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As the trade deadline approaches, several of the Braves’ top prospects likely won’t be with the organization in a couple of weeks. Atlanta has needs that must be addressed, and almost everybody expects them to be aggressive in doing so.
I asked the question last week, though — is there any prospect the Braves should view as untradable? Alex Anthopoulos answered that yesterday in an interview with 680 The Fan, saying nobody is completely untouchable, but there is one guy the Braves would have a tough time letting go.
“Off Limits? No,” Anthopoulos said. “We actually had a meeting today talking about that exact scenario. It depends, right? Most times at the deadline the rentals are the guys that are available in trades, meaning guys on expiring contracts… But look, there might be some surprising controllable guys, meaning guys with more than one year of club control that we kind of went around the room and said is there anybody — because we know we’re going to get asked this — there’s probably one guy that we’d have a hard time with.
“But do we have a slam dunk, like somebody we think is a Hall of Famer right now, no. We have some guys we think are really good. I think the tricky part for us is we always want to win in the current year, but we’re trying to keep this sustainable. We have a core, we have a very good core, but that core is aging… If you want to not have a rebuild, you need some young guys to replenish.”
So, who is the mystery man Alex Anthopoulos is talking about?
If he’s talking strictly about current prospects, the best guess has to be Eric Hartman. The 20-year-old is amid a historic campaign for High-A Rome — one in which he recorded 20 homers and 30 steals in the first half. Baseball America already has him up to the 25th-ranked prospect in all of baseball after entering the season unranked.
However, Tate Southisene is another one the Braves would have a really tough time parting with, and I wouldn’t overlook Cam Caminiti either. He entered the season as Atlanta’s #1 prospect, and while most outlets have him relinquishing that title, the Braves might not feel the same way.
Perhaps Anthopoulos isn’t talking about a current prospect at all, though. The Braves have multiple prospects who’ve graduated recently, and if he’s including them in this conversation, my best guess would be Didier Fuentes. He’s a young arm who’s already become an integral piece of the Braves bullpen — not a bad floor for a guy who just turned 21. But his ceiling is so much higher as a potential frontline starter.
Inquiring teams will be trying to pry Didier Fuentes away as part of potential blockbuster deals. He’s probably the player the Braves will get asked about most at this year’s deadline, and I’d assume the club has very little interest in moving him.
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