have seen a rough start to 2024 turn even worse. Ronald Acuña Jr. is set to miss the rest of the 2024 season after tearing his ACL running the bases.

While it would be understandable to mourn the loss of one of the game's young stars, who's now torn his ACL in both knees over the last few years, baseball is a business. And Atlanta needs to look to move forward without the star outfielder, much like they did in 2021.

They could look to parallel the 2021 season, a year in which they won the World Series after losing Acuña, with a trade to replace the injured star. In 2021, they made a deal with the Cubs to acquire Joc Pederson. In 2024, they could look to make a trade with the Diamondbacks to acquire Pederson again.

A Braves-Diamondbacks trade to send Joc Pederson back to Atlanta to replace Ronald Acuña Jr.

Joc Pederson is off to, arguably, his best start to a season in his entire big-league career. The lefty is slashing .303/.397/.538 through 44 games played. These would be career-best numbers in average, OBP, SLG and OPS.

The Braves could desperately use his production, now more than ever. And they could get very aggressive in making a trade to acquire him.

The Braves need to try to acquire Pederson. They will be willing to slightly overpay for him to do so, which is where the offer of an MLB-ready pitcher, Darius Vines, and a high ceiling, 18-year-old project outfielder in Isaiah Drake comes in.

This trade works for the Diamondbacks because it's a perfect combination of one high-floor prospect and one high-ceiling prospect.

Vines is a 26-year-old righty who has the ceiling of a solid three in a team's starting rotation. He doesn't have the electric arm or true out pitch that it takes to be an ace in today's game, but Vines fills up the zone and mixes his pitches well.

Drake has the potential to be a future star in the outfield if all goes well as he develops. At just 18 years old, he already has some of the best speed and power in the Braves system. Weighing just 180 pounds, Drake could put another 10 to 20 pounds on his frame, without sacrificing his speed, and develop into a true star in the outfield.

But the Braves would be okay losing these two prospects if it means adding a season or two of Joc Pederson reaching base at nearly a 40% clip. Pederson was a piece of the puzzle in the 2021 World Series for the Braves and Atlanta could turn to him again in 2024, attempting to recreate the same October magic.