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The Atlanta Braves are likely to strengthen their squad ahead of the trade deadline. While they do have the best record in all of baseball, Atlanta does have a glaring weakness at shortstop. Because of this, many Major League Baseball insiders believe that general manager Alex Anthopoulos will soon target a new player in this position.

Atlanta will have several potential options when eyeing a new shortstop. Nevertheless, Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer believes that San Francisco Giants All-Star Willy Adames is the best fit. The Giants are currently 17 games behind in the National League West and would love to offload some high-priced stars this summer. Adames previously joined San Francisco before the 2025 season on a seven-year, $182 million contract.

Despite earning the massive deal, the infielder has mostly been disappointing during his time in the Bay Area. Adames was previously an MVP candidate with the Milwaukee Brewers. He, however, has not had an OPS over .740 in any of his first two seasons with the Giants. Due to his relatively mediocre stats and high salary, it could be difficult for San Francisco to offload the star.

While the shortstop has underperformed, he would still be an upgrade on Atlanta’s current players in the position. Braves shortstops have a combined .639 OPS on the campaign. This particular figure ranks ninth-worst among all MLB teams in 2026. Atlanta manager Walt Weiss has typically deployed Mauricio Dubon, Ha-Seong Kim, and Jorge Mateo in the role this season.

Atlanta Braves Likely View Willy Adames as an Expensive Backup Plan

GettyWilly Adames has five home runs in his last 12 games against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park.

Rymer is far from the only MLB reporter to link Adames to the Atlanta Braves. Sports Illustrated’s Karl Rasmussen also recently named Atlanta as the best trade partner with San Francisco for the infielder. ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle linked the two teams together on a potential deal as well.

While Adames would be an upgrade for the Braves at shortstop, Atlanta would likely prefer other options. Houston Astros star Jeremy Pena or Washington Nationals infielder C.J. Abrams are more attractive players at the position. ESPN’s Jeff Passan even specifically named Atlanta as a possible landing spot for one of these shortstops. Pena and Abrams both currently have better statistics in 2026.

The issue for the Braves, however, is that Passan has claimed that there is only a 35% chance that Pena gets traded this summer. Abrams, on the other hand, has even lower odds of departing Washington at 15%. Because of this, Adames could be a pricy contingency plan for Atlanta. The shortstop still has five years remaining on his aforementioned massive contract.

Atlanta Already Dealing With Significant Payroll

It remains to be seen if the Atlanta Braves are willing to take on such a significant salary. According to Spotrac, the Braves have a total payroll of over $267 million, the sixth-highest figure in baseball. Despite this, Anthopoulos will likely not want to enter the postseason with his current crop of shortstops.

There could be hope that any team targeting Adames will feel like he would perform better with a contender. The shortstop’s top two campaigns in Milwaukee occurred when the Brewers won their division. Adames has also hit 30+ home runs in three of the last four seasons. Atlanta’s Truist Park is viewed as a more hitter-friendly stadium than San Francisco’s Oracle Park as well.