Braves Country is watching all the other clubs with World Series aspirations spend gobs and gobs of cash as Alex Anthopoulos sits in waiting. It’s rightfully bothered fans, but there are a few things to consider.
Firstly, and most importantly, the markets are going bananas, and as Chase just highlighted, these mega-contracts rarely work out.
“The Padres, on the other hand, went all in on Xander Bogaerts, handing him an 11-year, $280 million deal. Two seasons later, Bogaerts has amassed just 5.6 WAR, including a disappointing 1.2 WAR this past year. San Diego is already reportedly open to trading him, but moving a declining 32-year-old with nine years left on his deal is virtually impossible. What was once a prized acquisition is now a financial albatross.”
The quickest way to close a championship window is by handing out these kinds of contracts, ones that satisfy the appetite for the immediate and disregard the future. Alex Anthopoulos is not only trying to maximize the club’s chances of winning a World Series right now, but he’s also trying to keep the championship window open as long as possible.
Suffice to say, these “sexy” moves rarely work, but even still, the Braves have plenty of talent on the roster. The need for a blockbuster move isn’t as big as some fans would have you believe. The need is for complimentary moves, which is highlighted in the rankings of the best offenses entering 2025 from ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle, which has the Braves only trailing the Dodgers.
“In the hitter-level version of our hitting index, the Braves have five players projected to land in the 110-or-better region, led by star Ronald Acuna Jr., whose precise return date from knee surgery is unknown.
This projection shows positive regression for Sean Murphy, Michael Harris II, Matt Olson and Austin Riley, and more playing time this time around for the likes of Riley, Ozzie Albies and Acuna.
There’s a lot of drop-off after the core group, and given last season’s injury trouble, you’d like to see some bench additions if only so the Braves don’t need to ride a set lineup quite as hard.”
The Braves biggest hurdle is health. Positive regression is coming, whether that’s from an availability standpoint or not. Atlanta should expect to be better just purely off health. They’ll need to add a starting-caliber outfielder; there’s no doubt about that, but the Braves don’t need a superstar in the outfield.
The long-term contracts that Anthopoulos has handed out over the past few years give the Braves an incredibly high floor, even if the 2024 campaign, the season from hell, made fans forget about that.
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Photographer: Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire
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