When you have a roster as strong as the Atlanta Braves group, at least on paper, making moves that would represent actual upgrades gets pretty difficult. Fans want the team to make moves because patience is not a virtue they have, but the reality the Braves face is that they have a very good and very deep team right now. Making deals just to make them doesn’t do anyone anyone and the Braves seem to know what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it.
The Braves have shown this offseason that for the right player, they will make a push. Atlanta was famously among the finalists to trade for Garrett Crochet and were players in the market for other starters including Nathan Eovaldi. Atlanta knows that they could improve in the rotation, but the list of guys that would actually help isn’t all that long when compared to their internal options.
One arm that would absolutely the Braves is the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara who could be available during the 2025 season in a trade for the right price. While Alcantara looks like an ideal target for the Braves on the trade market, he would come with one very significant problem.
The “in-division tax” likely dooms any Braves pursuit of Sandy Alcantara before it starts
On the surface, Alcantara seems kind of perfect for the Braves to go after in a trade. The Marlins are going to be bad and are willing to trade basically anyone including Alcantara. Alcantara is owed real money through 2026 at $17.3 million a season and is coming off a serious injury, so the odds are that the asking price (in theory) for a pitcher of his caliber could be a bit lower than it would be normally.
However, the problem with this little plan is that the Marlins play in the NL East. We have already seen Miami ask for a premium from with Atlanta during the Braves’ quest for a Christian Yelich trade back in 2018. The Marlins were demanding Ronald Acuna Jr. in any trade with the Braves which is pretty considering what Miami ended up receiving for Yelich when they traded him to Milwaukee. Yep, there was definitely a Braves tax in play here.
It is a different regime in place down with the Marlins these days, but there is little reason to think anything will change. Making trades within the division is already rare, but moving a Cy Young-caliber arm to a division rival is even tougher unless there is a massive overpay involved. With Alcantara being a bona fide ace when healthy and the fact that he has two full seasons of guaranteed team control plus a reasonable team option for 2027 at $21 million, don’t expect the Marlins to ask anything but a king’s ransom for him especially when it comes to a deal with the Braves.
