Braves Report: Difficult decisions

Hey, it’s AJ Willingham in for Tyler. Hope you enjoyed the All-Star break, but it’s time to start fretting again. It hasn’t been a banner season for the Braves, but we must soldier on. What will the back half of the season bring?

TRADE DEADLINE TALK

Credit: Michael Laughlin/AP

Credit: Michael Laughlin/AP

Earlier this season, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said he wouldn’t shop any promising young players/plan a yard sale before the trade deadline unless the Braves were still struggling mid-July.

Well, the trade deadline’s approaching July 31, and the Braves are … still struggling. What happens next?

The AJC’s Michael Cunningham says the Braves should be sellers. The problem is, their most convenient wares aren’t exactly top-dollar.

Of course, ideally, there will be a healthy list of untouchables. It’s hard to imagine the Braves’ situation merits trading long-term assets like Austin Riley or Chris Sale.

Who’s on your must-stay list?

READ MORE: Cunningham on why the Braves should be sellers

BRAVES STORYLINES TO WATCH IN THE SECOND HALF

🤕 Still hurting: Starters Reynaldo López, Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach are all on IR, along with reliever Joe Jiménez. Jiménez is the only one currently on track to return by August.

📈 Albies in the spotlight: The young, popular infielder needs to up his game in the next two weeks to avoid getting mixed up in trade talks.

🔮 Wildcard dreams: The time for big miracles may have passed, but the Braves still have a slim thread of hope in the wild card race. They’re 9.5 games back from a slot, and a WC berth would likely rely on some catastrophic misfortune for the five teams ahead of them: Miami, Arizona, Cincinnati, St. Louis and San Francisco. (Milwaukee, the New York and San Diego occupy the top slots.)

HEAD ON UP TO TENNESSEE

Credit: Ben Earp/AP

Credit: Ben Earp/AP

It’s also time to plan ahead for a fun (yes, fun) trip to Tennessee on Aug. 2, when the Braves will play the Cincinnati Reds on a field specially constructed within Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bristol is a five-hour drive from Truist Park, and it might actually be worth getting there a day or two early. After all, the town — well, actually the “twin towns” of Bristol, Tennessee, and Bristol, Virginia — is the official Birthplace of Country Music.

Among the things to do:

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum: It’s an affiliate of the Smithsonian and commemorates a record producer named Ralph Peer, who in the summer of 1927 recorded 76 songs by 19 artists using equipment considered state of the art at the time. Johnny Cash later referred to the Bristol Sessions as “the most important event in the history of country music.”

Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards: It spans 13 acres and offers five varietals, including chardonnay and petit verdot. There’s also food and live music. It’s all part of a larger 450-acre resort tucked into a corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

🏎️ READ MORE: Things to do in Bristol

ALL-STAR VIEWERSHIP IS IN

7.185 million

That’s the number of viewers Nielsen says watched the All-Star game Tuesday night. On the positive side: It was Fox’s most-watched telecast since the Super Bowl. The bad news: It was down 3.5% from the 2024 game. We still enjoyed ourselves.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

A little more All-Star content. The meeting of the mascots at Tuesday’s game was … quite a thing to behold. I will not bring my own deep-seated mascot fears into this. I’ve been trying for a while to remember the exact lineup of the mixed mascot race during the game, but it definitely involved a fish, a sausage and Abe Lincoln.

Thanks for reading Braves Report. Tell a friend — and maybe give the AJC’s Sports Daily newsletter a shot, too.

Until next time.