Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos spoke to reporters today, including David O’Brien of The Athletic, covering a variety of topics. The head man in Atlanta offered details on the club’s plans at DH, along with some health updates on a couple of pitchers.
While Anthopoulos didn’t rule out bringing back Marcell Ozuna, he said the team prefers to leave DH open and split the role among multiple players. Ozuna has been Atlanta’s primary DH since the 2023 season. He’s made just two appearances in the field the past three years.
Ozuna lost his stranglehold on the position midway through last season, with the Braves looking to get both Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin in the lineup. The downturn in playing time, along with Ozuna’s pending free agency, led to frequent trade rumors in July. He ultimately remained with the team through the trade deadline. He socked five home runs in the first two weeks of August, but hit just one more the rest of the season.
The 35-year-old Ozuna has spent the last six seasons with the Braves. He led the National League in home runs and RBI in the shortened 2020 season. Ozuna struggled with injuries and poor performance over the next two campaigns. He bounced back to deliver some of the best results of his career in 2023 and 2024, totaling 79 home runs with 100+ RBI in each year.
Baldwin, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, will be a fixture in the middle of the lineup next season. Murphy struggled to hit for average last year, but provided solid power numbers and strong defensive stats. He’ll likely earn the majority of the work behind the plate.
On the pitching side, Anthopoulos said Grant Holmes hasn’t had any setbacks in his recovery from a partial UCL tear and will be treated like a healthy pitcher this offseason. That update likely puts Holmes on track for the start of the 2026 season. The right-hander went down with right elbow inflammation in late July and was ominously placed directly on the 60-day IL. He went the rest-and-recovery route with the elbow injury and seems to have ducked surgery, given his progression thus far.
Holmes will be on the periphery of the starting rotation to open the season, but he’s likely the next man up if anyone goes down, which is exactly what happened last year. Spencer Strider hit the IL shortly before the season began, thrusting Holmes into a starting role. He came through with decent production at the back of the rotation, posting a 3.99 ERA over 22 appearances (21 starts). Holmes struck out more than a batter per inning, though his walk rate ballooned to 11%. Free passes hadn’t been much of an issue for Holmes, including in his swingman role in 2024, so perhaps the elbow injury played a role there.
Atlanta’s rotation will be headlined by Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Strider. Hurston Waldrep impressed late last season with a revamped arsenal, so he’ll likely retain a spot. Reynaldo Lopez missed nearly all of 2025 with a shoulder injury, though he should be back to begin next season. The Braves have given extra off days to their starters in recent seasons, particularly for Sale, so Holmes could find his way to starts even with everyone healthy.
The health update wasn’t as positive for Joe Jimenez. The reliever missed all of last season after undergoing knee surgery in March. Anthopoulos said Jimenez recently had a “cleanup” procedure on the knee. Anthopoulos added that the club isn’t counting on Jimenez until he ramps up throwing and proves he’s healthy.
Atlanta acquired Jimenez in a December 2022 trade that sent Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jake Higginbotham to the Tigers. He was a crucial part of the late-inning mix in 2024, racking up 27 holds and three saves. Jimenez cleaned up the walk issues that plagued him at times in Detroit, while maintaining substantial strikeout numbers.
The Braves have already been active on the free agent reliever market, re-signing Raisel Iglesias and Joel Payamps. Jimenez’s troublesome knee could lead to another addition, specifically from the right side. The club’s other high-leverage arms, Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer, are both left-handed.
Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images
Rangers are interested in making a move for Sean Murphy and Braves are willing to talk.
Pretty positive outcome with the number of injuries
Holding onto Iglesias proved to be the correct move. They were able to re-sign him early, and on a really good deal.
Trading Ozuna would have required a market for Ozuna, and who’s to say one was there? Sure, someone might’ve given the Braves a lottery ticket type prospect, but what is the point in that?
Did resigning Iglesias actually improve the club tho?…My thought process is resigning a player you already had doesn’t improve the club, it just makes you suck less or keep the status-quo. Would they have improved signing a closer with more upside or long term?
Imo, it improves the club by giving them more money to spend in other places, while still maintaining as much stability as you can at closer. I don’t like big money, long-term deals for bullpen pieces because there is way too much volatility in that area. Plus, if you subtract Iglesias’ rough start, I’m not really sure who would be viewed as better than him.
Ozuna also has 10/5 rights and can veto any trade
Remember when all the people who wanted to get rid of the DH one of their main reasons they said the MLBPA should do it is because the older DHs will be paid well and now most teams don’t want a DH and can’t afford to have a roster spot on a DH only type on the bench.
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Lol
Who said that? I’m an anti-DH guy and I have literally never heard anyone give those reasons as to why there should not be a DH
I remember that being said — don’t remember who it was said by — but that was mentioned, thinking that it would give additional years to older DH-only types like JD Martinez of yesteryear, etc.
Go back and read comments on articles on here.
That bullpen looks real bad right now. Honestly, most of that team does.
What rock have you been living under?
Don’t bother responding to him olereb. It’s a waste of your time. McTroll spews the same garbage on every Braves article.
Incoming stealth trade for Carlos Correa any day now.
You do need to read between the lines, Ozuna had rights. AA keeps everything quiet, did not come out but but I bet you a 100 that Ozuna did not want to go.
He did not want to leave and it is right too stay, Aa had a trade on the table for Ozuna but Ozuna denied it.
Being a Braves fan I foresee a winter of re-signing Kim, signing maybe Chris Bassett and two Neris/Montero types for the pen. Another disappointing winter followed by another fight for third place with the Marlins with so called ‘underperforming’ players.
Re-signing Kim, adding someone like Bassett and adding to the bullpen would be disappointing? That’s exactly what they need!
Sean Murphy will see the majority of time behind the plate? He is coming off another hip procedure and can’t get through seasons…
He will probably be a dh and drake be catcher
Another hip procedure? Other than this one, when was the other? He delayed having this, reportedly, for a couple of years playing through pain since becoming a Brave. Considering he put up 20 HR with that ailment and ranked near the top in def metrics — I wonder what he can do healed.
@Skyrider123…adding a 37 year old Bassett and Neris/Montero types for the bullpen is exactly how we stay in third place..or worse. Can’t we set our sights higher than mediocrity?!?
I get what you are saying. Bringing back Kim would be ideal and adding to the rotation and bullpen need to happen. Hopefully the quality added will be better than last season. I believe it will be.
Should’ve signed Cease, but AA seems to have fallen asleep on that one. That contract will be a bargain for him. There are no impact starters left in FA (that are worth giving up your Baldwin pick) except innings eaters. The Braves need playoff starters. Hopefully there is a trade that AA can make, because otherwise I do not think the options out there are worth it. Might as well just go with Waldrep and Lopez and pray everyone stays healthy.
AA “should’ve been fired” for not knowing that Profar was under investigation by MLB for steroid use? Fire him for not dealing Iglesias for what he believed to be unacceptable trade value? Fire him because Ozuna used his 10 and 5 rights to veto a trade? He “set that team back years”? Claiming that this “would have cost everyone else their jobs”? Sounds exactly like the laughable garbage Chase Irle vomits forth at Atlanta Sports Talk. You should give that hack credit for paraphrasing his lack of coherent thought. Irle also says he likes AA while ranting that most of the moves he’s made have been “fireable offenses.” The guy’s the worst hack in Atlanta sports reporting. Basing opinions on his “reporting”? Yikes.
Baldwin should be the DH every game he’s not catching, when Murph needs a day off then Profar or Acuna should be in the spot with Eli White covering the outfield. Unless there’s a major injury in the spring, there’s no reason to spend money on a DH when this team needs pitching.
As an aside remark. The article mentions an article in the Athletic from David O Brien. I have a subscription to the Athletic but don’t see the article . I understand there is a labor dispute between the NYT and the Athletic writers. Their Braves coverage has been particularly poor recently. Anyone with knowledge or comments on this situation?
Exactly what do you think Alex could have received back that was so grandiose that not having said pieces sets the entire franchise back for years? Just a petulantly stupid take