{"id":59001,"date":"2025-06-02T02:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=59001"},"modified":"2025-06-02T02:04:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T02:04:00","slug":"breaking-braves-can-save-ronald-acuna-jr-by-signing-his-former-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=59001","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Braves can save Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. by signing his former rival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Now a free agent, could Dom Smith be an option for depth in Atlanta&#8217;s outfield?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_3849,h_2165\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/229\/01jwppkvfw2gsqy7rsst.jpg\" alt=\"Boston Red Sox v Atlanta Braves\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Atlanta Braves have seen plenty of Dom Smith in the past, and with the veteran outfielder exercising his &#8220;out&#8221; in his contract with the Yankees and becoming a free agent, is there a chance the Braves shore up their outfield by adding a former rival to the roster?<\/p>\n<p>Mets fans are already clamoring for Smith to return to New York, so the Braves sneaking in and signing him would accomplish two things \u2014 it would keep him away from the Mets, and provide some potential pop in a thin outfield corps.<\/p>\n<p>He hasn&#8217;t played in MLB in 2025, spending his time in Triple-A, where he has been mashing baseballs. That doesn&#8217;t always mean he&#8217;s ready to mash baseballs in the bigs, but it&#8217;s tough to crack New York&#8217;s loaded lineup. In Atlanta, Smith could get a shot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dom Smith would provide outfield depth for Braves<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At this point, the Braves are kind of in &#8220;anything is worth a shot&#8221; territory. None of their offense numbers are woeful, but none pop off the page as &#8220;great,&#8221; either. Atlanta is No. 14 in batting average, No. 16 in OPS, No. 13 in home runs.<\/p>\n<p>Dom Smith isn&#8217;t going to fix any of those things himself, and he wouldn&#8217;t be an everyday player in Atlanta&#8217;s outfield, but he does at least provide an extra body for Brian Snitker while Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. rounds back into full health.<\/p>\n<p>Having a reliable replacement when Acu\u00f1a needs a day off is not nothing, and if Smith can be a league-average player (he was in 2023 and 2024) then he&#8217;s well worth a look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now a free agent, could Dom Smith be an option for depth in Atlanta&#8217;s outfield? The Atlanta Braves have seen plenty of Dom Smith in the past,&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Braves can save Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. by signing his former rival - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=59001\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Braves can save Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. by signing his former rival - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now a free agent, could Dom Smith be an option for depth in Atlanta&#8217;s outfield? 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