Braves predicted to make blockbuster trade for Zach Neto

Because the Braves have so much money locked into this core group, it’s hard for them to find places to upgrade each offseason.

Two spots, though, have been problem areas year after year — shortstop and left field — and it’s imperative they find answers there, or it’s hard to imagine any result other than the one we just witnessed a few weeks ago against the Dodgers.

Of the two, shortstop is undoubtedly the tougher to fix. Mauricio Dubon is far and away the best free agent available at the position this offseason, and while the Braves would love to have him back, the competition for his services will be stiff — and it’s not as if he’d be an upgrade. Bringing Dubon back would only maintain the status quo, which isn’t going to get the Braves where they want to go.

If Alex Anthopoulos wants to add an impact player at shortstop, it will have to come via trade — which is why Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report is predicting the Braves swing big for Zach Neto.

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Atlanta Braves: A Trade for a Shortstop
Prime Target: Los Angeles’ Zach Neto (three years of arbitration eligibility, estimated at $9.8M in 2027)

If they manage to re-sign Mauricio Dubón, never mind. Atlanta’s primary trade block focus at that point would be adding a starting pitcher who might actually be able to stay healthy. As is, though, Jim Jarvis is the leader in the clubhouse for the starting shortstop gig on Opening Day, and he posted a .564 OPS before spending the final six weeks of the regular season at Triple-A Gwinnett. Dating back to July 2022, though, the Braves have made 13 trades with the Angels, and maybe they can go back to that well to snag Zach Neto.

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For years, it was impossible to predict which direction the Angels were heading. It was overwhelmingly evident they didn’t have the pieces to compete, yet they refused to trade away the good players they had and commit to a rebuild.

That appears to be changing under new leadership. They dealt away a slew of pieces at the trade deadline, and I’d expect that to continue this offseason, with Zach Neto being one who’s going to garner interest across the league.

Neto is everything the Braves have been looking for at shortstop. He’s a player who’ll give you 25 homers, 5-plus WAR, and a .770 OPS every season — someone the Braves would have to spend $200-plus million on in free agency.

Instead, they can get him for the next three seasons at a fraction of the price. The catch: the prospect capital it will take to acquire him will be monstrous.

The Braves have done a really good job rebuilding their farm system over the last couple of years, and they have several intriguing shortstop prospects in Tate Southisene, John Gil, and Alex Lodise. But none of them are even close to major-league ready, and the odds any one of them becomes even half the player Neto has become are minuscule. Hell, the odds any of them can even handle shortstop at the major-league level are pretty low, as we’ve seen recently with guys like Vaughn Grissom and Nacho Alvarez.

Neto is a needle-mover, a player who would have the Braves immediately looking like a championship contender again. You have to wonder how much longer this front office can keep kicking this glaring need down the road, hoping an answer appears out of thin air. One would like to think they’ve learned their lesson, but this is a stubborn group, led by Alex Anthopoulos, that isn’t too concerned with what the outside world believes.

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Photo: IMAGO / NurPhoto