A disastrous and lethargic trade deadline has come and gone for the Atlanta Braves. It’s time for everyone’s favorite: trade grades.
A note on trade grades: there’s no perfect formula here. You could grade a player on how good he is for the role he will be assuming, or you could grade a player on his overall talent level and impact. I did my best to blend the two. With that said, let’s get into it.
Braves acquire Lane Thomas, Bailey Falter for Lucas Braun, Carter Holton
A solid start for the Braves to begin trade deadline season. Thomas, 30, does a lot of things the Braves need — he mashes left-handed pitching (career .288 batting average, 133 wRC+ with similar numbers in 2026) and brings a speed component the roster lacks. Thomas should be a strong platoon partner with Mike Yastrzemski, becomes a top-tier pinch-hitting option against southpaws late in games, and could cover all three outfield positions in a pinch. Thomas is hardly a perfect player (he’s never hit right-handed pitching and his defense has graded out poorly despite his elite speed), but he should represent an improved version of Eli White for a mild prospect cost.
There isn’t much to get excited over with Bailey Falter, who will get to work with Gwinnett. It feels like Falter may have been included to help absorb some financial cost in exchange for a lessened prospect return. Perhaps he makes his way to Atlanta at some point to eat innings out of the bullpen.
Lucas Braun came in at 28th on the most recent Battery Power top 30 prospect list. Holton is a former second round pick who had failed to pick up much traction in the system.
Braves acquire Tyler Mahle for Anthony Molina
The Braves desperately need help in the rotation given the plethora of injuries, most recently highlighted by Reynaldo Lopez hitting the IL and the strong likelihood Spencer Strider is done for the year. Mahle, while hardly an “impact” starter or one to do cartwheels in the street for, should bring some stability to the rotation for the next few months.
Mahle owns an ugly 5.13 ERA on the season, although his advanced numbers (4.09 xERA, 4.38 FIP, 4.11 xFIP) suggest he will perform better in the future. He suffered a hamstring injury that cost him most of June, but since returning, he owns a 3.79 ERA (and 3.90 blended ERA/FIP) across seven starts and 38 innings. He has pretty average strikeout and walk numbers among his peers. Mahle also owns reverse splits; he’s been much more effective against left-handed hitters than righties, something Alex Anthopoulos said the club hopes to work with him on to become more effective against righties.
Anthony Molina tossed a few innings with the Braves but never stuck. A virtual zero to send out west.
Braves acquire Brent Suter for Nacho Alvarez Jr.
In an effort to shore up the bullpen, the Braves acquired Suter from the Angels to be the third lefty in the bullpen. He will presumably replace Danny Young’s spot on the roster. Suter, who turns 37 later this month, has a fascinating profile: his fastball and sinker are among the slowest primary pitches in the league, but he does a superb job getting weak contact and grounders. In nearly half of his 41 appearances this year, Suter’s covered multiple innings. And while left-handed, Suter has some reverse splits similar to Dylan Dodd; righties have just a .287 wOBA against him, while lefties have fared better with a .357 wOBA.
Suter is hardly a lights-out reliever, but he should represent an upgrade over Young as the third lefty in the bullpen.
As for Alvarez Jr., it never clicked in Atlanta. Here’s hoping he finds success in Anaheim.
Braves trade Joey Bart for Duncan Davitt
Sean Murphy is apparently set to return on Tuesday, and while it would be nice to keep Bart around as insurance, the roster crunch was going to make that difficult to do. Here’s hoping Murphy is ready to go and can stay healthy alongside Drake Baldwin.
Duncan Davitt is organizational depth who was DFA’d by Chicago on Monday. I would wager he won’t throw a competitive pitch for Atlanta, but perhaps he could have his name called at some point in the second half.
Braves trade Eli White for Tyler Uberstein
With Lane Thomas in the mix, the Braves cleared an active roster spot by sending Eli White — who possesses a similar skillset to Thomas with a lesser bat — to Boston for reliever Tyler Uberstein.
I would have kept White around for his glove, speed, and outfield versatility, but the roster crunch became very real over the last few days between trades and returning injured players.
Uberstein, 27, made his brief MLB debut earlier this season out of Boston’s bullpen and then missed time with a shoulder injury. He has a big arm and has thrown the ball well in Triple-A over the last month, although 27-year-old relievers yet to make much of an impact in the big leagues aren’t overly exciting.
React: Braves trade deadline deals
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Despite the poor Trade Deadline, the Braves are still listed as having the fourth-best odds in all of baseball of winning the World Series (behind the Dodgers, Yankees and Brewers) and are still very much the favorites to win the NL East and overwhelmingly favored to make the Postseason, so there’s that. Still, the Braves are certainly coming away from this deadline very disappointed to have been unable to add a significant arm to their rotation.
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