Breaking : Braves trade a five- star talented player in a blockbuster deal with…..

The Braves have the obvious choices of shortstop and left field as areas where they may improve. While neither is urgent right now, general manager Alex Anthopoulos could have to consider his options carefully if things keep going south.

It shouldn’t be too hard for outfielders to do that. Some power bats always become available around the trade deadline, even in a seller’s market. That isn’t the case at shortstop, however Bo Bichette is a name to watch because the Blue Jays are apparently willing to trade with him.

The young core of the Blue Jays was once viewed in the same way as the Braves. Many believed that by now they would have either won the AL East or the Commissioner’s Trophy. Instead, with a 21-25 record, they are last in the division and have not won a single postseason game.

The Yankees are still making improvements, but the Baltimore Orioles have taken the American League by storm when it comes to developing young players. The Blue Jays are no longer a priority, which means tough choices lie ahead.

The Braves must be interested in Bichette if Toronto decides to blow it up. Even if he’s having one of his worst seasons ever, Atlanta has a history of turning around careers, so there’s no denying their quality. Over the past three seasons, Bichette has twice led the league in hits and been in the top 16 of the AL MVP race. He is a competent defensive shortstop with the ability to bat for both power and contact. Additionally, he is reasonably priced and under team control through the 2025 campaign.

For the Braves, Orlando Arcia has been a pleasant surprise. Since moving to Atlanta, his career has taken a complete turn around, and at $2 million a season until 2026, he’s a steal. But think what Bichette could achieve down south if Arcia can have that type of success with the Braves.

This seems like the ideal chance to get in cheap on a 26-year-old two-time All-Star who may wind up being the shortstop of the future for many years, even though the prospect capital needed to lure Bichette out of Toronto wouldn’t be cheap. The Braves are a team to watch if the Blue Jays take trade deadline offers seriously.

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Braves’ loss to the Cubs was a truly disgraceful team effort that went above and beyond terrible pop-up errors.

The Braves’ Tuesday loss to the Cubs was not the result of a single play. We were all disappointed by it.

Like most sports fans, Atlanta Braves supporters frequently try to reduce victories and defeats to a single game or player’s performance. Ronnald Acuna Jr., who struggled to begin the season and had some journalists and fans turn against him when he committed a terrible error in the outfield, is a prime example of this from the recent past. The Braves lost that game for a variety of reasons, but those specific instances usually have the biggest impact.

We saw another example of this exact scenario in Tuesday’s Braves loss to the Cubs. Zack Short was set up to catch a routine pop-up with Atlanta holding a one-run lead in the sixth inning. Rather, the ball emerged and made its way to the lawn. Short played the villain this evening as the Braves lost in extra innings after back-to-back singles knotted the game.

But the reality is not so cut-and-dry.

The Braves’ inconsistent play was evident in their loss to the Cubs.
Was Short’s mistake severe? Naturally, it was; similarly, Acuna Jr.’s was. Plays that are stupid can bite you in the rear. But Short did not give up the lead by pitching two poor sliders to the following two batters. It takes a true team effort to go 0-14 with runners in scoring position, like the Braves did on Tuesday, and Short did not go 1-21 like the top half of the lineup did.

The Braves’ current issue is that everything appears to be out of whack. The offense struggles while the pitcher is on. The pitching struggles in games where the offense does well. The bullpen makes things way more entertaining than they need to be when the game is close, at best. Even though some would have you believe Atlanta is in last place, they are still a very talented team (they are 27-18), but they do have some things to work on.

The odd thing is that this is a story we have to tell each and every year. A schedule of 162 games is demanding, and every club experiences slumps. Each and every. One team. The Braves have shown more ability than virtually any other team in the game at recovering from slumps and producing fantastic season after fantastic season. Nevertheless, it would be good if things could pick up again and Austin Riley could return to the Braves sooner rather than later.