In 2023, the Atlanta Braves had one of the best offenses the world of baseball has ever seen. While right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. got most of the attention with his 40-70 MVP season, and first baseman Matt Olson catching much of the rest for hitting 54 homers (a new franchise record), the rest of the team contributed in no small part with far less credit. But with a starting rotation of three and a half, the Braves lacked the depth that was required for a deep playoff push.
2021 Season
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, known as AA by Braves fans, has come to be known as a savant when it comes to trades, typically valuing it over the free agent market. In 2021, the Braves were on track to finish under .500. In mid-July, Ronald Acuna Jr. tore his ACL attempting to make a leaping catch while facing the Miami Marlins. At the trade deadline, AA put together trades to bring LF Eddie Rosario, RF Jorge Soler, CF Adam Duvall, and LF Joc Pederson. The Braves broke .500 in August and ended the season as the NL East champions, giving Atlanta their fourth consecutive Postseason appearance. The Braves went on to win the World Series, with Eddie Rosario winning the NLCS MVP and Jorge Soler winning the World Series MVP. The Braves would not have made it to the World Series, much less win it, without the moves the front office made at the deadline.
2022 Season
After the end of the 2021 season, first baseman, face of the franchise, and 2020 MVP winner Freddie Freeman was turning down every single offer he received from the Braves, Anthopoulos went to work. The Braves put together a trade package, sending right-handed pitchers Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes, catcher Shea Langeliers, and centerfielder Christian Pache to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Matt Olson; every player sent to the A’s were either prospects or on the bench.
2023 Season
At the end of the 2022 season, new rules were announced that would take effect in the 2023 season. Among those rules were three pertinent statutes: the introduction of the pitch clock, the expansion of the bases, and the limit of pitcher disengagements with runners on. With the introduction of the pitch clock, a pitcher now has 15 seconds between pitches (20 with runners on base) to think about scouting reports, match them with the best pitch in his repertoire, evaluate how it fits in with the pitches he has already thrown, and if he’s allowed a runner, he has to be thinking about whether or not the runner will steal. With the expansion of the bases from 15 inches per side to 18 inches per side, the runner has a larger target to avoid tags at second or third. A pitcher can now only step off the rubber or attempt a pickoff twice per plate appearance (resets if the runner advances a base). If he tries a third time and fails, the runner automatically advances a base. Because of these new rules, it becomes much easier for a runner to steal. While Braves starting catcher Travis d’Arnaud showed undoubtably valuable leadership with the team, and his backup William Contreras doing great things with the bat, Atlanta needed much-needed defensive support behind the plate.
In December of 2022, just after the new rules were announced, the Braves, Athletics, and Milwaukee Brewers put together a 3-team trade. The Braves sent RHPs Royber Salinas and Freddy Tarnok, left-handed pitcher Kyle Muller, and C Manny Pina to Oakland while sending RHP Justin Yeager and William Contreras to the Brewers. Oakland got Esteury Ruiz from Milwaukee, Milwaukee got Joel Payamps from Oakland, and the A’s sent Gold Glove winner Sean Murphy to Atlanta.
2024 Season
After proof that the Braves’ power was enough to win 104 games, but not enough to advance in the Postseason, AA set about fixing the problem spots. He replaced defensive liability Eddie Rosario in left field, pulling off quite a few trades in quick succession, simultaneously bolstering the team while clearing out a lot of wasted salary space. Atlanta acquired LHP Aaron Bummer from the Chicago White Sox for more bullpen depth and former 1st round pick LF Jarred Kelenic from the Seattle Mariners was brought in to be the everyday left fielder. Neither of these were the yearly blockbuster that Braves fans had grown accustomed to. On December 30, 2023, the Braves traded backup middle infielder Vaughn Grissom to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for LHP Chris Sale.
At the time, the move to acquire Sale seemed like a huge risk. Grissom, while he seemed to always have a hole in his glove and take his sweet time transferring the ball to his hand, showed a lot of potential at the plate. Sale, on the other hand, hadn’t been Chris Sale since 2018. Five years of injuries made many believe that he had hit his peak, always shy of the Cy Young Award that he so richly deserved before his injuries. It was a move that would either fail spectacularly or give the Braves exactly what they needed.
Chris Sale ended up ranking in the top 3 for every stat a pitcher would want to rank in, winning the NL Triple Crown through leading the National League in strikeouts, ERA, and wins, finally winning his first Cy Young at the age of 35. Right hander Reynaldo Lopez, who was picked up in free agency, posted a 1.99 ERA with a 1.11 WHIP. Aaron Bummer ranked in the 92nd percentile of expected ERA, 91st in average exit velocity, 90th in hard hit percentage, and 98th in ground ball percentage; not a single pitcher in the MLB had a lower barrel percentage than Bummer. Jared Kelenic, while he was very streaky and even proved to be an offensive liability at times, was a walking sigh of relief in the outfield. The Braves had gone two whole seasons without hustle in left field and Kelenic has more hustle than just about anybody. Every problem spot from 2023 had been fixed.
But 2024 offered new troubles. After a monstrous season at the plate, the Braves offense was thoroughly underwhelming despite having eight of their nine position players return. Through all of this, injuries were dwindling the Braves’ active roster down to scraps, with ace Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuna Jr, Sean Murphy, second baseman Ozzie Albies, third baseman Austin Riley, and centerfielder Michael Harris II all spending significant time on the IL; Strider missed the entire season.
Anthopoulos once again went back to work. When Ozzie Albies went down, he brought in veteran utility man Whit Merrifield. When Austin Riley went down, he brought in Gio Urshela. And when Ronald Acuna Jr. went down, he brought in Ramon Laureano. Laureano’s batting average jumped from .143 with Cleveland to .296 with Atlanta. Merrifield (.199 to .248) and Urshela (.243 to .265) showed the same pattern. Without these moves, the Braves would not have made the Postseason. Infield depth was scarce, since the best minor league option, Nacho Alvarez Jr, only notched 3 hits in 30 at-bats. Outfield depth was nonexistent.
When the season wrapped up, AA fired longtime Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer and quickly hired former Rangers and Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers. Hyers’s first press conference as a Braves coach touched on a very important note from the 2024 season: raw power is not enough. Hyers emphasized an issue that many fans have noticed. While the Braves have shown in 2023 that they can swing for the fences, they showed in the 2023 Postseason that they could not get on base. A change in hitting philosophy was essential to success.
With big names on the free agent market this year like Blake Snell, Juan Soto, and former Brave Max Fried, the Braves have already begun to clear out salary space, trading away Jorge Soler and declining Travis d’Arnaud’s club option. Holding one’s breath for any of these big names to sign a big contract with Atlanta is a waste of time. It’s simply not how Anthopoulos works. He signs undervalued, underappreciated players who have a lot of potential. If he wants a big name like Chris Sale or Sean Murphy, he acquires them via trade.
Not all of these trades are going to be perfect. William Contreras was an early favorite to be an MVP finalist this season, Sean Murphy wasn’t. But baseball is inherently a game of marginal success. A batter who fails 7 times out of 10 is one of the best in the league. 615 baseball players were drafted in the 2024 MLB draft. Statistically, only 126 of these players will play in an MLB game (about 21%). In baseball, one will always fail more than they succeed. What matters is how they fix the problems, and Alex Anthopoulos does that better than almost any other general manager in the league. When Atlanta needed better defense in left field and behind the dish, he got it. When Atlanta needed better pitching and a chance to finally fill the fifth rotation spot after years of having at best a four-man rotation, he got the NL Cy Young winner. When Atlanta needed a change in philosophy at the plate, he got a two-time World Series winner. Braves Country should all be anxiously awaiting his next great blockbuster.
Heaters n Dingers 