Blocked Braves top prospect could be the ticket to landing huge deadline name

Alex Anthopoulos has some big decisions to make. The Atlanta Braves are still very much a playoff team after a frustrating first half for Braves Country's standards. While the starting pitching has been phenomenal, the batting order has been anything but that. Yes, not having Michael Harris II for well over a month now hurts and so does having Ronald Acuña Jr. out for the season, but make a move!

Chase Irle of Sports Talk ATL put out a list of top prospects in the Braves organization he thinks could be viable trade assets for Anthopoulos to use at the deadline. While he and I may disagree on the Braves' most important asset, I would much rather move Drake Baldwin over Nacho Alvarez because Baldwin is blocked by Travis d'Arnaud for now in Atlanta, as well as Sean Murphy behind the plate.

I do not want to move Alvarez because he could be a revelation at shortstop. Then again, he could be the next Vaughn Grissom like Irle mentioned, which is totally within the realm of possibility. As far as the three pitchers he mentioned, Owen Murphy is hurt and the overhyped combination of Hurston Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver have not exactly impressed me. I would move them, maybe Baldwin?

As long the Braves draft well and develop in the minor leagues, their farm system will never be barren.

Drake Baldwin is trade bait, as he is blocked on his way to the big leagues

Yes, trading away a potential star is never good. I remember Atlanta dealing homegrown prospect from St. Simons in the form of Adam Wainwright to the St. Louis Cardinals for J.D. Drew. That is just the price of doing business sometimes. You are not going to win every trade, but don't let that make you be afraid of making one. Other times, you may need a spark outside of the so-called Braves Way.

That antiquated Schuerholzian phrase made me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a rusty spoon. It was why the Braves devolved into a sad bag of crap under Fredi Gonzalez in the mid-2010s. The Braves became an incestuous cesspool of pure decadence in the final years of John Schuerholz's quasi-reign over the franchise. The best thing this team ever did was take a chance on Anthopoulos.

He didn't grow up worshipping the ground Chipper Jones, Dale Murphy and Hank Aaron walked on. Anthopoulos wanted nothing more than for his beloved Montreal Expos to be worth a damn. They never were, and now they are the Washington Nationals. After learning key lessons in Toronto and later Los Angeles, Anthopoulos came to Atlanta to become the greatest general manager in baseball.

Look. I don't claim to know every franchise's farm system top to bottom, nor am I interested in understanding your favorite college or pro team's depth chart. I have other things to do in my life than stare at a spreadsheet or a chart all day when I am not working. What I do know is the power of narrative. That's what does it for me in sports across the board. Can I get behind the story being told?

So while any of these Braves prospects could be the best thing to happen to Atlanta since getting the airport, I am not about to fawn over just any prospect. Like Danny Murtaugh, I am too old for that stuff. I remember doing this with Adam LaRoche, Jeff Francoeur, Julio Teheran, Andrelton Simmons and I stopped after Cristian Pache. Other people can fawn over them. Not me. Give me a proven player!

So if it takes parting ways with Baldwin in a packaged deal to get us past Philadelphia, I am all about it.