3 easy and realistic trade options for Atlanta Braves with Josh Donaldson gone

Now that Josh Donaldson is officially gone, the Atlanta Braves will need to quickly pivot to the trade market in order to upgrade this team for 2020 and beyond.

As much as it pains us, Josh Donaldson will not be with the Atlanta Braves in 2020. It’s time to realize that and move on.

There are still plenty of good options for Alex Anthopoulos and the Braves to explore to make this a World Series contender in 2020 and beyond.

From the very beginning, I’ve been the one saying that this offseason is not Donaldson or bust. And I was wary about giving Donaldson a three-year deal, let alone four.

However, as the offseason went on and options came off the board, I understood the argument for giving him a fourth-year and would have been all for it happening.

But now that it hasn’t, I feel very confident that AA will find other ways to improve this roster.

I’m sure a lot of you are expecting me to write about trading for Nolan Arenado and Kris Bryant here, but that’s not going to happen.

Arenado is almost impossible to trade for and I think there is a very small chance that actually happens this offseason.

I’ve said in the past that I think Bryant would be a good fit and I still believe that, but nothing is happening with him until that grievance is settled and who knows when that will happen. I’m not sure the Braves can wait that long.

And even then, the Cubs are asking the world for Bryant — some even suggesting they’d want Max Fried in the deal, so forget that happening.

Nicholas Castellanos and Marcell Ozuna are still out there and would only cost money. I don’t love either one of those options, but it wouldn’t shock me if AA went that route to save using his prospects in a deal.

Those are probably the top four names Braves fans are thinking about today, but there are other possibilities out there that I think could make just as much sense.

Think about it this way, we’re trying to replace the 4.9 WAR that Donaldson put up for the Braves in 2019. There are several ways they can make that happen.

Let’s throw in the left field production as well, which was around 0.6 WAR from Nick Markakis and Austin Riley in 2019.

So, in the end, we’re trying to replace 5.5 WAR between the third base and left field position for the Braves in 2020.