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Kolby Allard

Rangers, Braves Swap Jake Odorizzi, Kolby Allard

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The Rangers kicked off their search for rotation help Thursday evening, announcing the acquisition of right-hander Jake Odorizzi from the Braves. Atlanta receives lefty Kolby Allard in a one-for-one swap that also sees the Braves pay down a notable portion of Odorizzi’s salary. Atlanta will reportedly cover $10MM of his $12.5MM figure, which was locked in when the veteran starter exercised a player option for next year.

Going into 2021, Odorizzi signed a two-year, $23.5MM guarantee with the Astros with a convoluted structure. He received a $6MM signing bonus and $6MM salary in 2021, followed by a $5MM salary in 2022. That was to be followed by a $6.5MM player option with a $3.25MM buyout. However, there were also performance escalators that could increase the value of both the option and the buyout. Over the initial two years of the deal, if Odorizzi got into 20, 25 and 30 games, he would add $2MM to the salary and $1MM to the buyout at each of those milestones. He easily hit all three, getting into 46 games, maxing out the option value at $12.5MM.

Odorizzi posted a 4.21 ERA with Houston in 2021 and then had a 3.75 mark at the deadline when he was traded to Atlanta for Will Smith. Unfortunately, the uniform switch didn’t help him, as he posted a 5.24 mark after the deal. He also had a 6.59 ERA in the shortened 2020 season, meaning he hasn’t seen strong results over the past three years. Though he had a 27.1% strikeout rate in 2019, he’s been hovering around 20% since then, a few ticks below league average.

Atlanta was clearly not terribly excited about the idea of paying him $12.5MM, based both on their tight payroll situation and Odorizzi’s results. He likely isn’t one of their five best starters anyway, as they have Max Fried, Kyle Wright, Charlie Morton, and Spencer Strider for the first four spots, with Bryce Elder, Ian Anderson, Kyle Muller and Jared Shuster candidates for the fifth. They’ll pick up only $2.5MM in salary relief, but the deal clears a path for some of their younger arms to compete for a back-of-the-rotation job.

The Rangers are in need of rotation upgrades after getting poor results in that department in 2022. Texas starters posted a collective 4.63 ERA this year, placing them 25th in the majors. They got some decent work from Jon Gray and a career year from veteran Martín Pérez, though Pérez has now reached free agency and deprived the already-weak rotation of its strongest performer. There’s reportedly mutual interest in a reunion, though nothing has been finalized yet and the club is now likely to extend him a $19.65MM qualifying offer.

With Pérez still in the wind, that leaves Texas with Gray and a host of question marks behind him. Dane Dunning was decent enough, posting a 4.46 ERA this year over 29 starts. However, his season was finished by hip surgery and it’s unclear what condition he’ll be in next year. Glenn Otto made 27 starts and posted an ERA of 4.64. The club also gave a handful of starts to Taylor Hearn, Cole Ragans and Spencer Howard, though they all posted an ERA of 4.95 or higher. Given all that uncertainty, it would be logical for them to consider any and all avenues to upgrade the staff, with general manager Chris Young saying basically that at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas this week, per Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. That will apparently include giving Odorizzi a shot to produce some better results.

In addition to clearing a bit of salary off the books, Atlanta will receive another arm in Allard. The 25-year-old was actually drafted by Atlanta in the first round back in 2015 but went to the Rangers in 2019 in exchange for Chris Martin. He’s pitched in each of the past five MLB seasons but has a career 6.07 ERA. He has decent control with a 7.8% walk rate in his career, though his 18.6% strikeout rate and 37.8% ground ball rate are both subpar. He had been part of the Ranger rotation from 2019-21 but got bumped to bullpen work in 2022. The move didn’t help him, as he put up a 7.29 ERA over 21 innings out of the ’pen.

In the end, it seems both teams are giving up on pitchers that weren’t in their plans going forward. Texas is desperate for rotation stability and will see if Odorizzi can provide it, with Atlanta helping them pay the bill. It’s likely to be one of several moves to address the starting staff as they look to emerge from their years-long rebuild. For Atlanta, they are sending away some cash but will at least save a couple of bucks as they look to revamp and try to win a sixth straight NL East title.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com was first to report the Braves were paying $10MM of Odorizzi’s salary.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rangers Activate Jose Leclerc From Injured List

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The Rangers announced they’ve reinstated reliever José Leclerc from the 60-day injured list. He’ll be active for tonight’s contest in Detroit, potentially setting him up for his first big league appearance in two years. Texas also activated reliever Brett Martin and outfielder Steele Walker from the COVID-19 IL. Walker and left-hander Kolby Allard have been optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to free active roster space. Tyson Miller, who’d been brought up as a designated COVID substitute, was taken off the 40-man roster and returned to the minors after two appearances.

Leclerc’s return is the biggest development for the Rangers, as it marks the end of a 15-month rehab process. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery just before Opening Day last year, costing him a season and a half worth of action. That came on the heels of a 2020 campaign in which he was limited to two appearances because of a shoulder strain, meaning he hasn’t seen extended action since 2019.

Before the health concerns threw his career off track, Leclerc looked as if he might emerge as one of the sport’s better late-inning arms. He’s shown swing-and-miss stuff throughout his career, but he was particularly effective in 2018. Leclerc posted a 1.56 ERA in 57 2/3 innings that season, striking out an elite 38.1% of opponents with a personal-low 11.2% walk rate. The following offseason, Texas signed him to a $14.75MM guarantee to buy out a pair of potential free agent seasons.

Leclerc’s control regressed in the first year of the deal, and he pitched to an underwhelming 4.33 ERA through 68 2/3 innings. Injuries have cost him the next two and a half seasons, but he’ll finally step back into the bullpen for skipper Chris Woodward. He tossed nine innings over as many appearances on a minor league rehab stint before returning to the MLB roster.

The 2022 season is the final guaranteed year of the aforementioned extension. Leclerc is making $5.25MM, and the club holds successive options for the next two seasons. They’ll have to decide on a $6MM option or a $750K buyout at the end of this year, making the next few months particularly critical for Leclerc’s long-term earning potential.

Rangers Notes: DeShields, Yang, Allard, Jung

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Outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. has foregone the June 1 opt-out clause in his minor league contract and will remain with the Rangers for the time being, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Grant notes that the Rangers are still open to helping DeShields land on a big league roster if the opportunity presents itself. The Yankees reportedly looked into a trade involving DeShields but have thus far opted to go in another direction. Given Texas’ openness to helping DeShields back to the Majors, the Yankees probably wouldn’t have to give much of anything in return.

Of course, Texas could also opt to take another look at DeShields themselves. He’s batting .363/.433/.538 in Triple-A Round Rock, albeit in just 91 plate appearances and with a ridiculous .500 average on balls in play that won’t be sustained. DeShields has spent parts of five seasons as a Ranger, but Texas is currently committed to evaluating younger and/or more controllable players throughout the bulk of the lineup — hence the decision to move on from Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor this season. Twenty-five-year-old Jason Martin is getting a look right now, and Texas also has Willie Calhoun, Adolis Garcia and Joey Gallo in the current outfield mix.

Some more notes from Arlington…

  • Lefty Hyeon-jong Yang is moving back into the bullpen after four of his past five appearances (including three in a row) were starts, Grant tweets. The former KBO MVP has been hit hard when working out of the rotation — particularly the second time through the order. Everything regarding Yang’s numbers so far comes with a small-sample caveat, given his limited innings count, but he’s pitched to a 3.55 ERA in 12 2/3 innings as a reliever while holding opponents to a .191/.255/.340 output. As a starter, he’s been tagged for 11 runs in 15 innings while yielding a .298/.388/.561 slash. One good start or one poor relief outing could obviously skew those numbers substantially at this point, so those numbers can be taken with a grain of salt. The 33-year-old Yang has tossed at least three innings in all of his appearances as a Ranger, so he’ll give skipper Chris Woodward a multi-inning option.
  • Stepping into Yang’s rotation spot will be left-hander Kolby Allard. The former Braves top prospect and first-round pick has worked primarily out of the bullpen this season but stretched to four innings in his most recent relief outing. Allard held his own as a rookie following the trade that swapped him and reliever Chris Martin in 2019, but he was clobbered for a 7.75 ERA in 33 2/3 innings last summer. He’s been sharp through his small sample of 11 1/3 innings in ’21, sporting a career-best 27 percent strikeout rate and a strong seven percent walk rate. It feels like Allard has been a prospect forever, but that’s common with high-profile high school draftees. He’s still just 23 years of age and has only 19 big league starts under his belt, so there’s time for him to yet emerge as a solid back-end starter for Texas.
  • Top prospect Josh Jung is expected to be cleared to return to action within the next two weeks, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The 23-year-old Jung, selected eighth overall in 2019, has yet to play this season after suffering a stress fracture in his foot back in Spring Training. He underwent surgery that came with a recovery period of up to eight weeks. Jung has yet to play above A-ball because of last year’s canceled minor league season, but he hit .316/.389/.443 between Rookie ball and Class-A in 2019, his lone pro season thus far. He’s widely considered to be among the game’s top 100 overall prospects and is viewed as the club’s third baseman of the future.

Rangers Notes: Mendez, Allard, Chavez

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Left-handed reliever Yohander Mendez has been placed on the suspended list by the Texas Rangers for seeking unauthorized medical care, which is a violation of this contract, according to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels was tight-lipped and didn’t elaborate with any further details. Generally, MLB players must seek permission before getting outside medical opinions. Sullivan notes that Mendez will be allowed to remain in camp and continue rehabbing his shoulder inflammation, which is presumably the injury he sought outside advice about.

Since making his debut with the Rangers in 2016, Mendez has appeared in 20 games for the team, including five starts in 2018. Over that span, he has produced an ERA of 6.23 with 33 strikeouts over 47 2/3 IP. He was expected to compete for a bullpen spot this year. It remains to be seen whether this suspension will now prevent him from doing so.

This isn’t the first time Mendez has caught the ire of his employers. He was optioned down to the minors in 2018 after a night on the town with Rougned Odor and some members of the Kansas City Royals “got out of hand.” Much like with today’s story, Jon Daniels kept the details of that incident close to his chest.

A few more notes from Rangers camp…

  • LHP Kolby Allard was optioned to Triple-A Nashville on Wednesday. The 22-year-old made 9 starts for the club in 2019, producing a 4.96 ERA and compiling 33 strikeouts over 45 1/3 innings pitched. But the offseason additions of Corey Kluber, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles have pushed him into a depth role, at least for the time being.
  • RHP Jesse Chavez is not going to be ready for Opening Day, according to Daniels. Chavez has been experiencing “shoulder weakness” this spring as he attempts to come back from the elbow surgery he underwent last August. “We are going to give him a couple of weeks to build up his strength before we get him back on a mound,” Daniels said. “The end of April would be a positive outcome to have him back in games.” The Rangers signed Chavez to a two-year $8MM deal prior to the 2019 season. The veteran oscillated between the rotation and the bullpen in the first year of his deal, accumulating 78 innings over 48 games, including 9 starts, putting up a 4.85 era in that time with 72 strikeouts.

Winter Meetings Preview: Rangers, Rockies

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In advance of the winter meetings, let’s take a moment to quickly preview a couple teams out west…

  • The Texas Rangers have their sights laser-focused on Anthony Rendon, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Recent additions have more-or-less locked their rotation class, with Kolby Allard, Joe Palumbo and Brock Burke looking like the 5 through 7 options behind Lance Lynn, Mike Minor, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles. Should prices drop on starters like Dallas Keuchel or Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Rangers could add further pitching in the right deal and potentially explore flipping Lynn or Minor, tweets Grant, though that’s less a strategy and more of the “open to anything” ethos employed by most front offices. Otherwise, the group of internal candidates, if expanded, would include Taylor Hearn and Tyler Phillips, plus any vets they are able to grab on minor league deals in the mold of Edinson Volquez (though Volquez himself is more likely ticketed for the pen if he makes the team). The Rangers reportedly offered Zack Wheeler a $100MM contract before he signed with Philadelphia, so the pursestrings have been loosed. For now, however, they’re stuck in traffic waiting to see if the “Adrian Beltre treatment” can sell Rendon on playing the latter half of his career in Arlington. 
  • The Colorado Rockies need for starting pitching is clear, but they are highly unlikely to walk away from the winter meetings with a new arm atop their rotation, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Irrespective of the financial crunch – which is significant and detailed in MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook – the history of Coors Field continues to scare away free agent pitchers. Not to mention, the haunted past of big-ticket hurlers signed by past regimes in Colorado is no less an impediment to building through free agency. Denny Neagle, Mike Hampton, and Darryl Kile can all profess their tale of woe, but Kile’s case is particularly damning given the success he enjoyed in St. Louis once freed from Coors. Speculatively speaking, the Rockies aversion/inability to add frontline pitching via free agency could be a factor in their bearish resistance to trading Jon Gray. If internal development is the only path to roster improvement, trading a talent like Gray would be an even greater white-flag move than under most circumstances.

Rangers To Promote Kolby Allard

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Left-hander Kolby Allard’s time with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate will apparently only span one start. Texas announced on Tuesday that Allard will be promoted from Triple-A Nashville to start against the Brewers.

Allard, the No. 14 overall pick by the Braves in the 2015 draft, was traded from Atlanta to Texas in the deadline swap that saw reliever Chris Martin go to the Braves. It was a fairly steep price to pay for a two-month rental of Martin, as Allard is a big-league-ready arm who has pitched well in 21 Triple-A starts this season. Through 115 innings, he’s logged a 3.99 ERA with averages of 8.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 1.17 HR/9 to go along with a grounder rate a hair under 50 percent. Allard is one of only seven qualified starters in all of Triple-A — both the Pacific Coast League and International League — with an ERA under 4.00 this season.

Texas announced that right-hander Adrian Sampson is available out of the ’pen beginning tonight, so it seems that Allard will step into his starting spot for the time being. He’ll join Mike Minor, Lance Lynn and Ariel Jurado in the Texas rotation, with young righty Pedro Payano perhaps getting a look as well.

The acquisition of Allard, who’ll turn 22 next week, gave the Rangers precisely the type of MLB-ready arm of which the upper levels of their farm were largely devoid. Scouting reports on Allard portray him as more of a fourth starter than a top-of-the-rotation arm, but if that is indeed the eventual outcome, the Texas organization will happily plug him into the rotation for years to come.

While further options to and from Triple-A will impact Allard’s service time, he’s currently controllable through at least the 2025 season. He entered the 2019 campaign with 43 days of big league service and won’t be able to cross the one-year threshold in 2019 even if he sticks in the MLB rotation from here on out. As such, the earliest Allard would be eligible for arbitration would be after the 2022 season, as he won’t accrue enough service to be under consideration as a Super Two player when the time comes.

Braves Acquire Chris Martin

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The Braves added a new arm to their late-inning relief mix in advance of tomorrow’s trade deadline, announcing the acquisition of right-hander Chris Martin from the Rangers on Tuesday evening. Atlanta will send left-hander Kolby Allard to Texas in return. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the trade shortly before the teams announced the swap (Twitter link).

Chris Martin | Chris Martin

Martin, 33, bounced around the league as a minor league journeyman for much of the decade before reinventing himself in a stint with Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters. The towering, 6’8″ righty emerged as one of the best relievers in Japan and parlayed that success into an affordable two-year pact with the Rangers prior to the 2018 season.

After a so-so first season in Arlington, Martin has turned in a very strong 3.08 ERA with an eye-popping 43-to-4 K/BB ratio in 38 innings of work. That fourth walk issued by Martin came in his most recent appearance — his most recent one had come nearly three months prior.

While Martin will only finish the season with two-plus year of MLB service time, he’s nevertheless a pure rental for Atlanta. The two-year, $4MM contract Martin signed upon returning to MLB stipulated that he can become a free agent at the end of the deal, so the Braves are only acquiring him for the current stretch run (barring some type of extension).

Martin will join, if not anchor a late-inning mix that currently looks nothing like the Atlanta front office expected heading into the season. Luke Jackson has emerged as the club’s primary closer, while former starter Sean Newcomb has become one of manager Brian Snitker’s more reliable setup men. Atlanta already added Anthony Swarzak in a minor trade that has paid big dividends earlier this season, and Josh Tomlin is still on board as a long reliever after only joining the organization late in Spring Training.

Dealing Allard will no doubt come as a shock to many Braves fans as the southpaw was Atlanta’s first-round pick (14th overall) back in 2015 and has ranked among baseball’s top 100 prospects in three different offseasons. Allard had back surgery in 2015 but has been relatively healthy since that time. However, his prospect star has dimmed in recent years.

Scouting reports have long touted Allard’s fastball control, which allows a fastball with rather pedestrian velocity to play up a bit. But he’s regarded more as a potential back-of-the-rotation starter at this point than the midrotation arm Atlanta may have once hoped. Baseball America and Fangraphs both dropped Allard to 12th among Braves minor leaguers on their summer re-rankings of the club’s farm system. In 110 innings with Triple-A Gwinnett in 2019 — his second full season at that level — Allard has pitched to a 4.17 ERA with 8.0 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 1.23 HR/9 and a 50 percent grounder rate.

It’s nevertheless a strong return for the Rangers to receive in exchange for two months of a rental reliever. The Texas farm system has been starved for upper-level pitching, and even if Allard indeed tops out as a fourth or fifth starter, that’s precisely the top of serviceable asset the Rangers haven’t been able to squeeze out of their own farm system in recent years. The lack of such assets is what prompted Texas to (unsuccessfully) attempt to patch together the back of its rotation with the combination of Shelby Miller, Drew Smyly and Edinson Volquez this winter. Allard will give the team a potential immediate rotation candidate in the event of a Mike Minor trade or another injury among current starters. He may only have been considered to be the Braves sixth- or seventh-best pitching prospect but will quickly become one of Texas’ top overall farmhands.

Braves To Promote Kolby Allard

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3:32pm: Manager Brian Snitker confirmed to reporters that Allard will indeed make his Major League debut Tuesday (Twitter link via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). A corresponding 40-man move remains unclear and likely won’t be known until after tonight’s game.

1:35pm: The Braves will promote top pitching prospect Kolby Allard to make his Major League debut and start tomorrow’s game against the Marlins, reports David O’Brien of The Athletic (via Twitter). O’Brien had recently tweeted that Allard was a candidate to make his MLB debut in a spot start this week. Allard isn’t on the 40-man roster, so the Braves will need to make a corresponding move to accommodate his promotion.

Allard will become the second 20-year-old starter to make his debut for the Braves in 2018, joining fellow 2015 first-rounder Mike Soroka in that regard. Allard didn’t rank as highly on most midseason prospect rankings as he did when his stock was at its peak, but he still checks in 93rd overall per Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com, and it’s hard to argue with the results that he’s delivered this season in his first exposure to Triple-A.

Through 109 1/3 innings at that level, Allard has worked to a 2.80 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 0.49 HR/9 and a 38.8 percent ground-ball rate in 18 starts. Allard hasn’t missed bats like he did in the lower minors since reaching Double-A, and he does bring a history of back injuries to the Braves, but he’s a potential mid-rotation arm who’ll add yet another high-upside piece to a growing collection of starting options on the Braves’ 40-man roster.

Given the timing of Allard’s promotion, he’ll be controllable through at least the 2024 season for the Braves, though that could push into 2025, depending on how much time he spends at the big league level in each of the next few seasons. He wouldn’t be on track for Super Two status as things stand, though as with his path to free agency, that could change depending on how often (if at all) he’s shuttled back and forth between Triple-A Gwinnett and the Majors.

In what looks to be a very temporary move, Allard will step into a rotation that also features Mike Foltynewicz, Sean Newcomb, Julio Teheran, Anibal Sanchez and Max Fried, though there’s been enough uncertainty at the back of the rotation that he could work his way into a more permanent role. The Braves have been tied to a variety of pitching upgrades as tomorrow’s non-waiver trade deadline approaches, and it remains to be seen just how their pitching staff will look following that 4pm cutoff.

That said, now that Allard is on the 40-man roster, he’ll join Fried, Luiz Gohara and several others who’ve oscillated between Gwinnett and Atlanta this season as the Braves have patched together both the bullpen and the back of their rotation. And, of course, his addition to the 40-man roster means he’ll be a lock to join the club at some point as a September call-up as well.

Trade Rumors: Brach, Braves, Cubs, Wheeler, Harvey, Marlins, Cards

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Both the Braves and Cubs are making pushes for Orioles reliever Brad Brach, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. Brach, a pending free agent on a $5.165MM salary, looks like a shoo-in to move prior to Tuesday’s non-waiver deadline. The 32-year-old has endured an uncharacteristically mediocre season, however, with a 4.85 ERA/4.01 FIP and unexciting strikeout and walk rates (8.77 K/9, 4.38 BB/9) over 39 innings.

More rumors with the deadline nearing…

  • No fewer than six teams have shown legitimate interest in Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler, though New York doesn’t feel it has to trade him, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. Wheeler, who’s making just $1.9MM this season, still has another year of affordable control remaining. As such, “there’s no urgency for the Mets to move him,” a National League talent evaluator tells Feinsand.
  • Meanwhile, ex-Met and current Reds righty Matt Harvey is likely to move by Tuesday, per Feinsand. Harvey has pitched better in Cincinnati than he did in New York this season, but the soon-to-be free agent still hasn’t come close to replicating his halcyon days. As a result, teams aren’t showing much excitement over the 29-year-old, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic relays.
  • More from Feinsand, who observes that the Marlins shouldn’t have difficulty finding a taker for pending free-agent reliever Brad Ziegler. In the end, though, it may be a relatively quiet deadline for the Marlins, who are “intent on keeping their crop of controllable players, including their young, talented bullpen pieces,” Feinsand writes. That may rule out trades involving the likes of Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider and Adam Conley, each of whom has come up in the rumor mill this summer. Unlike those three, Ziegler hasn’t enjoyed a strong season overall (4.06 ERA/4.69 FIP with 6.18 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 51 innings), but the 38-year-old has gotten much better results since June and is continuing to induce ground balls at a ridiculous clip (74.5 percent). Ziegler has approximately $3.5MM coming his way through season’s end. The Cubs, Indians and possibly the Red Sox are among the teams with interest in Ziegler, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.
  • There have been rumblings about the Braves trading young left-hander Luiz Gohara for relief help, but that’s not going to happen, according to Rosenthal. Rather, Atlanta’s only going to move Gohara (or pitching prospect Kolby Allard) if it gets controllable starting pitching in return.
  • “A few teams” have interest in Cardinals minor league third baseman Patrick Wisdom, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Regardless of whether Wisdom’s dealt this season, Goold regards him as a lock to be out of the Cardinals organization by next year. The Cardinals spent the 52nd overall pick on Wisdom back in 2012, but he still hasn’t made it to the majors. The 26-year-old has shown some promise of late at the Triple-A level, where he homered 31 times and posted a .263 ISO in 506 plate appearances last season. That power came with a so-so .243/.310/.507 slash, which Wisdom has improved on in 2018 (.293/.373/.485 in 370 PAs).

Braves GM Anthopoulos On Payroll, Rentals, Pitching Staff

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Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos recently sat down with Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for an extensive Q&A about a team that has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations and finds itself in the thick of a division race (Q&A Part 1, Part 2). Braves fans in particular will want to check out the full conversation, as Anthopoulos discusses some front office processes, the team’s minor league depth and quite a few other interesting topics at length.

With an eye toward the looming non-waiver trade deadline, though, Anthopoulos sheds a bit of light on how the Braves could operate moving forward. Perhaps most notably, Anthopoulos describes a recent MLB.com report suggesting that the Braves are close to their payroll maximum to be inaccurate. Anthopoulos recalls the manner in which he was handcuffed by financial constraints with the Blue Jays at the 2014 deadline, which prompted him to resist some late-offseason spending in order to keep some money set aside for summer moves in 2015. The 2018 season in Atlanta seems to be a similar case.

“So we’ve set some money aside from a big-league payroll standpoint, so we definitely have (it) for this moment,” said the GM of his team’s current financial outlook. “…[W]e saved some money and we have that available, and now – as the byproduct of the results – attendance is up, everything is up, the organization is doing much better.” Anthopoulos added that he’s already had conversations about the team’s spending capacity with chairman Terry McGuirk. Perhaps most notably, Anthopoulos plainly states that there is “no single player” the Braves cannot afford to add.

That said, he’s also careful to emphasize that that ability to spend doesn’t mean Braves fans should be counting the days to a splashy addition. Anthopoulos estimated that “90 percent” of the players available in trades at present are of the rental variety and expressed some notable reluctance about the possibility of acquiring such players.

“There’s a lot of pain that has gone into putting together this young talent,” Anthopoulos continued. “We’re not ready to throw that all away just because of one season. That said, I do think we owe it to the players and the fan base and the organization to make this team better, one way or another.”

Asked specifically about whether he has the depth of pitching to make it to the postseason, Anthopoulos confidently stated that the Braves do indeed have the necessary arms. Luiz Gohara is back in the Triple-A rotation and will be an option to start if need, and Max Fried is on the mend from the blister issues that are presently hampering him. Braves fans will be heartened to see Anthopoulos speak extremely favorably of top prospect Kolby Allard, noting that expects the lefty to get a chance down the line (though he understandably declined to specify precisely when).

As for the relief corps, the Braves are “definitely trying to add to that group,” according to Anthopoulos. While he characterizes the current group as one that could get the Braves to October, he also acknowledges that getting to the postseason and winning in the postseason when other teams can more aggressively leverage their top relievers (due to built-in off days in the schedule) are separate matters. “On the one hand, in October you don’t need as much depth,” said Anthopoulos. “You need three, four reliable guys. On the other, it’s a very young and inexperienced bullpen.” That, it seems, would suggest that the Braves are open to adding, if not actively striving to add a more experienced late-inning option to the mix — a need that could be viewed as even more pressing with Arodys Vizcaino now on the DL for shoulder inflammation for a second time.

Anthopoulos and Bradley also talk about his expectations for the team heading into the offseason, his thoughts on the rest of the NL East, the possibility of some of his young players hitting a wall as the season wears on and the fact that he is very cognizant of the fact that his team’s play is placing him under pressure as a first-year GM in a new organization.

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