What’s the Braves biggest concern entering the season?

Despite a quiet offseason, the Atlanta Braves still have one of the most loaded rosters in baseball on paper. They are primed to make the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season, and if things go right, they should eclipse the 100-win mark for the third time in the last four years. However, what if things go wrong, and more specifically, where could things go wrong?

There are two major concerns the Braves face as Opening Day approaches. The first is what plagued them last season — health. Both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider appear to be ahead of schedule, but they are going to miss a chunk of the season, and there are always reserves when players are returning from such significant injuries.

But even beyond those two, Sean Murphy is already going to miss the first few weeks of the season after suffering a cracked rib, and who knows what could happen next. The Braves depth is an issue, particularly when it comes to the pitching staff. If injuries begin to mount up again, they may not be able to withstand them as well as they did a year ago.

Speaking of the pitching staff, the rotation is far from infallible, but the bullpen could end up being a disaster. For whatever reason, the Braves lost both A.J. Minter (free agency) and Joe Jimenez (injury) — their two top set-up men from last year — and opted not to replace them in free agency.

I’m not sure there’s a set-up man on the roster that’s trustworthy right now, and the back end of the bullpen could be filled with non-roster invites that were non-roster invites for a reason. Perhaps some guys step up out of nowhere, that tends to happen a lot with the Braves, but it’s a dangerous game they are playing.

Just imagine for a second that Raisel Iglesias goes down with an injury, even if it is just for a month. There is absolutely nobody else on Atlanta’s roster that should be trusted in save situations, and non-roster invites would be asked to pitch in high-leverage situations on a nightly basis.

Relief arms aren’t expensive. The Braves could have added plenty of proven options throughout the offseason that wouldn’t have broken the bank. They decided against it, which could be the one thing that really rears its ugly head once the season begins.