There's absolutely a scenario where the Braves trade Ronald Acuña Jr.

If Atlanta wants to completely tear it down, they have some assets that would fetch quite a pretty return and that starts with the 2023 MVP

I had no idea when I started this theme week that the team’s on-field performance would mirror the progress of the articles.

We started off with the Braves making a few acquisitions around the edges before progressing into a “soft sell” scenario, where the Braves exchange expiring contracts for 2026 assets to quickly retool.

On the field, however, things escalated quickly. Welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks to Truist Park for a three-game set, the Braves saw Spencer Strider get shelled on Tuesday before struggling against Merrill Kelly while blowing multiple run-scoring opportunities on Wednesday.

And then on Thursday, the bottom fell out.

Atlanta hit three homers, had eight extra-base hits, and built a 10-4 lead entering the ninth inning before Scott Blewett and Raisel Iglesias combined for seven earned runs in the final frame for Atlanta’s first loss with a lead that large entering the ninth since 1973.¹ The Braves had won 766 consecutive games when leading by six or more runs after eight innings until Thursday afternoon.

Fittingly, today’s newsletter is about an outlier scenario - the Braves deciding to not just sell expiring assets, but a wholesale change in the roster with several significant trades, ones that signify a multiple-year rebuild.

Let’s talk about it.

There are some obvious players to be moved

Essentially, any player with one, two, or three years of team control is automatically on the block.

Pending free agents include designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, outfielder Alex Verdugo, and relievers Raisel Iglesias, Rafael Montero and Craig Kimbrel.

The “this season plus one more” bucket includes starter Chris Sale and four relievers: Pierce Johnson, Aaron Bummer, Joe Jiménez, and Enyel De Los Santos. All four would be eagerly snapped up by just about any contender, but Sale would (obviously) be the largest return of probably any player we’ll name in this section.

Extending out one more season gives Atlanta the option of Ozzie Albies, who is on the league’s best contract from a value standpoint, and Jurickson Profar, who might regain a little value by the trade deadline but likely won’t ever fetch much in the way of trade compensation.

Who are the untouchables in this scenario?

I think you’ll be shocked at how small this list is.

When trying to figure out who would not be traded in a total rebuild scenario, it’s important to look at team control and value off of the contract.

Austin Riley and Matt Olson are both signed to modest contracts (relatively speaking, based on recent top-of-market deals) that have them in Atlanta for at least five more seasons. Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach are in similar boats, with Strider signed through 2028 (with an additional club option year) and Schwellenbach not a free agent until 2031. More than likely, none of the four would be moving absent some sort of godfather offer.

Grant Holmes and Drake Baldwin, both early in their major league service time, would likely be off the table, as well. Reynaldo López could go either way here - he’s affordable and controlled for multiple seasons, but he also has now had three injured list stints since joining the Braves, and they may decide to move on.

Michael Harris II and Sean Murphy, however, are definitely both available in this scenario. Harris, due to his statistical underperformance this season, would be a buy-low and salary dump scenario more than an actual “get assets for him” scenario. Murphy, by contrast, has a reputation as an elite defender who has plenty of pop and can carry a team when he’s in one of his heaters. With Baldwin looking like the team’s best hitter and at least serviceable as a defender, there’s a definite chance that they’d install him as the full-time starter and move on from Murphy.

But there’s one more name, a big one, that would shake MLB to the core.

Could the Braves trade Acuña?

I think there’s an actual chance that the Atlanta Braves would trade Ronald Acuña Jr. - not just in this scenario, but sometime in the next few seasons.

Let’s talk through the pros and cons of moving Ronald.

Pro: Massive return in talent
Con: Creates a massive talent gap

Trading Ronald would create a vacancy in right field that very few players in baseball can fill. The last time Ronald had a completely healthy season, he was the National League Most Valuable Player after hitting 41 homers and stealing 73 bases, putting up 8.4 WAR, and leading the league in half a dozen categories.

And he’s making just $17M this year plus the next three seasons (assuming the acquiring team picks up the club options).

Acquiring Ronald could single-handedly change the World Series odds for any team in baseball.

And because of that, trading Ronald has the potential to change things for the Braves.

The ask for Ronald, legitimately, should be at least equivalent to the Juan Soto deal if not more, based on the lower salary (Soto made $23M in San Diego in 2023 and $31M in 2024 with the Yankees) and extended team control. For context, here are the packages for Soto in the two major trades:

From Padres: LHP Mackenzie Gore, SS CJ Abrams, OFs Robert Hassel & James Wood, RHP Jarlin Susana, veteran 1B Luke Voit
From Yankees: RHPs Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, and catcher Kyle Higashioka

The package here STARTS with three top 100 prospects, honestly, including one top-tier shortstop. Here are some sample packages from different teams, using MLB Pipeline prospect rankings.

Mariners: SS Colt Emerson (#18 overall), OF Lazaro Montes (#34 overall), C Harry Ford (#64), ambidextrous pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje (#89)
Dodgers: OFs Zyhir Hope (#43) and Josue De Paula (#31), LHP Jackson Ferriss (#60), SS Alex Freeland (#46) or SS Kellon Lindsey (team #7 prospect)
Red Sox: OF Roman Anthony (#1 overall), SS Marcelo Mayer (#8 overall), infielder Franklin Arias (#55), OF Jhostynxon “the Password” Garcia (team #5 prospect)

Other teams that have a top-tier shortstop prospect that they could headline a package with include the Texas Rangers (Sebastian Walcott, #9 overall), the San Diego Padres (Leo De Vries, #3 overall, although I wonder if they have the depth to make another blockbuster trade like the Soto deal), the Tampa Bay Rays (Carson Williams, #22 overall) and the New York Yankees (George Lombard, #42 overall).

But outside of the talent considerations, there’s also another factor to consider:

His future extension.

There’s some murmuring, all hard to confirm, about the conflicts between Ronald and the Atlanta front office about his next deal. The outfielder expressed that he wants to end his career in Atlanta, but that’s not going to come cheap. Reportedly, the recent contracts given to Juan Soto (Mets) and Vlad Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays) have pushed the price of superstars into the stratosphere, with sources telling me that Ronald’s looking for $40-50M per year in his next deal.

Obviously, for an Atlanta front office that hasn’t given out any multi-year deal for more than $22M AAV, that’s a non-starter.

There’s also the aging curve to consider. After two knee surgeries and having already seen his sprint speed drop from 2021’s 97th percentile mark of 29.4 ft/sec to this season’s 47th percentile mark of 27.1 ft/sec, it’s increasingly likely that Ronald’s days in the outfield are numbered. He’ll be moving to at least a part-time role at designated hitter sooner rather than later, more than likely.

There’s no way Atlanta can afford to extend to that point financially just to lose roster flexibility by locking Ronald into the designated hitter role for a decade or so.

This conversation doesn’t even discuss the interpersonal relationship between Ronald and the front office, which that same source told me is a bit strained. The recent Jarred Kelenic “not running out of the box” controversy is the most obvious flashpoint. Still, there have reportedly been behind-the-scenes tensions around several topics that have hardened the relationships between the player and team officials.

Broadcaster Jeff Francoeur’s recent comments that Atlanta “doesn’t need Ronald” to win is an opinion that is reportedly shared by more than one member of the front office, according to that same source. “We won a World Series without Ronald, we went to the playoffs with(out) Ronald, you don't have to have him," Francoeur told The Locker Room on 680 The Fan back in late April, once the Kelenic story broke through after Ronald tweeted on a Sunday morning while rehabbing in Florida.

There’s a lot of time and games to be played between now and the trade deadline or offseason, but I want you to be prepared that this could legitimately be a thing. It’s not a certainty, by any means, and I’d probably give it less than a 5% chance of actually happening.

I’m honestly torn about the concept, but if the team’s going to completely tear it down and start over with just a few veterans being protected, the idea of acquiring multiple top 100 prospects for one player is incredibly compelling.

It would be a tough lift for the front office with the fans, however. Ronald is see as the emotional center of the team and just the idea of trading him won’t be very popular with a large segment of the fanbase. Is that something that comes into play here? Quite possibly - after offseasons where stalwarts Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, Max Fried, and Travis d’Arnaud have all walked, choosing to ship out a generational star when you don’t have to would be the most unpopular move out of all of these.

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Here’s my ranking of the trade value of the Braves roster:

• Ronald Acuña Jr.(by far)

• Chris Sale

• Ozzie Albies

• Marcell Ozuna

• Reynaldo López

• Enter a random reliever here

• 50 feet of crap

• Alex Verdugo

• Jurickson Profar

• 50 more feet of crap

• Jarred Kelenic

1. July 17, 1973, against the Mets. 42-year-old Willie Mays (yes, THAT Willie Mays) had a pinch-hit two-RBI single in the 9th off of pitcher Tom House to give New York the lead.