Anthopoulos says there have been ‘zero conversations’ about trading star Ronald Acuña Jr.

LAS VEGAS — ‘Tis the season of rumors and chatter, and Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos put one of the more fervent pieces of scuttlebutt to bed Tuesday.

Anthopoulos will “absolutely not” be trading star right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr.

“Normally, if there’s noise, there’s been a conversation. There have been zero conversations. Like, zero. None. No phone calls incoming, outcoming, zero,” Anthopoulos said Tuesday inside the ARIA Resort & Casino during MLB general manager meetings. “Normally if there’s a little smoke, right, somebody called? Maybe we made a private out-back call? None of those things happened.”

The Braves had already exercised their 2027 club option on Acuña in October, giving him $17 million for the upcoming season. A second club option for the 2028 season remains part of Acuña’s contract.

Trading the 2023 National League MVP and four-time, yet oft-injured, right fielder this offseason would have arguably been an interesting strategy. The 28-year-old hit just .255 in 107 games this season, battling a pair of hamstring injuries over the summer and a sore knee toward season’s end. He then went just 2-for-15 in the postseason.

Acuña has played just 251 (51.6%) regular-season games since his MVP season in ‘23. Yet there were times this past season when he showed flashes of his old self, like in May when he hit five homers, drove in 12 runs, stole six bases, and had an OPS of 1.057.

In September and October, Acuña hit .307, drove in 19 runs and hit seven home runs.

Offering Acuña away would mean the acquiring club would have him for, at the very least, only two seasons (and maybe less with a work stoppage pending) before free agency. The asking price for Acuña would also be very steep.

“He’s a huge part of the club. He was an integral part of our lineup, especially in the biggest games of September — excluding the postseason, of course. Biggest games of the year in September he shined and he was incredible,” Anthopoulos added. “We need him. We need to add to him. Obviously we need more than just him. But I have no idea where that stuff (Acuña trade rumors) came from. There’s not even, like, a hint of smoke to it. There’s zero.”