Alex Anthopoulos has typically not been the “big splash” type of general manager over his tenure with the Braves, and the past couple of offseasons have been no different.

But that doesn’t mean the Braves haven’t spent. They’ve actually thrown around quite a bit of cash. Most of those players have just fallen well short of expectations.

Notables Braves Free Agents

• Robert Suarez: 3 years, $45 million
• Jurickson Profar: 3 years, $40 million
• Ha Seong Kim: 1 year, $20 million
• Raisel Iglesias: 1 year, $16 million
• Mike Yastrzemski: 2 years, $23 million
• Tyler Kinley: 1 year, $4.25 million

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The Braves’ last two offseasons have produced a little bit of good and a lot of what the hell — headlined by Jurickson Profar and Ha-Seong Kim.

Profar is now in his second season with the Braves but hasn’t played, as he serves out a year-long PED suspension after missing half of last season for the same violation. The only good news is that Atlanta isn’t paying him while he’s suspended. Unfortunately, they decided not to use any of that money to upgrade the roster.

Alex Anthopoulos knew in the middle of March that Profar would miss the entire 2026 campaign. That money had already been allocated to him and could have been redirected at any point between then and the trade deadline. They did nothing, so the front office doesn’t get a pass just because of the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Profar. There was plenty of time to put those dollars to good use.

But as sour as the Profar situation has turned, Ha-Seong Kim’s one-year contract may go down as the worst free agent signing of Anthopoulos’ tenure. Twenty million dollars for a shortstop who’s played in just 31 games, hitting .066 with a .230 OPS — and perhaps even more damning, the Braves are simply letting him rot on the bench, wasting a roster spot for no apparent reason. They say there’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal. Kim’s season has proven that line of thinking a complete fallacy.

The others aren’t nearly as bad, but the Braves aren’t getting much production out of any of them right now either. Robert Suarez has been on the IL with elbow inflammation since the middle of June, while Raisel Iglesias owns a 4.45 ERA and 4.32 FIP since May 26th — not exactly the numbers anybody wants to see from a closer.

Tyler Kinley was designated for assignment last week, and while Mike Yastrzemski has been better over the last month, his .702 OPS for the season doesn’t exactly scream A+ signing.

What a lot of GMs try to do — especially Alex Anthopoulos — is match dollars to value. One win above replacement is worth X amount of money. Over the last two offseasons, the Braves have handed out $148.25 million in contracts. In return, those players have provided 1.8 fWAR.

Braves Free Agents WAR

• Jurickson Profar: 1.3 fWAR
• Robert Suarez: 0.8 fWAR
• Raisel Iglesias: 0.8 fWAR
• Mike Yasztremski: 0.5 fWAR
• Tyler Kinley: -0.4 fWAR
• Ha-Seong Kim: -1.2 fWAR

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The going rate for 1 WAR in MLB right now is roughly $8-10 million. Some simple math suggests that $148.25 million spent in free agency should buy the Braves approximately 15-18 WAR.

Of course, Profar’s lengthy suspensions haven’t helped, and Robert Suarez still has a couple of years left on his contract to add to his total. But this group would be very lucky to end its Braves tenure with even 8 WAR — and keep in mind, the 15-18 WAR figure represents average return. Ideally, the Braves would like to get more bang for the bucks they’re spending in free agency.

We can talk about ownership all day. It would be nice if Arthur Blank — who would do anything to build a winner — owned the Braves instead of a company more concerned with turning a profit.

But the reality is the Braves are still one of the biggest spenders in baseball. They just have a front office that isn’t spending those dollars wisely — and we haven’t even gotten into several of the massive contract extensions that have started to look extremely unattractive, namely Sean Murphy, Spencer Strider, and Austin Riley.

No general manager is going to bat 1.000. Mistakes will be made along the way, and overcoming them is part of the job. That’s what made this year’s trade deadline so disappointing. It was an opportunity to right some of these wrongs, and the Braves did less than just about every other contender despite sporting one of the best records in baseball.

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(Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire)