Front office executives don’t always like to tip their hand, but Atlanta Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos had no problem doing so on Wednesday.
It’s been a horrific season for the Braves so far, but Anthopoulos’ club still expects to compete for the playoffs. Tuesday night’s riveting comeback win over the New York Mets was a good first step, though Atlanta remains 6 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot.
Because the Braves have been so underwhelming, there’s been lots of speculation that star players like designated hitter Marcell Ozuna and starting Chris Sale could be traded. Ozuna will be a free agent this offseason, while Sale has a club option for 2026.
However, Anthopoulos came out with a strong rebuke of any trade possibilities on Wednesday during his interview on 680 The Fan.
“We’re not selling,” Anthopoulos said emphatically.
The 48-year-old exec doubled down later in the interview, when Sale’s name came up in a follow-up.
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“Especially a player under team control beyond this year,” Anthopoulos stated, according to Nick Pierce on X (formerly Twitter).
Sale, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, has a 2.79 ERA in 14 starts this season, striking out 107 batters in just 80 2/3 innings. Since the beginning of May, he has a minuscule 1.15 ERA in his last seven starts.
At 32-39, the Braves can hardly afford many more losing streaks if they want to make the playoffs. But Sale doesn’t have to be traded this year even if Atlanta bottoms out. They can reload for next season with him at the top of the rotation and still trade him if they can’t turn things around.
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