The Braves offseason hasn’t been the flashiest, but Alex Anthopoulos has made more transactions than any other general manager, wheeling and dealing in an attempt to improve in every possible area. The bullpen has been bolstered with the additions of several new faces, the rotation looks a lot better with Chris Sale in the mix, and Jarred Kelenic is a bright young player who could fill the void in left field for the foreseeable future.
What’s even better is the Braves didn’t have to give up much in the process. They let go of some oft-injured players and ultimately decided to move on from Vaughn Grissom. However, they kept their top young guys and avoided handing out a long-term deal that could come back to bite them later on down the road. The Braves are well-suited to make a run at a 2024 World Series, and their books are very clean past this season, allowing Alex Anthopoulos even more flexibility in the future.
2. Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves have made a staggering nine trades this offseason.
The Cubs and Twins have done absolutely nothing outside of signing a couple of guys to minor league contracts, but Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos is out here wheeling and dealing like he gets paid per transaction at an international swap meet.
What’s funny, though, is that they’ve only actually added three players to their 40-man roster over the course of all these deals, trading for each of Jackson Kowar, Marco Gonzales, Evan White, Max Stassi, David Fletcher and Matt Carpenter before either trading them away or releasing them.
Comparing where they started the offseason to where they are now, they shipped out all of Kyle Wright, Jared Shuster, Michael Soroka, Nicky Lopez, Braden Shewmake, Riley Gowens, Nick Anderson, Cole Phillips, Tyler Thomas, Ray Kerr, Drew Campbell and Vaughn Grissom to get back Chris Sale, Jarred Kelenic, Aaron Bummer and some cash/future considerations.
Now, they did retain a fair amount of money in the process. Per Spotrac, they’ll owe Gonzales $9.5 million, Fletcher $6 million, Stassi $5 million and Carpenter $5 million this season, and will owe Fletcher another $8 million between 2025-26.
Even with those sunk costs factored in, though, Atlanta clearly got the better end of the nine-legged trade, doing all that it can to keep pace with the Dodgers in the National League arms race.
The bullpen is in much better shape with the additions of Bummer and López. Kelenic could be the answer in left field that they’ve been seeking for the past two years. And if Sale can stay healthy, good luck finding a better starting rotation than Sale, Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder—plus AJ Smith-Shawver as one hell of a “break in case of injury” sixth option.
Unsurprisingly, the Dodgers came in at #1 after their additions of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and most recently, Teoscar Hernandez. It’s been a memorable offseason for Atlanta’s rivals out west, but that is never something that should be expected from the Braves.
The Braves don’t have the luxury to spend as frivolously as the Dodgers, few teams do. However, they’ve proven to be much smarter with their money. Atlanta’s payroll is as high as it has ever been, but they’ve spent most of their cash locking in their franchise cornerstones into long-term, team-friendly contracts. They don’t have gobs of money to spend like the Dodgers, but they also don’t have nearly as many holes to fill.
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Photo: Charles Brock/Icon Sportswire
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