Are The Braves Ready To Give Up And Trade Ronald Acuna Jr?
Some national media are suggesting it's time to trade Acuna
It's been a miserable 2025 season for the Atlanta Braves.
Despite a disappointing 2024, Atlanta had reason for optimism coming into the year. Ronald Acuna Jr. was expected to return to the field in the early part of the season after a season-ending injury last year. Spencer Strider was also set to return from arm surgery. Jurickson Profar added depth after a career season in San Diego. And the Braves still had veterans like Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna and Sean Murphy on offense, as well as Chris Sale coming off a Cy Young award.
Fast-forward to early July? The Braves are 39-46, 11 games out of first place in the NL East and 6.5 games out of a wild card spot. Their postseason odds have fallen from over 93% at the start of the year, to just 17.2% as of Thursday, per Fangraphs.
That's raising some serious questions about the best path forward in Atlanta, especially with Major League Baseball's trade deadline rapidly approaching at the end of the month. And some have now publicly suggested that the Braves should consider, if they aren't already, trading their 27-year-old all-world superstar.
ATLANTA, GA - MAY 06: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fourth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Truist Park on May 6, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Ronald Acuna Would Bring Massive Return For Braves
Joel Sherman from the New York Post, along with former star Carlos Pena, appeared on MLB Network's MLB Now show this week and laid out the case that the Braves not only could trade Acuna, but should.
He specified that he wasn't implying that the Braves were actively shopping him, but that there was a strong case to make, as someone advising the Braves front office, that trading him would be the best course of action. Especially with long-term injuries to pitchers like Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach hurting their already thin rotation.
"Can you see a championship in the next few years? I don’t, because Albies has gone the wrong way, Harris has gone the wrong way, [Chris] Sale will be 37 next year, you don’t have depth in your farm system," Sherman said. "This has been a great period for the Braves. Seven straight years in the playoffs, six division titles, one championship. By the way, we won that championship without Acuna. He got hurt. We played the last four months of last season without Acuna and made the playoffs again.
"Do we want to try to take another seven-year run? I would say let’s have a serious meeting about whether it’s time to do that," Sherman said. "Acuna, in this marketplace without offensive players of this stature, you could make the Juan Soto trade. Who can I make the Juan Soto trade with?"
Acuna is under the most team-friendly contract in baseball, providing MVP-level production for the next three and a half years at just $17 million per season. For context, the Dodgers are currently paying Michael Conforto $17 million this season and he's hitting .176.
The opportunity to add a player of Acuna's caliber, in his peak seasons, for that salary, for four postseason runs, would necessitate a Juan Soto trade-like return. C.J. Abrams, James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, along with other prospects, reset the Nationals roster and farm system. Though they've yet to build a competent team around them.
Every contending team in baseball would be interested, were the Braves to make Acuna available, but only a few have the prospects to pull it off. The Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers and Seattle Mariners have the top five farm systems, per MLB Pipeline, and all remain in the playoff conversation.
Trading Acuna though, would be tough to take for a fanbase and market that has seen their team consistently compete, year-in and year-out. Though the front office could sell it as "reloading" instead of rebuilding, if they get some young major league talent and high-level prospects.
Still, it seems unlikely a player of his caliber, on a reasonable contract, would be traded from a big market team this far from free agency. With the deadline just a few weeks away, we won't have to wait long to see if Atlanta would actually pull the trigger.