Braves Trade Idea Lands Coveted Ace Sandy Alcantara For $65 Million All-Star

The Atlanta Braves over the course of a little more than a week have turned the outlook on their season around. Winners of four straight heading into Tuesday’s action, and six of its last nine, Atlanta remained tied for last place in the National League East, but went from a seemingly hopeless 3-10 record on April 11 to more competitive 9-13 as of Tuesday.

The Miami Marlins entered Tuesday in third place, one game ahead of Atlanta. But both teams have needs to fill, on the field and on the business ledger, where the Marlins maintain an MLB-last $67.3 million payroll and always seem to be looking for ways to trim it even further.

A blockbuster trade of All-Stars may help both divisional rivals.

Marlins ace righty Sandy Alcántara, a two-time All-Star and 2022 NL Cy Young winner is coming back from Tommy John surgery after missing all of last season. But it is his five-year, $56 million contract that has made him perhaps the most talked-about — and coveted — trade possibility in the game.

With Braves ace Spencer Strider also coming back from elbow surgery only to go straight back on the IL with a Grade One hamstring strain, the Braves — who lost another of their top starters, Max Fried, to free agency in the offseason — need a top-of-the-rotation starter if they want to contend for their eighth-straight playoff appearance.

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Atlanta could part with veteran outfielder and three-time All-Star Marcell Ozuna as part of a package to land Alcántara. Ozuna is in the final season of a four-year, $65 million contract. Swapping Alcántara for Ozuna would allow the Marlins to save the final year on the 29-year-old hurler’s contract, taking on only the remainder of Ozuna’s $16 million that is owed this season.

Adding Ozuna and the 1.030 OPS he has put up so far this season would help the Marlins stay in contention, preventing a trade of Alcantara from being seen as a white flag on the season.

But to prevent the trade from becoming merely a partial-season rental of Ozuna, the Marlins would likely insist on dipping into the Braves’ wellspring of pitching prospects.

Atlanta had eight pitchers on MLB Pipeline’s ranking of the organization’s top 10 minor leaguers. The list is topped by the Braves’ No. 2 overall prospect, 18-year-old lefty Cam Caminiti, whose fastball already reaches up to 98 mph.

Ozuna and Alcántara have been traded for each other once before. Ozuna spent the first five seasons of his career in Miami, until the Marlins traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2017, getting the then-No. 9 prospect in the Cardinals’ system — who of course was Alcántara.

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