ATLANTA – Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos celebrated an 88-win World Series title in 2021 with an 88-win team. He built 100-win teams in Atlanta over the last two seasons and saw both get eliminated in the National League Division Series.
But he’s not ready to say the playoffs are just a bitch.
“I would like to chalk it up to chance,” Anthopoulos said while speaking to reporters during the general managers’ meetings on Wednesday. “The problem is that the feeling is so terrible and lasts so long that just saying it’s random doesn’t make you feel better. So you will always be looking for reasons.”
Four weeks have passed since the Braves dealt with the pain of a second straight early postseason exit. When they lost to the Phillies in 2022, they could blame the ailments on Max Fried and Spencer Strider. This year, they limited their record-setting offense to four extra-base hits in four NLDS games.
“You have to be careful that the sample size of four games doesn’t get too big,” Anthopoulos said. “But I don’t think you can ignore it either. I know that’s two answers in one. But we have general ideas and thoughts. It will probably impact what we do this offseason, which is why I probably won’t go into it because I don’t want people to know what we’re trying to do other than make the team better. ”
There’s no reason the Braves can’t be just as impressive as they were last season, when they won 104 games despite Kyle Wright and Fried making 21 starts combined. Wright will miss next season due to right shoulder surgery. But a healthy Fried will be back in the rotation with Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder.
AJ Smith-Shawver, Darius Vines, Allan Winans and Jared Shuster are among those who could start the season as fifth starters. But even with this week’s decision to exercise Morton’s $20 million option, the Braves could look to add another starter.
Payroll won’t be an issue, but the Braves may be hesitant to deploy this year’s top free-agent starters like Aaron Nola, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell. More likely free agent targets could be Sonny Gray or Eduardo Rodriguez.
Or Anthopoulos could come out of nowhere with a surprise trade like the one that sent William Contreras to Milwaukee and Sean Murphy to Atlanta last winter.
“We have a list of people who are suitable for us and so on,” Anthopoulos said. “Those are the guys we’re going to have conversations with, whether it’s trade or free agency.”
It’s the time to talk. But this is not the time to discuss concrete plans.
While the Braves exercised Morton’s option, they declined Eddie Rosario’s $9 million option. So Anthopoulos will be looking for a left fielder. Rosario was a hero of the 2021 postseason. But so were Jorge Soler and Adam Duvall, two free agents who could be considered for Atlanta’s vacant left field position.
“We’re just going to take the winter to get it done,” Anthopoulos said. “It could come in so many forms. We’re just getting started. So I don’t have an answer for you. We’ll just see how things go in the offseason.”