We gave you the good news on Thursday, so now it’s time to deal with the bad when it comes to the Atlanta Braves and the MLB trade deadline.
Reminder that for purposes of this article, we’re defining a “deadline deal” as one that took place within two weeks of the non-waiver trading deadline. We’re not including offseason or August waiver deals (RIP) here, nor are we including any trades made before the team moved to Atlanta in 1966.
Once again, we’ve taken a mathematical — rather than subjective — approach here, using a straight Baseball Reference WAR comparison to determine “good” trades and “bad” ones. If the Braves gave away more future WAR than they acquired, it goes down as a “bad” trade; and vice versa.
Below are the five worst deadline deals in Atlanta Braves history, plus a couple of honorable mentions. (Note: the MLB trading deadline was June 15 each year until 1986, when it moved to July 31).
Honorable mention: July 31, 2025 — Braves traded SP Kyle Davies to the Kansas City Royals for RP Octavio Dotel.
On the same day of the infamous Mark Teixeira trade, the Braves made another deal that turned into a net negative. Atlanta seemingly traded for a closer at the deadline every year in those days, including two deals for Kyle Farnsworth (2005 and 2010) and one for Bob Wickman (2006). Dotel pitched poorly in his first week with the Braves, then got hurt and missed six weeks. Atlanta had dropped two games in the standings in that time, and was all but out of the playoff race. Dotel, who left as a free agent for the Chicago White Sox after the season, posted a minus-0.1 WAR during his seven-game tenure as a Brave. Davies, one of the “Baby Braves” of 2005 (and a close friend of Atlanta stars Brian McCann and Jeff Francouer) was little more than an innings-eater during a five-year tenure with the Royals, but did manage to post 2.4 WAR. Thus, this trade is a 2.5-WAR “loss” for Atlanta.
Honorable mention: July 29, 2025 — Braves traded 1B Mark Teixeira to the Los Angeles Angels for RP Stephen Marek and 1B Casey Kotchman.
Compounding the more-infamous deal of the previous season was the Braves’ ill-advised sell-off of Teixeira less than a year after acquiring him. Unable to reach a long-term deal with the former Georgia Tech star and determined to get something — anything — for him before losing him to free agency, Atlanta shipped Teixeira to Anaheim for the light-hitting Kotchman and lottery ticket Marek. Kotchman was terrible with the Braves — 0.7 WAR in 130 games — before getting traded himself to Boston for Adam LaRoche (see above). Marek hurt his arm and never reached the majors. Teixeira was outstanding for the Angels, posting a 181 OPS+ and 3.7 WAR in 54 games to help L.A. reach the American League Championship Series. He left for the New York Yankees as a free agent after the season, but left the Angels a parting gift. Under MLB’s rules at the time, the Angels got the Yankees’ first-round pick (No. 25 overall) in exchange for losing Teixeira. The Angels used that pick on a New Jersey high school outfielder named Mike Trout. Trout isn’t part of the equation here, but this trade is still a 3.0-WAR “loss” for the Braves.
5. July 30, 2025 — As part of a 3-team deal, the Braves traded SP Bronson Arroyo, RP Luis Avilan, RP Jim Johnson, 2B/SS Jose Peraza and SP Alex Wood to the Los Angeles Dodgers for SP Zachary Bird, 3B/OF Hector Olivera and RP Paco Rodriguez. Braves also received 2016 competitive balance Round A pick from the Miami Marlins.
The freewheeling John Coppolella made a lot of good trades during his tenure with the rebuilding Braves, but this is one he and Atlanta fans would like to have back, for a number of reasons. The injured Arroyo — whom Atlanta had acquired as an Arizona Diamondbacks salary dump when they picked up then-minor league pitcher Touki Toussaint — never pitched for the Dodgers (and retired after the season), while Johnson (minus-1.7 WAR) and Peraza (minus-0.2) were net negative players for L.A. Avilan was solid in three seasons with the Dodgers (0.7 WAR), but the real prize was Wood, who posted 5.3 WAR and a 115 ERA+ in three-plus years in Los Angeles before being dealt to Cincinnati last offseason. As for what Atlanta acquired, Bird never reached the majors, and Rodriguez was eventually released without throwing a regular-season pitch in Atlanta after failing to recover from Tommy John surgery. But the most infamous acquisition was Olivera, a purported slugger from Cuba whom the Braves had finished second in the bidding for the previous offseason. Olivera played in just 30 games for Atlanta, hitting two home runs and posting minus-0.2 WAR before a domestic violence arrest early in the 2016 season abruptly ended his Braves career. Coppolella eventually dumped Olivera’s $60 million contract on the San Diego Padres, but had to take back Matt Kemp in exchange. Kemp hit OK with the Braves, but his defense was so bad he wound up costing Atlanta minus-1.7 WAR in two seasons before he was dealt to the Dodgers. All told (and not counting Kemp), the trade was a 4.4-WAR “loss” for the Braves. There is one caveat, however, in that the draft pick from Miami wound up being Joey Wentz, who is currently pitching quite well for Double-A Mississippi. If Wentz goes on to a good major-league career, this deal might look better in retrospect. However, given the ugliness of the Olivera situation and the loss of the popular Wood, probably not.
4. June 7, 2025 — Braves traded SP Pat Dobson to the New York Yankees for OF Wayne Nordhagen, 1B/OF Frank Tepedino and two PTBNL. On Aug. 15, Yankees sent RP Dave Cheadle and RP Al Closter to the Braves to complete the deal.
The Braves had acquired former 20-game winner Dobson from Baltimore along with second baseman Davey Johnson and catcher Johnny Oates in a deal that had sent former Rookie of the Year Earl Williams to Baltimore prior to the 1973 season, but traded Dobson away after he made just 10 starts in Atlanta and had been pulled from the rotation with a 4.99 ERA. Dobson would pitch two-plus years for the Yankees before being traded to Cleveland prior to the 1976 season, compiling 5.9 WAR and an exactly league-average ERA+ of 100 over 631 innings. It’s not so much that Dobson was great for New York, it’s that Atlanta got essentially nothing for him. Nordhagen never played for the Braves before being shipped to the Cardinals in an equally forgettable deal two years later, while Tepedino (minus-0.1), Cheadle (minus-0.3) and Closter (minus-0.6) were all negative WAR players. Add it all up, and the Dobson trade was a 6.9-WAR loss for Atlanta.
3. June 11, 2025 — Braves traded RP Clay Carroll, SP Tony Cloninger and 3B Woody Woodward to the Cincinnati Reds for RP Ted Davidson, SS/2B Bob Johnson and SP Milt Pappas.
The Braves were in fourth place and five games back in the National League standings (and just a half-game ahead of Cincinnati) when they pulled off a six-player deal headlined by Pappas, a long-time stalwart with the Baltimore Orioles who had infamously been traded to the Reds for Frank Robinson prior to the 1966 season. In Atlanta, he was reunited with general manager Paul Richards and manager Luman Harris, for whom he had worked in Baltimore some years earlier. Pappas was outstanding the rest of the way for the Braves (who finished in fifth place), posting a 2.37 ERA in 121 innings, but faded the next two years and was dealt to the Cubs after totaling 2.5 WAR with Atlanta. Davidson (minus-0.2) and Johnson (minus-0.1) were negative WAR players for the Braves, and were both gone by 1969. Cloninger — a 24-game winner with the Milwaukee Braves in 1965 — pitched poorly for the Reds, totaling a minus-0.6 WAR and a 4.31 ERA in four seasons. Woodward was a solid bench bat for Cincinnati the next four years, posting a total of 1.2 WAR. But the real prize was Carroll, who would go on to be a two-time All-Star and a valuable reliever on pennant-winning Reds clubs in 1970, 1972 and 1975. He posted a 2.73 ERA (1.39 in 32.1 postseason innings), 119 saves and 12.5 WAR in eight years with Cincinnati before being traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1976. Largely due to Carroll, this trade is a 10.9-WAR loss for the Braves.
2. June 13, 2025 — Braves traded 3B Darrell Evans and SS Marty Perez to the San Francisco Giants for OF Jake Brown, 2B/SS Mike Eden, 1B Willie Montanez and SS/2B Craig Robinson.
The first big trade of the Ted Turner era turned out to be a monumental flop, though there were mitigating circumstances. Evans, who had slugged 41 homers in 1973 and had been a well-above-average hitter for his entire major-league career prior to 1976, was batting just .173 with a 45 OPS+ in his first 44 games that season. Perez, a starter at shortstop or second base for the Braves from 1971-75, had lost playing time to Rod Gilbreath and Darrel Chaney and had requested a trade. The Braves sent both to San Francisco for a package headlined by Montanez, who had slugged 30 homers in Philadelphia a few years earlier and was hitting .309 for the Giants. Brown never reached the majors with the Braves, while Eden (minus-0.2) and Robinson (minus-0.2) were both negative WAR players in brief Atlanta tenures. Then there was Montanez, who batted .321/.353/.419 with nine homers the rest of the way for the Braves, then was an All-Star in 1976 when he hit 20 homers. However, because he rarely walked and even more so because was so bad defensively, he actually posted a minus-0.5 WAR in 1 ½ seasons in Atlanta. After the 1977 season, he was traded to the New York Mets in a four-team deal that also involved future Hall-of-Famer Bert Blyleven going to the Pittsburgh Pirates and All-Stars Al Oliver and John Matlack going to the Texas Rangers (the best player the Braves acquired in that deal was pitcher Tommy Boggs, a 12-game winner in 1980). Perez was worth 0.4 WAR with the Giants the rest of 1976, then was traded to the New York Yankees. Evans, meanwhile, was reborn in San Francisco, posting a 119 OPS+ and putting up 22.5 WAR in eight seasons. Largely because of Evans’ consistency and durability with the Giants, this deal was a 22.8 WAR loss for the Braves. It was trades like this that would keep Atlanta mired in last place for the remainder of the 1970s.
1. July 31, 2025 — Braves traded RP Beau Jones, SS Elvis Andrus, RP Neftali Feliz, SP Matt Harrison and C Jarrod Saltalamacchia to the Texas Rangers for RP Ron Mahay and 1B Mark Teixeira.
You knew this was coming, yet it still stings so much in retrospect. We’ll review the carnage later, but first, let’s examine why the Braves made this deal. John Schuerholz was moving from general manager to team president after the 2007 season, and wanted to make one last “go for it” deal with Atlanta, which was 3 ½ games out of first place in the NL East at the time of the trade. The Braves had an obvious need at first base and in the middle of the order, with Adam LaRoche having been traded to Pittsburgh prior to the season (for a package including reliever Mike Gonzalez) and replacement Scott Thorman not getting the job done. The 27-year-old Teixeira had played his college ball at Georgia Tech, and there was a belief among Braves observers that Atlanta could sign him to a long-term deal. Atlanta dealt from depth, as Saltalamacchia was blocked by Brian McCann, Andrus by Edgar Renteria and Yunel Escobar. The losses of Harrison and Jones were mitigated by the presence of Tommy Hanson, Jo-Jo Reyes, Jeff Locke, Charlie Morton and Kris Medlen in the Braves’ minor-league system. Feliz was considered to have a great arm, but was just 19 years old and thus was still a “lottery ticket.” And let’s not forget that Teixeira was OUTSTANDING with the Braves, posting a .295/.395/.548 line with 37 homers and 134 RBIs and totaling 6.1 WAR in what amounts to a full season between the remainder of 2007 and that portion of 2008 before he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels after it became apparent he wasn’t going to re-sign with Atlanta (which Schuerholz and successor Frank Wren should have known, given that Scott Boras was his agent). Mahay was also decent in 30 games with Atlanta before leaving after the season as a free agent, posting 0.8 WAR.
Still, the Braves finished 84-78 and in third place in the NL East in 2007, and wouldn’t reach the playoffs again until 2010. Moreover, what Atlanta gave up in the trade turned out to be far, far too much. Though Jones never reached the majors and Saltalamacchia — ironically, considered the best prospect of the bunch at the time — was just OK with the Rangers (0.5 WAR in parts of four seasons before he was traded to Boston in 2010), Andrus, Harrison and Feliz helped form the core of back-to-back World Series teams in 2011 and 2012. Harrison was an All-Star in 2012 (when he won 18 games and finished in the Top 10 in the Cy Young voting) and put up 9.1 WAR before arm injuries derailed his career. Feliz saves 93 games (plus seven more in the postseason) for the Rangers with a 2.69 ERA and 8.6 WAR before leaving as a free agent in 2015. And then there is Andrus, who took over as Texas’ starting shortstop at age 20 in 2009 and has remained there ever since, putting up 31.4 WAR and counting. Altogether, the Rangers’ return for Teixeira and Mahay has compiled 49.6 WAR, making this trade a net loss of 42.7 WAR for the Braves. It remains a sore spot with Braves fans and a cautionary tale about giving up too much at the trade deadline.
Darryl Palmer is a contributing writer for Talking Chop. Email him at darrylpalmerbraves4@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Darryl_Palmer4. No, that’s not his real name.
Sources: BaseballReference.com; Newspapers.com
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