A major opportunity for the Atlanta Braves to pick up an offensive reinforcement has become available. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Chicago Cubs are looking to trade outfielder and first baseman Cody Bellinger.

The Braves have been connected to Bellinger before, as they pursued his bat at the trade deadline back in July. Maybe this time around, they get him in an Atlanta uniform.

Now, it would be potentially an expensive acquisition, but it could be worth it depending on the trade. Bellinger will make $27.5 million in 2025 and has a player option worth $25 million in 2026.

If the Braves get the version of Bellinger from 2023, then taking on the entire salary would be worth it. That season, the 2019 NL MVP slashed .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs and 97 RBIs. However, the Bellinger we saw in 2024, while still a valuable bat, might be as worth the price. He slashed .266/.325/.426 with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs.

To make up for taking on a lot of salary, the Braves could leverage giving up fewer assets to the Cubs. On the flip side, they could leverage those same assets to incentivize the Cubs to retain a chunk of Bellinger’s salary.

Top-30 prospects would be given up in any trade, regardless of how much salary is moved around. However, the amount of salary moved with scale the number of top prospects in exchange – though, realistically, the difference it likely comes down to is one prospect being moved or two. How highly ranked the prospects are could also be a factor.

However it works out to obtain his services, he would be a solid addition for short-term and long-term reasons.

Ronald Acuña Jr.’s return is up in the air apart from knowing he won’t be back in time for Opening Day. Bellinger has played plenty of games in right field in his career (182), so he’d be able to jump right in.

For the long term, the Braves don’t really have the best options in left field. Bellinger hasn’t played a lot of games in left field, just 41 in his career.

Jarred Kelenic feels like a failed experiment and there are no guarantees that Ramon Laureano – assuming he’s tendered by Friday’s deadline – will perform as well as he did with the Braves in 2024. Even though he struggled at the plate for a few seasons, Bellinger still has a much stronger track record as of late. If they do choose to not tender Laureano, that would open up further salary to take on Bellinger. Spotrac estimates that Laureano will make about $6.37 million next season.

Overall, the Braves simply don’t have the same depth in the outfield as they do at starting pitching, for example. Eli White is a great depth piece but not a starter. Luke Williams is more so. Yes, he’s primarily in the infield, but he gets a decent amount of playing time in the outfield. So, here’s worth mentioning in this case. He’s great to put in the field late in the game or have pinch run, but he’s not suitable for the starting lineup.

There’s also an important stat to mention for Bellinger: his stats in Atlanta. Given that he would play up to 81 games at this stadium, thses a numbers that are worth checking up on.

He has a small sample size at Truist Park (22 games) but he has solid numbers. In those 22 games, he has slashed .287/.347/.448 with four home runs and nine RBIs. That scales to about 14 home runs and 33 RBIs over 81 home games. That’s only five fewer home runs than Marcell Ozuna had at home last season and four fewer RBIs than Matt Olson had at home last season.

Knowing he has a history of playing well in Atlanta is another incentive for Braves to pursue him.

So, if they’re going to take a leap and make a splash trade, this could be a worthy one.