Braves receive lofty grade for trade deadline moves after initial disappointment

The Atlanta Braves at the 2026 MLB trade deadline made three significant moves, adding Lane Thomas, Tyler Mahle, and Brent Suter. It addressed their outfield, starting rotation and bullpen needs, though they could've used a new shortstop.

However, the initial reaction from Braves fans to those moves was feeling underwhelmed. Mahle, Suter, and Thomas weren't needle-movers or stars at the time of their respective deals. It was an underwhelming deadline with such great players available.

However, now looking back, it's clear that the Braves actually did quite well. As Johnny Flores Jr. of The Athletic noted in handing the Braves an "A" trade deadline report card, these moves wound up being a "massive success" for Atlanta.

Braves' initially underwhelming trade deadline deals have been a huge success

"Under president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, the Braves eschewed the all-in move, instead upgrading around the margins by adding Tyler Mahle, Lane Thomas and Brent Suter," Flores writes. "Consider the moves a massive success."

These three moves seemed underwhelming at the deadline, especially when it was reported they could've had Jacob deGrom had he waived his no-trade clause.

Plus, with the Los Angeles Dodgers landing Tarik Skubal, and plenty of premier starting pitcher trade targets like Robbie Ray, Casey Mize, and Clay Holmes going to NL postseason contenders, this was a bit of a frustrating deadline for the Braves.

But now, it's looking like a brilliant deadline. Not only did they not give up too much to land all of these players, but the Braves have gotten plenty of good production from Mahle and Suter.

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Mahle has a 1.48 ERA in five starts since joining the Braves, posting 1.3 bWAR compared to the 5.13 ERA and -0.2 bWAR in 18 starts with the San Francisco Giants before the trade.

Suter, coming over after posting a 4.12 ERA in 41 outings worth 0.0 bWAR with the Los Angeles Angels, has posted a 2.20 ERA in seven outings worth 0.3 bWAR for the Braves.

Thomas has posted 0.1 bWAR in 19 games with a .194 batting average and a .636 OPS since coming over from the Kansas City Royals, and has easily been the most disappointing addition of the deadline.

Overall, it's clear the Braves made out well at this year's trade deadline. While they could've made some more moves, as any team could, the ones they did make have worked out quite nicely so far.

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