Ronald Acuña Jr. has made it known on multiple occasions that he wants to finish his career with the Atlanta Braves.
His $17 million option for next season was picked up, and he has another one for 2028. However, with no extension in place or reportedly close, rumors about the Braves trading the former MVP started to circulate. Those rumors only got more life after he struggled in October.
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Well, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos made it very clear that the Braves won’t be moving their superstar outfielder.
“I have no idea where that stuff came from,” Anthopoulos said on Tuesday when asked about the rumors at the general manager meetings, per ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. “There’s not even a hint of smoke to it. There’s zero.”
In case there was any doubt after he said that, he made it even clearer.
“Absolutely not,” he said, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. “Yeah. There you go. Put it in bold.”
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Acuña will be 29 by the time next season starts, assuming there is a season in 2027. He knows he needs to perform like the star the world expects him to be, and by all metrics, 2026 was a down year for him. For Acuña, everything starts with him being healthy.
The Braves know that they go as Acuña goes, but Anthopoulos knows that the team needs to be better around him.
“We need him,” Anthopoulos said. “We need to add to him. Obviously, we need more than just him.”
As far as trade rumors surrounding Acuña, Braves fans can be assured that the team has not even remotely discussed trading him. In fact, Anthopoulos seemed shocked that there were even rumors.
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“I don’t know why (there’s speculation),” Anthopoulos said per Castillo. “Seriously. I was just talking to our guys about it. I have no clue. And normally I would just say, if there’s noise it’s because there’s been a conversation. There have been zero conversations. And I don’t mind saying that on the record. Zero. None. No phone calls. Incoming, (outgoing). Zero.
“I think it was just somebody on his computer, in his basement, put it out there. And, normally, if there’s a little smoke, right, somebody called and asked. Maybe we made a private outbound call. None of those things happened.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
