Familiar trade partner highlights list of rumored Ronald Acuña Jr. replacements

Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos is facing one of the hardest battles that he's seen in his front office career. His team is dealing with a ton of injuries, including to arguably its best two players, Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. Both stars are set to miss the entire season following major surgeries.

Reports now indicate that the Braves are planning on filling the hole of missing Acuña internally. But, in 2021, Anthopoulos lost Acuña for the year as well. He didn't opt to replace him internally. He went out and traded for four outfielders in a two-week span en route to winning the World Series.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Braves GM take the same aggressive approach if the internal replacements don't perform in the next few weeks.

Alex Anthopoulos could turn to the Athletics outfielder Brent Rooker to replace Ronald Acuña Jr.

While it would be the cheapest and easiest way to react by replacing Acuña internally, that isn't a World Series-winning move. Anthopoulos is an expert at making those moves. Remember 2021?

A World Series-winning move, in this situation, could be trading for the Oakland Athletics' outfielder Brent Rooker. Rooker is off to a terrific start to 2024 and will likely be highly sought after at the 2024 trade deadline.

The Braves and A's came together for a massive deal that sent Matt Olson to Atlanta not too long ago. Olson hit 54 home runs last year anc 34 home runs the year before, after being moved to Atlanta. Anthopoulos also acquired Sean Murphy from the A's.

Anthopoulos could look to work the same magic with the A's in a deal for Rooker. Rooker is currently slashing .286/.368/.565 with an OPS near 1.000. He has 21 extra base hits and is on pace to be an All-Star outfielder at this rate.

Rooker, obviously, wouldn't completely replace Acuña Jr. There really isn't a player in the entire league who could do that by himself. But Rooker would be a much better option than trying to handle it internally.