For the Atlanta Braves, it feels as though the final few grains of sand are beginning to fall through the hourglass.
At 39-47 entering play on Friday, the Braves are having a shocking season after seven straight years of playoff berths. They’re seven games out of a Wild Card spot, and they’d have to leapfrog six teams to get to October.
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Few would have foreseen a trade deadline fire sale in Atlanta, and at this point, the bigger concern may be how much they have to sell. If they’re only going to move on from players in contract years, they barely have any chips to move.
However, designated hitter Marcell Ozuna might be able to net them some sort of return. Unfortunately, he’s mired in a month-long slump at the moment, possibly aggravated by a hip injury.
However, Braves beat reporter Mark Bowman of MLB.com still named Ozuna as the team’s number-one trade candidate in an article published Thursday, speculating that Atlanta could probably find a taker desperate for offense.
“The Big Bear, who is in the final year of his contract, was one of baseball’s best hitters the past two seasons, but he has been one of the game’s least productive players over the past month,” Bowman wrote.
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“He ranks 178th out of 189 qualified players with a .543 OPS since June 1. The return might not be great, but there could still be some teams willing to gamble on Ozuna, like the Braves gambled on Jorge Soler and Eddie Rosario in 2021.”
Ozuna’s season numbers aren’t terrible, but they’re a major step back from his age 32 and 33 seasons. He was slashing .243/.372/.389 with 11 home runs in 83 games entering Friday’s matchup with the Baltimore Orioles.
The fact that Ozuna can only DH means teams acquiring him would need to have some sort of vacancy at the position (so eliminate the Dodgers, for example). But if he puts together a couple of hot weeks, he’d still likely generate interest.
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