Both the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox have failed to live up to their preseason expectations so far this year. At the same time, both teams still see themselves as contenders for playoff positions. According to Braves top baseball exec\u00a0Alex Anthopoulus, speaking in a radio\u00a0interview on Thursday, the Braves will emphatically\u00a0not\u00a0be \u201csellers\u201d at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
Even with his team trailing the final National League Wild Card spot by six games, \u201cwe\u2019re built to win. Our expectations are to win. Our expectations are to go for it the entire time,\u201d Anthopoulus said in the interview.<\/p>\n
Even with his team trailing the final National League Wild Card spot by six games, \u201cwe\u2019re built to win. Our expectations are to win. Our expectations are to go for it the entire time,\u201d Anthopoulus said in the interview.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the day after he traded Boston\u2019s highest-paid player, designated hitter Rafael Devers, Red Sox chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow affirmed that his team was \u201cas committed as we were six months ago to putting a winning team on the field, to competing for the division and making a deep postseason run,\u201d and that he was not \u201cwaving the white flag on 2025.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The Red Sox, after a 3-2 loss to Devers\u2019 new team, the San Francisco Giants, on Saturday stood five games out of first place in the American League East, and held the final AL Wild Card spot by one-half game over the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n Both teams showed strong signs over the past two weeks of turning their respective seasons around. The Braves heading into Sunday\u2019s MLB slate have won seven of their last nine games. The Red Sox, even with Saturday\u2019s narrow defeat \u2014 their 18th one-run loss of the season \u2014 have won 10 of their last 13.<\/p>\n So, could these two teams help each other with a trade that would address one of the Braves\u2019 main weaknesses \u2014 offensive production from left field \u2014 while allowing the Red Sox to free up top prospect Roman Anthony to take over left field on a permanent basis?<\/p>\n The trade idea, proposed in a column by SI.com Braves correspondent Dave Holcomb, would have the Red Sox send the 2024 All-Star Game MVP Jarren Duran to Atlanta, where he would assume left field duties and allow the Braves to jettison current left fielder Alex Verdugo.<\/p>\n Duran makes an attractive trade target. Under team control until the 2029 season, he is playing on a one-year, $3.75 million contract with a club option for 2026.<\/p>\n He currently leads the AL in triples with eight, and led last year with 14. He also led the league in doubles with 48, while stealing 34 bases.<\/p>\n Atlanta Left Fielders Have Been Among Worst in MLB<\/strong><\/p>\n The Braves lost their major offseason free agent signing, outfielder Jurickson Profar, to a suspension for performance-enhancing drug use and have been relying primarily on New York Yankees castoff Verdugo in left ever since.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, Braves left fielders have been the second-worst in baseball offensively, with a combined .541 OPS on the season.<\/p>\n Why would the Red Sox part with Duran? A few reasons. At age 28, they could have legitimate concern that 2024 was a one-off career year for the outfielder.<\/p>\n In 2025, his performance has already shown signs of decline with a .717 OPS compared to last year\u2019s .834. But mostly, the Red Sox have an outfield overcrowded with young players.<\/p>\n With 2024 Gold Glover and sixth-place Rookie of the Year vote getter Wilyer Abreu in right, and another defensive genius Ceddanne Rafaela in center, MLB\u2019s No. 1 overall prospect Roman Anthony, a natural left fielder, has been shuffled from right to left to DH in his 11 big league games so far.<\/p>\n Anthony\u2019s promotion effectively makes Duran expendable. And the Devers trade shows that Breslow is not squeamish about dealing away fan-favorite players.<\/p>\n What could the Braves send in return for Duran? Atlanta has only one prospect in the MLB Pipeline top 100. That\u2019s lefty pitcher Cam Caminiti at No. 67.<\/p>\n But Caminiti\u2019s relatively modest ranking has a lot to do with his age. Only 18 years old now, last year at 17 he was among the youngest players in the draft. But the Braves thought highly enough of his potential to make Camimiti the No. 24 overall pick.<\/p>\n Given Duran\u2019s low cost and three years of team control, a package headed by Caminiti would be a fair price to pay if indeed, as Anthopoulus claims, the Braves plan to \u201cgo for it\u201d in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Both the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox have failed to live up to their preseason expectations so far this year. At the same time, both teams… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n