In a chat with Mark Bowman of MLB.com, Atlanta’s general manager Alex Anthopoulos discussed the moves that he and his club made before this year’s trade deadline. In particular, they focus on the Adam Duvall trade and how, although the discussions with the Marlins and general manager Kim Ng had been going on for over a week, the final deal came together in the last 24 hours.
“We had been talking to them about Duvall for at least 10 days and it just wasn’t going anywhere,” Anthopoulos said. “That [late-night] call was a breakthrough conversation, but there would still have to be discussions the next day. Then finally around 12:30 or 1 o’clock, we got that deal done.” Presumably, it was during this late-night call that Anthopoulos put catcher Alex Jackson on the table, as he was the only other player involved in the deal. It is perhaps not a coincidence that, three weeks later, the club and catcher Travis d’Arnaud signed a two-year extension to make up for the subtracted depth at the position.
“After that call, it felt like this was going to happen… We wanted to talk about it internally, and [the Marlins] were going to do the same thing.” Bowman then goes on to detail the acquisitions of Eddie Rosario, Richard Rodriguez and, finally, Jorge Soler. As Bowman writes, “Around 3:30 p.m. ET, assistant general manager Jason Paré suggested the Braves call Kansas City one more time.”
These details give some insight into the collaborative nature of front offices and the different factors at play. As much as Alex Anthopoulos, or other GMs, might occasionally seem like rogue traders, a baseball front office is a multicellular organism that requires good rapport, within itself and to other clubs.
Of course, the other factor that is always present is the budget. Anthopoulos and his team got a midseason boost in that regard, as he told Bowman that Atlanta’s chairman Terry McGuirk offered an increase based on their good early-season revenues. “He basically gave me a large amount of money to work with. I was ecstatic. That’s a credit to those fans who came out and supported this club and put us in this position.”
Due to the ability to take on these contracts, the club upgraded their bullpen and totally remade their outfield, propelling them to a strong finish to the season. On the day of the deadline, July 31st, Atlanta was actually below .500, sitting on a record of 52-54, five games behind the Mets in the NL East. But from August 1st onwards, they went 36-19, leapfrogged the Mets, cruised to a fourth-consecutive division crown and now find themselves preparing for an NLDS matchup with the Brewers that begins on Friday.
Really interesting article and credit to them for not giving up despite their place in the standings on July 31st.
Excellent article. The Braves, Cards, and Cubs were in similar spots around the trade deadline. The Cubs chose to surrender. Kudos to Atlanta and St Louis for taking care of their fans, going for it, and playing postseason baseball. Meanwhile these ex-Cubs are everywhere playing in October. That team obviously had talent but David Ross is proving to be a historically poor leader.
The Cubs aren’t in any way analogous to the Cards or the Braves. They weren’t going anywhere, and almost everyone they traded was on their last year of control. They either lost them to free agency or could at least get some pieces for the future. If anything, the front office is to blame for trading away Yu and sitting on their hands for two straight off seasons.
Agreed. Except for Kimbrel the Cubs traded away bats at the deadline. Their pitching was terrible and sure maybe they could have made it to the postseason but I doubt they won a divisional series. They had no pitching. The blame should not land on Ross. He was known as a team leader in his playing days and some of the better managers were catchers during their career. He will be fine if they give him some pitching. The blame should belong to Theo. He gave away to much young talent for little return. Cease and Jiménez should be Cubs today. He could have used the Zobrist money to bring in a dominant reliever if he hadn’t traded DJ Lemahieu for nothing they would have had him at 2nd for the WS run. Torres isn’t the best SS but he would still be a Cub today and might have fared better outside NY. How about replacing Lackey with Chatwood, or Davis for Morrow? No the reason the Cubs are in this position lies solely with Theo. Give anybody a blank check for international prospects for a couple of years then a free hand in signing FA and you will get a winning ball club. See the Padres of today. It takes a good GM like David Stearns to put a winner together year after year. Theo is just a flash in the pan. Same as he was in Boston.
The actual article by bowman is really good too with how nothing looked great and then all the sudden basically everything happened at once.
This is all meaningless if they don’t at least make the WS. At some point, you can’t settle for division titles and put up zero fight in the postseason and/or collapse.
This year is lost. They need to go big in the offseason instead of settling for mid/low-tier talent. We already heard 1000x promising big moves and then finish with, “they were just not a fit.”
Last offseason (and 2 months into 2021) guys like you were complaining about the Braves not upgrading 3B because Austin Riley was a proven failure.
Do you realize Atlanta has 3 out the top 5 rbi guys for the year; we’re in third place and leaped frogged them all with out best player hurt. Every Braves fan in early July would have taken making play offs as a good season. We got here now it should be fun
Underperforming in the first half does not excuse their expectations heading into the season. Brewers are beatable. Giants are beatable. Dodgers are beatable. For once, do something in the postseason!
@Don’tComeBacktoATLFreeman Why are you complaining you already gave up
@Don’tComeBacktoATLFreeman
I see you are trolling again and pretending that you are a Braves fan with your 1 millionth user name.
Fans like you are what ruins this game starting with your username. Quit your bitching and just enjoy the games.
When you go big like you say you end up like the METS. That is not the way!!
Not true. The Mets never had a good foundation despite what people want to think. They added a flawed hitter in Lindor to a flawed offense.
The Braves have the foundation. They just don’t care to finish it because division titles are celebrated.
I understand now, Your not a Braves fan your a Mets fan, Sorry for the misunderstanding!
I actually do agree it’s time for a big time free agent we have the money I mean take advantage of the albies and acuna deal why you can.
What big free agent should Atlanta go get?? If they re sign Freeman than the infield is full; Acuna takes a outfield spot and because of the Braves putting Duvall in minors in 2019he is not a free agent if Atlanta wants to re sign him
Who do you sign??
Greinke personally but there is a lot of big game hunting to be had out there in the market for rotation pieces.
I’d like to see them go for Scherzer
I think the resigning of Morton shows they won’t be getting a big name starter. Bullpen help is where is needed. I have no fingernails left after Will Smith pitches
I mean realistically any of the top free agent SS (Dansby has one year left, do a dodgers trea turner type move.) they could also sign someone like scherzer. With the DH coming this team really could be a lot more flexible. Even if you aren’t a fan of getting a big name SS it’s time to sign a true ace. Braves have a ton of payroll space, Freddie isn’t going to be in his prime forever, and the young kids we have doing well now are going to start cost a lot more soon.
The Braves may have payroll space but a signing has to fit the team. The Braves will have to eventually try and lock up Austin Riley, Max Fried, maybe Swanson. Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer are both almost 38 years old and I expect both to be trying for a 3-4 year contract at 20 million plus. As a pitcher ages they don’t go deep into games anymore. Which causes a need for a bullpen to take over. I would love to see Atlanta spend the money making a bullpen over. If Atlanta had 2020 bullpen with 2021 offense I would put them as the favorite for World Series.
Nothing kills a team more than playing hard for 6-7 innings and have a bullpen cough the lead up.
The Braves closed the last 2 months on a 105+ win pace if extrapolated for 162, without Acuna, and you’re upset and claiming it’s a lost year, before their first playoff game?
When in the same breath, you also proclaimed all of their opposition is “beatable”. Apparently knocking off 107+106 win teams is easy. Not sure. Maybe ask the cards?
So which is it? Is the year lost, or is everyone beatable?
@BeforeMcCourt Agreed the braves are on the edge of winning, So far the opposition doesn’t look very strong (dodgers). Brewers aren’t on a roll. So the Giants and the Dodgers Look beatable. .Go Braves
James are you serious? The “opposition” – the Dodgers and Braves don’t look “very strong”. Each won over 106 games.
omg welcome back MadBumNLDS. long time no see.
A good direction for the braves is to ask this clown what to do and do the opposite of what he says. So far it’s better ultra successful for the braves. It’s only not successful if you think anything but the World Series is a failure like the OP clown.
Most of the upgrades by AA were tremendous and he deserves some consideration for executive of the year. However, the bullpen wasn’t upgraded. Richard Rodríguez has been a total bust. He doesn’t strike anyone out and gives up far too many homers. His FIP over the last month is 9.17. That’s no upgrade.
Your comment is only meaningful if you somehow knew he would be ineffective prior to the trade.
Of course you didn’t because no one would have predicted that
@mountain. RR was probably another spider tack guy.
Going for quantity turned out to be a good choice for them, especially buying pretty low on Soler & getting Rosario essentially for nothing. Even Pederson turned out to be a bit better than the alternatives. The only move they made that I didn’t love was Rodriguez. My recollection is that a lot of Braves fans on here aren’t too enamored with Wilson, but I still didn’t like them giving up a young controllable arm for a questionable reliever.
Richard Rodriguez solidified that bullpen. His work allowed others to stay in their roles – which they had not been as there wasn’t enough depth. Until he got there that bullpen was a dumpster fire. He was the best pickup for the Braves at the deadline.
If the Braves have Strider in their bullpen, he could make a name for himself as Urias did for the Dodgers. He can be the difference-maker this postseason.
Yeah. I think you are right about Strider. He should be in the bullpen for the playoffs and given a shot to win the #5 starter spot next season. I honestly wouldn’t mind starting off with a straight up 6 man rotation with him in it. The Braves got a lot of flak for drafting Strider. Analysts were annoyed because he had only had one good season in college and it was the Covid shortened season. I like it at the time. All his other years were terrible but it’s not because he was getting hit around. It’s because he hadn’t figured out how to control his own stuff yet and couldn’t stop walking guys. His last year in college the walks all but disappeared though. The Braves guessed that it was a turning point for him and he had developed into a better pitcher. So far they look right. His stuff looks nasty too. Drafting him also saved the Braves enough draft pool money to draft Bryce Elder. Elder just won minor league pitcher of the year for the Braves so both of those moves seem to have paid off. You really should lighten up a bit. The Braves season should have been over when Acuna got injured and d’Arnaud was injured and Soroka was re-injured and Ozuna was arrested. That’s more than half of our starting lineup right there. Those things would have completely killed most teams. AA pulled some magic out of his hat and won it for us though. I know everyone always wants the giant long contract players but that’s just not how the Braves operate. Those long contracts completely destroy teams all the time and they usually do it for almost a decade straight. These shorter contracts still get good players and if the player falls apart the team can get rid of him and retool for next season. The Braves are owned by a corporation and are going to have a payroll around $160 million a year. After this successful year (top 2 in the league in attendance) I could see them rasing it some but it won’t go up anymore than $180M at best. You also have to consider that the payroll to start the season is always lower than the end payroll so we can save money to acquire players at the trade deadline in case of injury. Never put all your eggs in one basket because every basket has the potential to break. Saving the money for the trade deadline is what literally saved the Braves this year. Can you imagine how bad this team would be if we had trade Riley and blew our trade deadline money by signing MadBum or someone like that. I’m pretty sure it was you who strongly recommended the Braves so both of those things just a couple years ago. That shows you how big contracts can go really bad really quick and you still get stuck with them. Riley also shows you that prospects can develop into MVP candidates in the blink of an eye. You gotta trust AA because he’s one of the few GMs who never trusts any player too much. He gives out these short term contracts because he knows any player can turn terrible at any moment and you never know who’s gonna be the next guy to get a serious career altering injury. Big contracts that end up like that can ruin a team for the better part of a decade. The system we have in place gives us a real shot every single year. I know our team is probably the worst division winner on paper but that doesn’t mean anything in the playoffs. Morton, Fried and Anderson could just start pitching shutouts in the playoffs. You never know. Then no one could beat us. I’ve watched the Angels and Marlins win World Championships when it looked like they had no business even showing up. Once you Consider all our injuries should have knocked us out of contention a long time ago you should lighten up and have fun with it. 2 months ago we were an injured team with a losing record. We weren’t even supposed to make it here. Have fun with it, man. It’s free baseball. It’s free playoff baseball. That’s the best kind.
Oh look. Another blog entry by the Mets War guy. At least he kept this one to 4567 words.
@Roy. I was talking specifically to one commenter who I’ve chatted with before. If you don’t want to read it, don’t. No one cares if reading too much makes that little brain of yours start to hurt.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz………I just woke up and there is a fly on my chest wearing a Mets cap????? WTH?
What? RichRod has been absolutely awful, he was by a wide margin the worst deadline deal we made. He went from being a good closer in Pitt to a reliever with a 6.17 FIP and 3.1 k/9. In all my years watching baseball, I cannot remember a “closer” with a K count that low, at least one that wasn’t demoted to AAA soon after. He may redeem himself next year, but as of right now, he is the only deadline trade AA made that can’t be considered a success.
Except he hasn’t been the “closer” with the Braves. Also, Wilson ain’t going to amount to anything anyway.
As for as Rodriguez being the best pick up that’s a laughable comment.
Always like some insight into front offices.
FG’s Kevin Goldstein is always a good read if you can filter out his condescending tone.
Pat yourself on the back after the Brewers send you home!
@Jgwi2az:
It could go either way. Anything can happen in the playoffs.
“…baseball front office is a multicellular organism that requires good rapport, within itself…*
I always thought a baseball front office was a paramecium.
Good moves by AA. Rebuilt outfield. Spelled less playing time for Peterson. Really bigger moves by the braves was their stating pitching. Didn’t have the rookie phenom this year but softmore slump. Revamped pitching in the 2nd half. Pitching and the occasional defensive play and hr or clutch hit wins these playoffs.
Now let’s extend Freddie
The Soler deal fleeced the Royals.
It is interesting, a 7/30/21 article from RoyalsReview (Royals blog) stated that KC getting anything – even an admitted lottery pick in RP Kasey Kalich with limited upside – is a “minor miracle” given Soler’s major inconsistencies. https://www.royalsreview.com/2021/7/30/22602669/royals-trade-jorge-soler-to-atlanta-braves-for-rhp-prospect-kasey-kalich
AA gambled on finding someone during a hot streak and hoped it would continue.
Solar deal was a great move. I hope he is our dh next season. Rich Rod is terrible how again did he solidify our pen. He needs another pitch 92 and straight as an arrow gets crushed. I hope he is left off postseason roster.
Long term deals never seem to work for the Braves. I can go all the way back to Suter, Esasky, Uggla, Upton, Ozuna(2nd contract). I do hope they can find an AAV compromise for Freeman on a 4 year deal but no longer than that.
I’m not a huge fan of AA, but I have to admit, he’s crushed it this year and with most deals he’s made for the Braves. The biggest thing that drives me up a wall, is the let’s us suffer when there is a clear need at a position or two until the final second. The bullpen a couple years ago, starting rotation last year (which he never addressed), the outfield this year. It’s always felt like the deals he ultimately makes, could have been made earlier in the season vs the last min, and all us fans keep stressing because of it. BUT… he has done a good job. I can tip my hat to him and need to give him more credit than I normally do
Alex Jackson is terrible. Fish just made that trade to free up salary. Articles and some Braves’ fans always make it seem like the team gave up something important for Duvall.
Duvall has a mutual option for 2022 (either pay him $7M for ’22 or buyout for $3M — so is the 2021 NL RBI leader worth $4M)? With ATL taking on the remainder of his $3.25M (44% of $3.25 = $1.43M + $4M buyout = $5.43M or $9.43M for 2022 season, if extended mutually).
Now I know MIA is cheap, but they know a deal, and though they have some OF prospects needing some playing time, their HR leader (Jesus Aguilar) only had 2 of his 22 HR at home – meaning they could use a rather inexpensive power additional power option, like 2021 NL RBI king Adam Duvall, to hit in that mammoth park, especially going into a year where they possibly need more hitters – if NL adds the DH to the lineup. Add to the fact that MIA added a former 1st rd C in Alex Jackson as a shot in the dark to their thin catching depth (with Alfaro not the catcher of the future there) — do you not think they couldn’t get ANYTHING ELSE from any other non-NL East team they wouldn’t have to possibly contend with in 2022? They could have just released him, paying him out, and most likely not see him back in ATL (having to face him ~20x in 2022, most likely) if this was just a salary dump.
Rundmc;
Adam Duvall is a weird situation remember when Atlanta kept him in minors in 2019 well Duvall is going come up short of the 6 years service time needed for free agency. So if Atlanta or him rejects contract it just goes to arbitration nothing major. There was a article about this
Now he needs to lock up Freddie. Also, get another starter. Smyly is gone. Stroman? I’d say make a run at Verlander.
If they could get Verlander for 10m or less, sure. He’s a guy who really hasn’t pitched a full season since 2019 though and he’s 38. I’m not sure that’d be the best use of resources.
I completely agree that he needs to lock up Freddie, though. That’s a must.
Something is wrong with why Freeman is not locked up either Freeman wants to much money; the Braves are worried about length of contract and his age. There is something odd there
Same things were said about negotiations with Donaldson’s re-signing attempts and Ozuna’s re-signing attempts. Braves have a firmer stance on their offers than most. It’s worked out more times than not lately, but Freeman is a different beast, which is why this is not done. How could you separate emotions from extending Freeman and representing the Braves? Even Photoshop won’t allow him another jersey.
AA and the jays had a 5 year max contract length rule they used to follow. If he was smart he would bring the rule to Atlanta but make it 4 years. And not ever waver from it, ever. That way you can’t get stuck with paying players into their late 30s.
I love my braves, they are my 2nd favorite team… AA did a nice job, I am a realist, we need a miracle for them to reach the WS, we need Charlie Morton to become shutdown Charlie like he did with the stros’ and Fried to continue his hot hand and Soler to rise to the ocasion and face my Rays if they do, Im sure Cash will overanalize his pitchers and start hooking them out to put the one surrendering the big hit, the rays should have like 110 wins (at least) they don’t because of games were lost in the end to some guy who couldnt close, as they blew 22 saves in which at least 10 of those were obtainable.
Rays vs Braves
@Rayforever: It won’t take a miracle. The playoffs are a crap shoot and anyone can win it. More to the point, head-to-head competition is a strong—if not the best—estimation of future performance. If you take the five NL playoff teams and rank each of them based on their record against the other four, here’s how it comes out:
ATL 14-11 (.560)
LA 21-18 (.538)
STL 19-20 (.487)
SF 18-20 (.473)
MIL 18-21 (.462)
Will the Braves go to the WS? Probably not, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone if they do. They performed better all year against this group than anyone else and maybe that trend will last for another couple of weeks.