This is even more proof that the Braves are probably not going to be sellers at the deadline.

Despite playing exponentially better baseball in recent weeks, the Atlanta Braves still find themselves below .500 in the final week of June.

They enter Wednesday night’s road game at the New York Mets at 37-41 on the year, and while they have owned New York so far this season, Atlanta is 9.5 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the division and six games back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final NL Wild Card spot.

But even though Atlanta doesn’t even have a 25-percent chance of making the MLB postseason as things stand, I do not expect for them to be sellers at the MLB trade deadline.

There are three reasons for this: One, selling off before the 2025 MLB All-Star Game comes to Truist Park would look terrible optically. Two, selling off players would make Alex Anthopoulos look even worse at his job.

And three, who could this team trade for future value?

With ace starting pitcher Chris Sale down for the count with a fractured ribcage, he is not going to be moved in year two of his three-year deal.

The most obvious trade candidate after him has long been All-Star designated hitter Marcell Ozuna; he is in a contract year and probably will not be back with the Braves in 2026.

But ESPN’s Buster Olney reports Ozuna has 10-5 rights, meaning he can veto any trade this summer.

Marcell Ozuna is included in a lot of trade speculation. But if the Braves ever decided to sell, there’s no guarantee he would accept a trade. He has 10-5 rights — 10 years in the big leagues, five years with the same team — and can veto any trade.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) June 25, 2025

By being with the Braves for five years and in his 13th big-league season overall, Ozuna could play hardball and throw a real wrench into the works.

Marcell Ozuna is not the trade candidate everybody makes him out to be

Although he has cooled off a bit in year six with the Braves, Ozuna is still seeing the ball well when it comes to drawing walks.

His power comes and goes, but he seems to be dealing with a nagging injury at the plate. I appreciate him grinding through it for the sake of trying to help his team win.

Even though he will be turning 35 years old in November, he may have one more decent-sized contract before he has to hang up the spikes.

He has had his ups and downs with the Braves, to say the very least: When he is on, he is an NL MVP candidate; when he is not, he feels like a player who is one series away from getting designated for assignment. He has been just above average this year, though he’s strictly a DH at this point in his career.

Yes, there may be some potential off-field concerns that other teams may have, but not everybody who plays professional sports is a saint.

Ozuna has kept his nose clean for the better part of three years now, and his play has improved accordingly.

If the right situation opened up, he could allow the trade to come to fruition. I just think that his market is not going to be as robust as others think it will.

All signs point to Ozuna playing out the rest of this year in Atlanta before signing elsewhere in 2026.