The Braves keep silent while the Hot Stove continues to stew.
This offseason, Alex Anthopoulos has made moves with two goals in mind: to improve the organization’s depth and to save costs.
It’s understandable that Braves fans are frustrated. It’s difficult to watch your biggest World Series rivals spend millions of dollars while Alex Anthopoulos watches on the sidelines. The lack of moves has sparked criticism and bewilderment, prompting Jeff Passan to label the Braves as losers of the offseason thus far.
“Atlanta is the only team with a homegrown position-playing core that can compete with the Orioles. And it’s been unsettling to see the Braves’ swashbuckling president of baseball operations, Alex Anthopoulos, go the entire winter without making any trades. Anthopoulos has been the king of the early-winter strike, whether it’s via free agency or trade — and yet he has not signed a single major league free agent amid the Braves losing Fried and Morton in free agency,” Passan writes.
Alex Anthopoulos will never have a laundry list of to-dos because many of the club’s important players are on long-term contracts, but there are still many gaps that must be filled.
“The Braves are approximately $20 million under the initial luxury tax level, and Anthopoulos has said they could exceed it for the third year in a row, so there is opportunity to expand. The Atlanta Braves are expected to add Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider to a team capable of making the postseason without them, regardless of whether they spread their gains across multiple players to take advantage of lower rates or focus on a single impact player.
Even when it isn’t true, Braves fans are continuously irritated by the team’s lack of investment. I’m generally a strong supporter of Alex Anthopoulos since the idea that the organization is inexpensive is simply incorrect. However, I’m finding it difficult to see the plan through the winter. Hopefully, something will happen soon.
