A Braves trade with division rival that avoids an obvious World Series reunion

Not going to lie. It has been a while since the Washington Nationals mattered in MLB. The 2019 World Series Champions have been anything but that since COVID. Though Dave Martinez remains, not much else does on the baseball diamond in the nation's capital. They might be in-division, but they could be of service to the Atlanta Braves come the trade deadline. Washington has some outfielders.

Although Braves Country knows all too well what Eddie Rosario is, and more importantly isn't, capable of, there is another outfielder Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos could look to acquire. That could be low-key Braves killer Lane Thomas, who has been more of a thorn in our side than Morrissey trying to get The Smiths to reunite. They haven't played once since I've been alive and I am nearly 35...

Here is what it may take to get Thomas to come to Atlanta to help the Braves make their playoff push.

Because it is in-division, this trade can be punitive for both parties. While the Miami Marlins never seem to give a rat's ass about trading every-day players to a divisional foe, Washington is different. Thomas has been one of the best parts of their team over the last few years, so the Nationals won't move off him for just anything. If Anthopoulos will give up a top-four pitching prospect, let's do it!

I'd guess the Braves won't trade a top-100 prospect, because it likely won't be necessary to acquire Thomas. Still, this trade will cost Atlanta.

Baseball trades are always hard to figure out for me because of a lack of a hard salary cap and so many prospects exchanging hands that I have never heard about, but here is why this may work...

How Atlanta Braves trade for Washington Nationals OF Lane Thomas

By dealing for Thomas, Atlanta would be getting somewhat of a gamer in the outfield on a next-to-nothing contract for the next two years. He has one more year of arbitration after this. There is nothing more in the world, besides his own family, that Anthopoulos loves more than getting a player for cheap before extending him before hitting free agency. That could be the case with Thomas here.

For Washington, I think the Nationals would take a flier on some blue-chip pitching prospect for Atlanta standards in a deal for Thomas. Take your pick between Hurston Waldrep, AJ Smith-Shawver and Spencer Schwellenbach. I don't care. I don't have the bandwidth in my mid-30s to care about guys doing things in Mississippi and Gwinnett. Can you do it in Atlanta? That's all I really care about.

But with Thomas, I think he could be a mainstay in the Atlanta outfield. In a way, he would replace Adam Duvall long-term in the outfield, beginning a soft platoon with Jarred Kelenic into next season. They may be hurt, but I have seen enough out of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II to know that they are must-start players at center and right every day and twice on Sunday forever going forward.

Thomas could give the Atlanta offense the spark it needs, while making Washington's more anemic.