It’s difficult to look at what has transpired this year and not think about the parallels between the 2021 campaign that ultimately ended in a World Series for the Braves.
An underachieving, yet talented club losing its best player in Ronald Acuña Jr. for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL before the All-Star break. There’s no question Alex Anthopoulos must make some moves to bolster the outfield before the trade deadline, much like he did back in 2021, so why not take a shot on Joc Pederson again?
I’m not always a fan of trying to rekindle magic from previous seasons. There’s an old saying that lightning doesn’t strike in the same spot twice for a reason. Pederson can’t possibly replace the production of Acuña by himself, but this has nothing to do with on-field production, and everything to do with the vibes.
Joc Pederson is the exact type of personality that winning teams have on the roster. Fun, yet fearless and always living in the moment, never allowing himself to get too high or too low. He infamously changed the vibes of the 2021 club overnight, and it’s those kind of personalities that have been missing from the club ever since he left.
The number of current Braves players, from Austin Riley to Spencer Strider to A.J. Minter, that spoke out about how the clubhouse was “too many nice guys” after last season’s disappointing exit from the NLDS should serve as a sounding alarm for Alex Anthopoulos. The Braves never really needed more talent to win a championship; they needed more personalities as well as leaders, and they just lost their biggest star in Ronald Acuña Jr.
It doesn’t hurt that Joc Pederson is also playing splendidly after signing a one-year, $12.5 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He’s hitting .303 with six homers and a .933 OPS over 45 games. For someone that costs less than $15 million on a one-year deal, he’s once again one of the better bargains in the game.
But this is about the odds the Braves acquire Joc Pederson. There’s no question they should have a ton of interest, but it takes two to tango, and he’s on a team that just went to the World Series last season in the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks are struggling mightily this season, stumbling out of the gates to a 25-29 record, 8.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Catching the Dodgers might be wishful thinking, but winning a Wild Card spot is still well within the realm of possibilities. They are just 3.0 games behind the Padres in that regard with four months to play.
The Diamondbacks are also a team that knows all they have to do is get in the dance. They barely squeaked into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season a year ago and went on to represent the National League in the World Series. Things would have to get really bad in Arizona over the next couple of months for them to punt on the season before the trade deadline, especially considering they spent a lot of money attempting to make this team even better over the offseason.
It’s not unfeasible to imagine Joc Pederson getting traded, and if he is, I imagine the Braves will be the first team calling. But I would put the odds on the Diamondbacks dealing him around 10%.
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Photo: Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire
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