Entering the 2025 season, Atlanta Braves fans expected yet another busy trade deadline from Alex Anthopoulos as he reinforced the roster for another playoff round.

This season, the Braves should probably still be busy…just on the opposite side of the market that fans anticipated.

This year’s trade deadline offers a bunch of players that we would have loved to see in a Braves uniform in a world where they were in contention for a spot in the postseason.

There’s been plenty of reporting around which players Atlanta could be shipping out this July, but for the sake of dreaming of a much happier alternate universe let’s pretend the Braves were buyers for a second and look at a few names we wish the team were good enough to trade for this season.

Rotation injuries? No worries, grab an underrated ace in Joe Ryan

It took just over 100 games to get there, but eventually every member of the Braves opening day rotation has landed on the injured list.

Had the Braves offense kept the team in the race long enough, there was pitching help to be had at this year’s deadline…better than Erick Fedde to be sure.

One name that would have been exciting to monitor is Twins’ ace Joe Ryan. The 29 year-old RHP has been an underrated arm for quite sometime, and is posting great numbers once again in 2025. This season he was a first time All-Star, and currently sports a 2.82 ERA and 3.17 FIP. He has a great strikeout rate (28.9%) and ranks in the 94th percentile in walk rate. Perhaps the best thing about Ryan is the fact that he comes with club control through 2027.

Adding Dylan Cease would have been a lot of fun

With the Padres still very much in the hunt for October, trading Dylan Cease is no sure thing this July. However, the Braves have been linked to Cease for what feels like forever at this point, and had they been in contention adding Cease would have been a perfect move for postseason play.

He’s underperformed a bit this season (although he’s been a little unlucky as well), but Cease is just the type of arm every team tries to acquire for October. He has the type of stuff that plays well in October, and imagining a rotation of Sale, Schwellenbach, Strider, and Cease in a postseason series would have given the Braves a chance against any team.

Braves finally solve left field problem

Despite Ronald Acuña Jr.’s awesomeness since his late May return, and Michael Harris II’s recent hot streak, the Braves’ outfield production has been underwhelming in 2025. Sure, they have the trio of Profar, Harris, and Acuña healthy and playing now but had they been in playoff contention, adding an outfielder would have been a priority still due to Profar’s suspension making him ineligible for postseason play.

A rental bat would have been the probable Anthopoulos move, but a name like Steven Kwan would have solved left field for the Braves for the first time in a long time. Kwan is on his way to putting up yet another season of at least 3.0 fWAR, and is an all around baseball player.

He doesn’t fit the typical Anthopoulos mold of slugging, but his incredible bat to ball skills and plate discipline offers a much needed changeup to an otherwise one dimensional lineup. Kwan also comes with two additional years of control so left field would have been checked off for years to come.

Unfortunately, the Braves aren’t living in a timeline where any of these moves are plausible in 2025.

Sure it’s true each of these players could be available this winter, but being in the race and acquiring a talents like these in July are some of the most exciting moments a fanbase can have. Sadly, it wasn’t in the cards to the 2025 Atlanta Braves.