Before Alex Anthopoulos went down to the interview room to discuss the trade deadline with reporters, he held a post-mortem examination of sorts with the members of his baseball operations team. The Braves’ president of baseball operations likes to do this each year.
He wants everyone’s take. Now that the deadline has passed, would anyone change anything? How did everyone feel about what occurred? Things are always happening so fast on deadline day, so they all meet when the dust settles.
“I always want to make sure there aren’t any regrets at the outset,” Anthopoulos said. “We can look back a year from now, sure. But everyone felt good about the process. It’s fresh in the moment now and I always want to learn from it.”
Anthopoulos and his front-office team were pleased with what they accomplished by Tuesday’s trade deadline.
“You can’t force deals, right?” Anthopoulos said. “So, look, there’s plenty of deals (we could’ve made). We could’ve been here and said, ‘We acquired three players, four players for a bunch of prospects that we really like.’ Maybe there’s a halo effect for that, but three years from now, we might look back and say, ‘Those would’ve been terrible deals for us.’
“With how we view our guys and the determinations that we made, we feel good with what was available to us.”
The Braves improved their roster without draining their farm system. They delicately balanced the short-term impact with the long-term implications. They increased their World Series odds for this season without decreasing their chances in future seasons.
They acquired right-handed reliever Pierce Johnson, left-handed reliever Brad Hand and utility infielder Nicky Lopez. They upgraded in those key areas. They opted not to trade for a starter (more later). The Braves’ moves were not particularly flashy. But they seemed to have substance.
“And kind of similar to past years, we had the players to get everybody,” Anthopoulos said. “It’s just a matter of if we were willing to do it.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
In previous seasons, the Braves seemed to have clear needs, like outfield help (2021) or bullpen reinforcements (2019). This time, they carried baseball’s best record into Tuesday. They have a handful of stars, and a lot of established major leaguers.
As always, the Braves did their due diligence on potential trade targets, including checking in on starting pitchers. But Anthopoulos’ job is not as simple as calling a rival general manager and pulling the trigger. He must weigh the current roster’s World Series chances with his organization’s future health.
“I mean, hopefully I’m here doing this a lot more,” he said. “But you’re always going to be managing the short-term and the long-term, right? And you know that you have a chance this year, but I also know that we want to be good in ‘24 and ‘25 and ‘26. We could’ve sent young talent out the door that we believe would have impacted years (in the future).”
They chose not to do so.
Just like they opted not to trade Max Fried when his name came up in trade conversations in 2018, long before he was an ace. Throughout the years, they’ve also decided against giving up Kyle Wright, Spencer Strider and Michael Harris II.
“It’s just one of those things that, at the time, we don’t know if these guys are going to impact us,” Anthopoulos said of the current prospects. “But if we’re correct in some of our evaluations, maybe they impact the ‘24 Braves and the ‘25 Braves.”
The best example of all of this is the starting pitching market. The Mets traded both Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. The White Sox dealt both Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn.
One of them – or someone else – could have furthered the Braves’ title odds. But at what cost in future seasons? Yes, a championship window can be fragile. Teams cannot take for granted any team capable of winning it all. But the Braves have built a core that will be here for a long time. They don’t want to sacrifice the longevity of their window by sending prospects out the door in droves.
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
In the time leading up to the deadline, Anthopoulos communicated with his athletic training and medical staff. He asked staffers about their confidence in guys like Fried, Wright, Dylan Lee and Jesse Chavez not only returning, but being effective. Would these guys play to their previous levels?
This might be oversimplifying it, but in not trading for another starter or an elite reliever, the Braves effectively said this: They are confident Fried, Wright and others will be themselves upon their respective returns to the rotation.
“Our staff is very encouraged and very optimistic on Kyle Wright, on Dylan Lee, on (Jesse) Chavez,” Anthopoulos said. “They’re pretty confident. Knowing that there’s a high, high likelihood those guys are going to be back soon, and at the level that they were prior, it made the bar higher for us. Those are really good relievers, that’s a really good starter. So the bar was higher for us to add. We would’ve done it if we could find an impact starter, and then just dealt with six starters when Kyle came back, just made the adjustment. Having too many players isn’t a problem, but the bar was high.”
The prices also seemed high. This could be because fewer true sellers meant fewer available players.
Then again, Anthopoulos doesn’t evaluate price tags.
“I never get into that,” he said when asked if prices for starters were higher this year. “I know people say, ‘Oh, prices are high, low, this and that.’ I never buy into that kind of stuff. You go to a store, the price tag’s on there, if you don’t like it, go to some other store – or don’t buy it, go home. … Look, we checked in. If there’s deals that we liked, we obviously would’ve done them. But I feel offers are fair and in line because not everyone views players the same way.”
To fans, the Braves’ trades may not seem overly exciting. This is understandable. Imagine if baseball’s best team added more top-tier talent. But the Braves seemed to address their real needs.
They got bullpen help. They upgraded the utility infielder roster spot. If their calculations on Fried, Wright and others are correct, MLB’s top team will become even better.
And then there’s this: Around the National League, the Braves’ top competitors didn’t make any jaw-dropping additions. No one appeared to close the gap with the Braves. This isn’t to say Atlanta will run away with the NL, but at the very least, the Braves will exit the trade deadline positioned the same as they entered it.
“Every trade deadline, there’s opportunities to impact the current season and even long-term,” Anthopoulos said. “… You just don’t know what’s going to present itself. All 30 teams were engaged and talking. We went through so many different scenarios and so many deals, and you just don’t know what you’re going to come away with.”
After Tuesday’s deadline passed, the Braves’ outlook remains positive: When October arrives, these Braves will have as good a chance as anyone at winning the World Series.
