Former Braves GM John Coppolella on wild trade he tried for Aaron Judge

Before there was Alex Anthopoulos, there was John Coppolella. The former GM of the Braves led the organization through the most strenuous rebuild of the last 35-plus years, and though he was ultimately banned from baseball for violating the rules associated with signing international prospects, his work laid the foundation for one of the most fruitful runs in franchise history.

Coppolella has since been reinstated by the league. These days he writes for Baseball America, and his latest piece centers on the excitement of the upcoming GM meetings and the discussions that happen when some of the most powerful forces in the sport gather in the same place.

Naturally, Coppolella discusses several trades that almost happened — and man, there is a doozy that would have had the Braves looking much different.

The big one he brings up is a mega-blockbuster the Braves presented to the Yankees back in 2014, when they realized a rebuild was necessary to restock what was arguably the league’s worst farm system. At the time, the player they received the most calls on was none other than Jason Heyward. The Yankees were among the interested parties, so the Braves floated an idea.

Braves Proposed Trade To Send Jason Heyward to New York

Braves Receive: Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, Ian Clarkin and Manny Banuelos

Yankees Receive: Jason Heyward, Andrelton Simmons, B.J. Upton, Chris Johnson and David Carpenter

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Coppolella acknowledges that it was the Braves who offered this deal and the Yankees who ultimately decided not to go through with it. However, he did add that they didn’t hang up the phone immediately. This is a trade that was genuinely considered — one that would have landed the Braves arguably the best offensive force of this generation before he ever got to the majors, along with several other impactful pieces.

In the end, the Yankees’ lack of action on the proposed blockbuster turned the Braves to the Cardinals, who sent Atlanta Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins. Miller followed it up with a helluva first season with the Braves, and Coppolella was then able to flip him for #1 overall pick Dansby Swanson along with Ender Inciarte. Jenkins also helped the Braves acquire Luke Jackson, who played a key part in the 2021 World Series run. So, Atlanta still came out of it quite well in the grand scheme of things, just not as well as it would have had it pried Judge out of New York.

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