Wiedmer: Braves make no trade deadline splash, but they didn’t last year, either

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley, right, and Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos hold a news conference after Riley signed a 10-year, $212 million deal that runs through the 2032 season and includes a $20 million club option for 2033, on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley, right, and Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos hold a news conference after Riley signed a 10-year, $212 million deal that runs through the 2032 season and includes a $20 million club option for 2033, on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

By Mark Wiedmer August 2, 2022 5 min read

In Alex Anthopoulos we trust.

Shouldn’t that be printed on the back of every Atlanta Braves ball cap, the front of every T-shirt sold at Truist Park and on bumper stickers throughout Braves Country after last season’s miraculous World Series crown?

Has any executive in Major League Baseball put a more impressive stamp on a world championship in recent years than what Anthopoulos did a season ago at this time? The Braves were a below .500 club at the dawn of August, seemingly dead in the water as it pertained to the postseason.

After AA acquired Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, and Adam Duvall at the trade deadline following his pick up of Joc Pederson a couple of weeks earlier, the Braves took off, not stopping until they were World Series champs for the first time since 1995.

And so it was that Anthopoulos was at it again earlier this week, the Tuesday trade deadline approaching, Atlanta seemingly in need of little more than a tiny tweak rather than a massive overall.