The Brewers could turn to this shocking NL East seller at this year's deadline

Back in the offseason, if you would have told me that the Milwaukee Brewers would hold the best record in baseball on July 22, I would have said you were crazy. But if you would have told me that same fact after the Brewers dropped their opening series of the year to the New York Yankees in embarrassing fashion, I would've said you were downright insane.

The fact that the scrappy Brewers with their band of "average Joes" as their manager referred to them several days ago, sit atop the standings just nine days away from the MLB Trade Deadline, is an incredible feat, and one that speaks to the team's continued resilience, manager Pat Murphy's excellence, and Matt Arnold's ability to masterfully construct a roster with the least amount of resources in MLB.

Despite the team not necessarily needing a trade deadline addition, with nearly every hitter in their lineup being league average or better, not upgrading the roster would feel like a disservice to a team that is seemingly one player away from having a legitimately formidable lineup.

Many different names have been thrown out as potential trade targets for the Brewers' front office, but one team that is in rare territory as a "seller" at this year's deadline, could hold the answer to the Brewers' roster needs.

The Atlanta Braves could be the perfect trade partner for the Milwaukee Brewers at this year's deadline

The Atlanta Braves are in the midst of an uncharacteristically poor season, impacted severely by injuries and a few disappointing seasons from some of their proven stars. The team is likely to maintain its core of players, who are signed to long-term deals, but they are reportedly shopping some of their veterans on expiring contracts. Here are two such players that could make sense for the Brewers.

1. DH Marcell Ozuna

On the stat sheets, it appears that the Braves' slugging DH Marcell Ozuna is having a down season, but more context is required. For starters, Ozuna has dealt with a nagging hip injury throughout the season. While he's avoided the IL, it's clearly impacted his power output this year. However, the injury was at its worst in early June, and Ozuna's .550 slugging percentage in his last five games suggests that his power may be back.

The next thing to note is that while Ozuna may not be topping the leaderboards in hitting statistics as he did in the previous two seasons, his underlying metrics tell a story of a player whose output should be higher than it is. According to Baseball Savant, Ozuna ranks above the 50th percentile in nearly every batting metric and has maintained his value in a down power year by having a walk rate in the 99th percentile.

Ozuna doesn't necessarily fit the Brewers mold as a player with practically no defensive or baserunning value, but even in his down year at the plate, he would have the third most home runs on the Brewers with 13. It would be a way to add some pop to the Brewers lineup, but would also require Christian Yelich to shift back to the outfield, as Ozuna is a pure DH at this point in his career. One final thing to note, is that Ozuna, having 10-and-5 rights can veto any trade that the Braves include him in.

2. 2B Ozzie Albies

Adding Ozzie Albies to the Brewers roster takes some creativity and an ignorance of his current season, while focusing on what he has been in seasons past. First of all, adding Albies, who has only played second base throughout his career, would mean shifting Turang to shortstop, and that's likely something the Brewers want to avoid.

Secondly, Albies is in the midst of his worst season in MLB, with a pedestrian .627 OPS. Concerns are present about how much his wrist injury from a season ago is still affecting his play. However, Albies is still a 2x All-Star and 2x Silver Slugger at just 28 years old. He's on a $7 million contract this season and has club options of the same amount in each of the next two seasons.

Therefore, adding Albies could be more of a long-term move, where the Brewers rely less on his services this year, but in buying low on a perennial All-Star candidate, they bolster their roster for the next two seasons. It's far from a perfect fit, but with a barren trade market, Matt Arnold and company may have to get creative.