Who could Alex Anthopoulos be trying to trade for right now?

Atlanta's President of Baseball Operations said he has been "pushing hard" to make an addition

Alex Anthopoulos wants you to know that the Atlanta Braves will not be selling at the deadline.

The President of Baseball Operations joined Cellini and Dimino on 680 The Fan on Wednesday morning for a twenty-plus-minute conversation that went over multiple topics, from the organization’s feelings on Jurickson Profar, his assessment of the current leadership in the locker room, and his thoughts on the job Brian Snitker has done as manager.

(Shameless plug: If you want to hear the whole interview with an accompanying transcript, I posted it for premium subscribers yesterday afternoon.)

But Anthopoulos also said the organization was actively trying to acquire someone right now. And it wasn’t a casual endeavour, either.

“I'm trying to make a trade very hard right now, to make a trade in June, just to signal to everybody that hey, we will not sell. You know?”

What kind of trade would make sense in June and who could Atlanta potentially acquire? Let’s look at it.

Is there more than just baseball fit to consider?

There always is with Atlanta, but especially this year.

Anthopoulos touched on this, discussing the multiple acquisitions of 2021. He specifically singled out the decisions to acquire reliever Shane Greene, outfielder Joc Pederson, and catcher Steven Vogt (now the manager of the Cleveland Guardians) as selections made not only for the baseball fit, but also to liven up the clubhouse.

(Greene was signed as a free agent in May 2021 and released in August after putting up an 8.47 ERA across 17 innings.)

“We were scuffling. And our clubhouse was flat at the time. It was flat. And when we acquired Joc, I told him, I said, ‘Hey, it, it's a little flat right now. I need you to be you. Bring the energy, bring what you bring.’ I didn't talk about his performance or any of that kind of stuff. It was, ‘Hey what you bring to the clubhouse’ and the next day, by design, I didn't personally know Steven Vogt, but he was known and he was at the end of his career.

He was a backup in Arizona, but: phenomenal clubhouse guy, prankster, joker, funny, brings people together. And I remember calling him and saying, ‘our clubhouse is flat’. And I can tell you when we got Shane Greene back early in ‘21, I was trying to spark it a little bit. He even said, ‘Man, this clubhouse is flat.’”

That was a clubhouse that was full of leaders - Freddie Freeman, Ron Washington, Dansby Swanson, Travis d’Arnaud, Will Smith, etc.

(Those are all people AA specifically mentioned when he discussed the leadership of that 2021 team - I’m not picking favorites here.)

But the leaders needed help, because ‘just playing the game the right way’ wasn’t cutting it. That’s why AA decided to bring in some energy. Anthopoulos also made the trade for motivational reasons.

“We had all these great inspirational leaders that played the game right, and they couldn't do it alone. And you know, ultimately, I'm not saying Joc and Vogt were the sole reason, but you know (by acquiring) those guys, I think signaling to the clubhouse that we're buying was important. They absolutely added a lot.”

And just to clarify, Anthopoulos doesn’t publicly seem to think there’s a problem in the Braves clubhouse right now.

“Our clubhouse now, it has nothing to do with that. I just went on this last road trip and that's the time when you really get a sense when things aren't going well. You start looking, are people griping? Are they complaining? Are they pointing fingers? Whether it's here, there, wherever. There's none of that stuff going on, and that's when you normally start looking for things. We're just not playing well. Guys are absolutely frustrated, definitely expect more of themselves, but the group has stayed together.”

So while I think a high-energy guy would be useful, it feels like baseball fit is the biggest determinant in any potential trade the Braves might make right now.

Let’s look at who Anthopoulos may have been trying to acquire, based on records and overall vibes.

Not a lot of options likely moving at the moment

The biggest needs, by baseball fit, seem to be:

High-leverage reliever
Offensive threat at shortstop
Starting pitcher

Here’s the issue, though: So many teams are still in it, thanks to an expanded playoff format that have three Wild Card teams from each league making October, that the pool of teams willing to sell right now is pretty small.

The Braves are 6.5 games out of the final NL Wild Card spot as of the start of Wednesday night’s matchup with the Mets, but with four teams between them and the holder of the #6 seed, the San Diego Padres. That means there’s just four teams that are worse off than Atlanta right now:

Washington Nationals
Miami Marlins
Pittsburgh Pirates
Colorado Rockies

The American League is in a similar but even more extreme situation - there’s only two teams farther back than Atlanta’s 6.5 games, the Athletics (8.5 GB) and Chicago White Sox (14.5).

That’s a pool of six teams that can resonably be assumed to be sellers right now, but several of them are young teams that are (ostensibly) trying to get their youth movements into contention.

The Washington Nationals may end up selling off some veteran pieces, but will they do it now and to a division rival? The Marlins will definitely be selling this year, but again, how enthusiastic would they be to send someone to a division rival?

The Braves and Marlins have made exactly one trade this decade, with Alex Anthopoulos striking a deal with Kim Ng in 2021 to swap outfielder Adam Duvall for catcher Alex Jackson. Before that, there were two trades in 2010 (including one that sent Jeff Francoeur to Miami) and the 2002 trade for Dan Uggla. The Braves and Nationals are also sitting on just one trade this decade, a minor deal for Atlanta to acquire Ehire Adrianza in 2022.

So while it’s not impossible those two teams strike a deal - anyone fancy having Kyle Finnegan in the Braves pen? - it’s likely it comes from one of the other four teams.

Let’s rank the trade targets, based on the priority list named above.

Closer Mason Miller, Athletics

This is probably the #1 target when using the above criteria. He’s a closer that averages 101 on his fastball, although he’s stumbled to a 5.13 ERA this season. If they didn’t trade him after a season where he finished with a 2.49 ERA and 28 saves, they won’t move him while he’s both cheap and at a relative ebb in his value. Let’s keep going.

Starter Sandy Alcantara, Marlins

Had to mention it because he’s projected to be the #1 trade target on a team that’s been otherwise torn down to the structural supports. While he struggled in his return from Tommy John surgery, he’s been both good recently (a 2.12 ERA across three June starts) and is owed just $38.2M for the next two seasons, if his club option for 2027 is picked up. The competition will be fierce here, but given the additional control, they won’t be in a hurry to deal him and will likely spark a fierce bidding war for the former Cy Young winner. Let’s move on.

Closer David Bednar, Pirates

Okay, here’s the first realistic target on our list. Bednar’s recovered his All-Star form after a disasterous 2024 season that saw him put up a 5.77 ERA and taking eight losses. He’s back to an ERA in the low 3.00s, although his FIP is just 2.19 and xERA is 2.79. His strikeout rate and walk rate have both rebounded to career norms, and he’s yet to allow an earned run in the month of June.

What also helps is that he’s a great clubhouse guy, from being his organization’s Roberto Clemente Award nominee in 2023 to partnering with a local beer company in Pittsburgh with, reportedly, free beer for the clubhouse being a condition of the partnership. He’d definitely mesh with a clubhouse that is, in AA’s own words, full of “high character (guys)” that “really want to win” but also seem to be a bit more loose than previous clubhouses.

It also helps that he’s not a rental - he’s arbitration eligible for 2026 before heading to free agency in 2027. I’d be on board for this one.

Starter Andrew Heaney, Pirates

An all-time, generational miss by 29 front offices last offseason. The 34-year-old Heaney settled for a one-year, $5.25M deal with Pittsburgh in late February. For context, that’s how much money Atlanta saved during the Jurickson Profar unpaid suspension. All Heaney’s done to reward the Pirates for their faith is put up an ERA of under three and a half with a career-best 1.111 WHIP. While his strikeouts are down this year to 18.5%, he’s also changed his pitch mix when it comes to his multiple different curveballs and what he’s doing with them. (The strikeout rate might be fixable is what I’m saying.)

Other potential targets from the above grouping of teams, in no specific order:

Shortshop Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, Pirates (more depth than starting)
Starter Edward Cabrera, Marlins
Relievers Jake Bird, Victor Vodnik, Seth Halvorsen, and Jimmy Herget, Rockies
Starter Adrian Houser, Chicago White Sox