During a wide-reaching interview that any Braves fan will want to check out in its entirety, Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos confirmed to Jeff Schultz of The Athletic that he’s been told by ownership he’ll have the ability to “add payroll at the deadline.”
It’s common for teams to leave room for in-season maneuvering when making their offseason transactions, but this sort of direct acknowledgment from a baseball operations leader is still of note — particularly on the heels of an offseason where virtually every club in the game had to work with more budgetary constraints than usual. The Braves were no exception, as they spent heavily to address the rotation and to re-sign Marcell Ozuna but appeared to be on a rather strict budget beyond those moves. The bullpen went largely unaddressed, though the team did ultimately bring Shane Greene back into the mix on an affordable one-year deal in early May.
There’s a vast array of directions the Braves can choose to go as they look to bolster the roster, though as with most clubs, they’re likely several weeks away from making any actual transactions. Sellers often prefer to wait until the market has more competition, and the Braves themselves right now probably want to take more time to evaluate the roster. Atlanta is five games out of first place at the moment and three games under .500. They’ll presumably operate as a buyer, given the generally underwhelming performance of the entire NL East, but a prolonged losing streak could send them in another direction, of course.
It’s also quite likely that the Braves want to gather more information on internal reinforcements before spending what still figures to be a limited amount of available resources. To that end, Anthopoulos notably reveals that he’s optimistic the Braves will get each of Mike Soroka, Travis d’Arnaud and Huascar Ynoa back at some point in the month of August.
The general assumption has been that Ynoa, who fractured his hand after punching the bench in the dugout after a poor outing, would make his way back in the season’s second half. But that hasn’t at all been clear regarding d’Arnaud and particularly regarding Soroka. The veteran d’Arnaud has been out since May 1 after tearing a ligament in his thumb that required surgery.
Soroka, meanwhile, opened the year on the injured list while wrapping up rehab from the Achilles tear that limited him to just three starts in 2020. But he felt some discomfort in his right shoulder that slowed his rehab, and once he ramped up in earnest, he experienced discomfort in his surgically repaired Achilles tendon, which prompted exploratory surgery. Anthopoulos declined to go into much detail but noted that the Braves received “good news” on the right-hander.
With d’Arnaud out, young William Contreras has stepped up with a .240/.313/.460 showing in 112 plate appearances. His bat has cooled since a hot start, but that production tops the output from d’Arnaud in the season’s first month. Of course, the veteran was brilliant for Atlanta in 2020 — the first season of a two-year, $16MM deal.
If the team feels confident that Soroka, d’Arnaud and Ynoa can return at some point in August, that could lessen any temptation to allocate some of the prospect capital and financial resources to rotation upgrades or catching help. That’d make the bullpen and the outfield far likelier targets for outside additions. Braves relievers have a collective 4.77 ERA, which ranks fifth-worst in the Majors. Atlanta outfielders, as a group, rank 10th in the Majors with a 104 wRC+ at the plate, but nearly all of their production has come from Ronald Acuna Jr. Non-Acuna Braves outfielders are batting a combined .215/.294/.356.
The trade market out to feature various outfield and bullpen options — you can peruse our initial Top 40 trade candidate list for some ideas — but Anthopoulos generally hasn’t been shy about making upgrades on the trade market in the past. With the Braves, he’s made midseason deals to acquire Greene, Chris Martin, Adam Duvall, Kevin Gausman, Darren O’Day, Brad Brach and Mark Melancon. Last year was an unusually quiet deadline for Anthopoulos, but the Braves had a rather comfortable division lead and may not have wanted to expend many resources with only one month of games post-deadline and with an expanded playoff field.
Again, we’re probably weeks away from the Braves or any other club beginning to pursue truly meaningful additions to the roster — a reality Anthopoulos himself acknowledges while discussing a generally open-minded approach to this year’s deadline. The whole interview, which also covers Freddie Freeman, some early thoughts on Contreras’ play and myriad other roster issues, is well worth a full look. But the general takeaway that the Braves will have some financial leeway is an important one, particularly at a time when many other teams won’t have that luxury.
The Yankees, Astros and Red Sox, for instance, are all within $4MM of the luxury-tax barrier. The division-rival Phillies are just shy of $5MM away from the $210MM threshold, while the Padres clock in at about $6MM from the tax line. The Indians and Reds both made substantial payroll cuts over the winter; it’s not yet clear how much (if any) additional salary they’ll be willing to take on.
We likely won’t know the extent to which Atlanta can increase its bottom line. Anthopoulos, like an GM or team president, would never directly tip his hand. However, the very presence of extra resources and the fact that they’re nowhere near the luxury barrier ought to give them some advantage when looking to pry veterans away from other clubs.
Doxie
Any players who come back by August will be rusty almost certainly and need extended time to get into playing shape.
The Braves will blow that 50 million, they’d be better off pulling a trade using some minor leagues talent who could bring a veteran starter and a solid outfielder.
I know some will be outraged but maybe package Swanson for someone solid, starter or closer.
I have little faith in AA.
aromaa
Go get Trevor Story
the outlaw
Immediately or sooner .
Story instantly makes this team better and becomes a top 5 player in the NLE.
I really don’t understand why this wouldn’t happen. You have the pieces it would take ! 2+ 2=4.
GabeOfThrones
Because you’d be trading 3 affordable years of Swanson for 2 months of Story. If they want to get Story they can sign him this off-season and trade Swanson then.
braves2
why does being traded to Atl make Story a top 5 player?
Asobko
Swanson is a free agent after next season
aromaa
Swanson is overrated
Dawgs #1
Swanson needs to go. We need an upgrade there. Look at his career stats. Other than a short 60 games last year, his numbers stink and he is average in the field. He ranks 13th in ML in SS.
oldmansteve
Story’s road numbers are comparable to Swanson. I don’t know why you would chose 2 months of Story over him.
RunDMC
Hot take
John Kappel
You have little faith in AA? He did what Coppy, Wren, and Hart could not. He built a team that get the NLCS and that was in an expanded playoffs format, they went through two teams! I have not agreed with everything he’s done but he’s successfully built winners in two cities and worked for the Dodgers in between.
TradeAcuna
Another one. Give it a rest. They beat the Marlins and Reds in a shortened season. Please stop
dabrewcrew
You act like they were a fluke team when they were stacked. They were up on the Dodgers too but they blew it, it happens.
echozulu88
It’s an Atlanta team in the playoffs. There is nothing AA can do to overcome that curse. Idk what Atlanta did but it clearly pissed off the sports gods.
48-team MLB
You may be onto something about the curse but none of it explains 1995. It did happen once. It can happen again. If the Cubs and Royals can win titles than so can the Braves.
bravesfan
I agree. I have little faith in AA. Other than sign acuna/Ozzie to steals of deals, he has done borderline nothing with this team other than 1 year deals. 1 year deals might not always pan out. We talk about the few successes (Donaldson and Ozuna) but never mention the ones that sorta failed or we never exactly replaced. And as for what did coppy do? Umm. He literally built this machine that won the division the last few years. AA was handed the keys to gold and ultimately hasn’t been able to close the deal. Just because coppy got caught doing exactly what every team in the mlb is doing, don’t discredit just how much good he did rebuilding what a train wreck we had and essentially put us in the position we are in today,
48-team MLB
Actually, AA made big improvements to the bullpen at the deadline in 2019. People always overlook that. He added THREE quality relievers.
braves2
Coppy and Hart made the moves that you see on the field currently. AA has soms pieces obviously.
mj-2
No offense but the Braves beat a pair of .500 teams in the playoffs last year with the expanded format.
If anything the extra round helped them because they got a much weaker opponent than they’d normally see in the NLDS thanks to the Marlins upsetting the Cubs.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t me hating on them because they have a good team right now for sure. But trying to sell the fact they won two series in last years playoffs as a point that they’ve been successful is kind of a joke.
48-team MLB
@MJ…I agree that the competition was weakened in the postseason last year but 5-0 with four shutouts would be impressive even against the Pirates and Orioles.
Bill Kane
I am not a Braves fan but I think Hart is the one who deserves the credit for building the braves to the point where they have won the NL East for a few years in a row.
RunDMC
Hart?! Gross. You mean the man that allowed Coppy to take the full brunt while he gets away scot-free and lands a cushy MLB analyst with their network just a few months after being cleared in an investigation. You keep believing Coppy’s boss knew nothing with how brazen Coppy carried on, which is partially why he was given such a stiff punishment.
Doxie
The Dodgers did spend the money, they had more talent also.
adshadbolt
AA is not the problem. The braves don’t have a traditional owner that can throw money around on their whims. The braves are owned by a corporation and are assigned a yearly budget. AA has to also get more complex approval for most moves unlike just calling the owner up
BretBoone
Haha this is funny too. “Dont blame AA blame the owners who assign a yearly budget”. Yea and that budget this year is 120 mil while the Rays are half of that and usually less every year but still do more with less. Same with the A’s and many other teams. AA is not a good GM. Plain and simple. He acquired a team that was already made for him. He just added a few small pieces and all of a sudden he’s Billy Beane?!? Get outta here.
paddyo furnichuh
@Boone….Who claimed that he was as respected as Billy Beane?
Maybe you have an “overreaction/suboptimal listenin” issue in your temporal lobe?
BretBoone
@paddy…nowhere did i mention AA was as RESPECTED as Beane. The point im making is some fans think he took this crappy team to the playoffs like Billy Beane does with the A’s and thats not the case as Alex already had a great team created for him. Maybe you have a “I don’t know how to break down adult sentences and give a valid response” syndrome. I don’t blame you though, with a name like Paddy you’re either Irish or a Pirates fan. I don’t know which is worse.
bravesfan
AA is literally the problem… liberty is also, but Boone had a point. Other teams build great teams on less budget. Aa has more budget and refuses to improve the team often or until he absolutely has too…
RunDMC
Other teams have the full ability to spend on international free agents without restrictions passed down from their predecessors.You give too little credit to TB in how difficult what they’re doing is to do.
chipper1965
What a stupid comment
Echo6
AA gets my vote of confidence. Smyly is really the only deal I question. He’s done a fine job since arriving.
ChipperChop
I swear you Braves fans are hilarious. I’m guessing most of you complaining about AA were also complaining when he signed Donaldson to a one year deal. Then the same ones were complaining when he didn’t overpay to resign him. You were complaining when he signed Ozuna before 2020 as well and we all know how that one year deal turned out. You were complaining when he traded for Melancin and then complaining when he didn’t resign him. You were mad when he signed D’’Arnaud instead of overpaying (trading Riley) in a trade for JT. That turned out well last year too. Most wanted to give up Riley for anything he could get for him. Thank god AA didn’t do that as Austin had been one of the top two hitters on the team this year and will be an all star candidate for years to come. AA signed the best available one year contract rotation option in Morton this year as well. Not his fault Charlie is having a down year so far. I could go on and on but you get the point. You Braves fans are funny.
Jaa1968
It’s not him I have little faith in , It’s the ownership! AA did pretty good in KC from what I remember!
its_happening
AA was in KC? Want to try again?
stugots
AA got the on he can add payroll at the trade deadline make moves improve the team. Buy then it’s to late bullpen is so
BretBoone
Bro, what are you talking? Wren, Coppy and Hart took over a rebuilding team and pretty much made the team that AA has now through trades, free agency and international signings. Acuna, Freeman, Albies, Swanson, Riley, Soroka, Fried and Anderson were not AA. You could have taken that team to the playoffs last year. AA did sign D’arnaud, 1 year of Donaldson and 1 good year of Ozuna. Oh and lets not forget his drafting…Kyle Wright and Carter Stewart. Solid.
amk1920
AA got Acuna and Albies to sign ridiculously team friendly deals and he has done nothing with that except pay Ozuna who’s track record was meh. The Braves window is nowhere near it was made out to be. Mets caught up to them.
BretBoone
Exactly
chiefnocahoma1
Truth is he hasn’t had the time to for someone honestly state if he’s been successful or not. It’s like these idiots saying a POTUS is the best ever two years in. While the time needed to discern such a thing for a GM isn’t nearly as long-it’s still absurd. Baseball is the long game in so many ways. And Those that are unequivocal are almost always wrong. It’s too soon to indict AA. Inheriting talent shouldn’t preclude you from being deemed a success. That said, his next 18 months will tel the tale.
brandons-3
Kyle Wright was drafted by the Hart/Coppy regime, but his development has been AA. Personally, I’m not a fan of how pitchers have developed under AA. Fried was up when Coppy was here and Soroka’s development was pretty much completely as he was called up early 2018.
They’ve gotten into this habit of yo-yoing pitchers between Gwinnett and Atlanta. More than any other player, starting pitchers need a routine and, to that end, we have not been kind to our young arms.
At some point, if you refuse to trade them, you’ve got to see what you have.
its_happening
AA credited for the development? No. Credit goes to the staff in-place in the minors and majors between draft day and today.
RunDMC
Kyle Wright wasn’t AA. Stewart was his first pick and can’t really blame him for how that played out. Braves fans would have been complaining if they signed him and his medicals were leaked, and he bombed. Langeliers was AA. A little silly to be rating them already, especially considering no 2020 MiLB season that stalled their development.
BretBoone
You are correct. I thought AA was hired just before the draft Wright was drafted in but he was hired a few months after. But someone commented on here that Wright’s development has been under AA’s watch and he has been a bust so far. And yes, too early to judge Langeliers and others.
RunDMC
So if you’re going to fault him for Wright, are you going to give his team credit for Fried taking the next step, Ynoa, Anderson, Soroka despite injuries, now Davidson, even brief moments of Bryce Wilson? Wright continues to remind me of Gausman, and I wouldn’t doubt sometime down the road putting it together only after a few years of underwhelming results that a competitive team need better than, even if they’re their richest draft pick ever.
JAMES JACOBSEN
Buy Khris Davis for league min and stash him in the minors, Trade for OF Mitch Haniger and RP Richard Rodriguez? What do you think?
Rangers29
This team could desperately use a Kyle Gibson, Joey Gallo, and Ian Kennedy pick-me-up. Maybe a return of Michael Harris, Kyle Muller, William Woods, and Bryce Elder?
dan55
I sure hope the Braves get Gallo so that the Padres can’t have him.
amk1920
Very specific, just like you were back on the MLB.com boards.
Rangers29
Nope, came straight from the ol’ brain space. Just think it’s a deal that helps both sides out very much.
TomahawkChop
If Gallo could hit, I’d be interested in that offer.
rangers13
Works for me.
RunDMC
I doubt JD trades all those pieces in 1 deal, especially for those. Also doubt AA trades non-AAA prospects where depth outside of AAA is already a real question.
TradeAcuna
Sounds encouraging but I’m not expecting much. It is AA after all! I could see the Braves finally getting over .500 in the next two weeks; however, AA has done nothing of impact to make me believe they will pull off a big one and be a legit contender.
TomahawkChop
So he didn’t go out and address needs that got them one win away from a WS appearance?
mlb1225
Really wish the Pirates could find a way to pry Shea Langeliers from the Braves, but I doubt they would be willing to part with him for anything less than a a all-star caliber player with more than a year of control remaining. Though I could still see the Pirates and Braves doing a swap involving Richard Rodriguez. Still plenty of value in some of the pieces the Pirates have and the Braves have a good farm system.
RunDMC
ATL doesn’t need another southpaw in the pen. Smith, Matzek, Minter, Newcomb. Crick makes more sense but Langeliers won’t be involved.
TomahawkChop
Rodriguez is right handed and a better pitcher
RunDMC
Whoa…my bad.
bravesfan
We’ve heard this load of bull from AA before. In fact, we hear it every offseason! Financial flexibility… he even said it last trade deadline and look what happened. AA has given us no reason to trust him. Every year fans are screaming to fix the obvious problem on the field. He either waits until the deadline to make a move, taxing our entire team and fan base, or he simply doesn’t address it. I’m sick of him and liberty.
its_happening
Same song and dance from AA and Rogers in Toronto. Made a huge splash with his back against the wall looking for a new contract. Doubt he would have made the same moves if he was extended. In 2014 the Jays were in a better position than 2015 and he did nothing at the deadline. This Braves team is not his fingerprint, and the Braves shouldn’t decide if they are buyers for another 4 weeks or so.
Backup Catcher to the Backup Catcher
The D-Backs are one NL team not going anywhere. Wouldn’t mind David Peralta for LF.
If we get production from the other seven hitters, I’m fine with Inciarte playing CF every day.
Some nice names in our current bullpen who have had past successes. This year? Aah, not so much. But relief pitchers can stink up the joint one game and then somehow go ten or more outings without being scored upon. They are truly Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.
Hope Riley can keep it up all season. hate to be a Debbie Downer, but if I had to bet on that happening, I’d bet on it not happening.
Probably need a veteran catcher to pair with Contreras now that Jackson won’t be up soon (Broken finger.). Maybe they can wrest Stallings and Rodriguez from the Pirates with one trade? Bucs need a CF now and for the future. With Waters in hand, I’d wager the Bucs would give up both of the aforementioned for Pache.
acmeants
Pache and Jackson can’t hit a lick so trade them for decent arm and outfielder. Start shopping in Texas.
gorav114
Time to reach out to the Os again. Freddy Galvis and Paul Fry
Kungfooshus
Yup.
brandons-3
I figured Ynoa would be back. I thought TDA would be dependent on what Contreras is doing. If he falters down the stretch (which I would expect), I think we’ll see TDA back.
I thought Soroka might come back for an inning and two once the Braves postseason fate has been determined just to get that monkey off his back so he can go into the offseason normal instead of having to wait until next year just to get into a game. I would imagine he’d want that mental hurdle checked this year.
JonKK
Paragraph that starts “The trade market out to feature…” that should be “ought.”
echozulu88
Adding Culberson and what’s left of his 1 yr/ 1.5 mil contract confirmed
HBan22
Remind me again why the Braves chose not to keep Melancon or O’Day for bargain prices? So that they could sign Smyly?? Seemed silly at the time and seems much sillier now.
solaris602
I felt that way at the time of the signing, and nothing has changed my mind. Braves could have gotten so much more value on the market for $11M than Smyly.
Cohn Joppolella
Braves need a power bat for left field and a legit reliever, not sure what to expect or what will be available. The NL East is so weak I don’t see them as sellers so I’m guessing they’ll add a couple of pieces. We’ll see….
angt222
Braves will be finishing in 3rd place this season.
russ5tide
GO GET KETEL MARTE AND SIGN HIM LONG TERM TO PAIR WITH ACUÑA IN THE OF. He would be a phenomenal addition to this lineup!
bot
Braves will never trade the required talent to acquire him. Nice thought though
Bravescj10
Bullpen is the number 1 problem. How many times have we had the lead going in 6-7 innings. Only to see the bullpen give it up. Even a few nights ago we were winning 6-1. Bullpen comes in and right away it’s 6-4.
Asobko
Acuna and Albies were signed when wren was in charge
Braves Butt-Head
Yea but AA did get the extensions done.
Braves20
In the full article, Schultz lets AA off the hook on the Melancon fiasco.. It’s quite evident from AA’s non-answer, he was putting way too much stock in Smith, believing 2020’s lousy year to be an outlier. Sadly, it wasn’t while Melancon is point oh sixty something ERA with a MLB leading 19 saves.
RunDMC
While I don’t totally buy Melancon didn’t want to return to ATL and wanted to be back on the west coast, closer to his home/biz, ATL didn’t seem to make him an offer he could refuse. Maybe AA thought the way to justify Smith’s cost was to put him in the most valuable position, but they could have used more backend depth, even if not re-signing Melancon. I’ve always wanted to see Will Smith as an elite 8th inning setup man and situational closer, but looks like I’m the only one considering they only use him as a closer — and when they bring him in in non-save situations, he’s awful.
Braves20
Couldn’t agree more. AA trying to justify the Will Smith money. BTW, Melancon also has a business here on the west coast of Florida, an hour plane ride from Atlanta.
Braves Butt-Head
Hate to say it but it may be too little too late when the trade deadline happens. This team is so inconsistent and going cheap on the bullpen the injuries to the starters and the Ozuna debacle and Snit and AA not making any lineup adjustments may be too much to overcome
MetsFan22
The Braves are like 6 games out lol. What are they thinking!! Lol
99socalfrc
They are thinking they are 6 games out but it’s the Mets. So probably it’s no big deal.
99socalfrc
LOL, the Braves will spend? Sure they will. This is going to go down as another team that was really close to winning a ring but never did because the front office/ ownership was too cheap.
TradeAcuna
Bold Prediction:
Braves acquire Kyle Gibson aka Tommy Milone V2.
AA is salivating right now.
Doxie
I hear AA found some new dumpsters in the AL…….. lol
I know money is ALWAYS the number one concern with ownership but I agree on seeing what the Dbacks would part with. They have lost 33 of the last 38 games……. hit them before they fire everyone and start over.
BobGibsonFan
All Star game will be played in Colorado… thank goodness.
Deleted_User
LOL
j_butte
I’d expect Ozuna to be swapped with a bad contract. Braves won’t keep him around. Olivera never played another game after his domestic violence charge. Even though details were (and still are) scarce, hard to believe Olivera did worse than Marcell. Outside of dumping Ozuna, Braves need to upgrade at shortstop and the bullpen. Dansby looks more like a non tender candidate every day. It’s s shame we held on to guys like Wright, Touki, and Pache long enough to get exposed as 4A players.
48-team MLB
Hopefully the bad contract isn’t as long as Ozuna’s.. Ozuna is signed through 2024 with a 2025 option (which will obviously be declined).
bot
Moose for Ozuna BAM !
Braves Butt-Head
Yea but Olivera was already a bust Ozuna is an all-star
j_butte
He played 30 mlb games…How would you even know if he was a bust? Either way, he was still arguably an even bigger investment for the Braves than Ozuna considering the salary and prospects paid for him.
Balzenuf
can the Braves not get Ozuna’s contract voided on a morals clause? if not, they should be able to
bravesfan0618
Don’t forget, its up to the player if he wants to play in Atlanta. AA can’t make them sign if they don’t want too. Players have families too that have a say so in it also.