ATLANTA — Chris Sale would have been ready to pitch in the NL Division Series if the Atlanta Braves had advanced and president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos liked his team’s postseason chances if it had clinched a wild-card berth a few days earlier and been able to line up its other top starters for the first-round series at San Diego, even with Sale unavailable for that round due to back spasms.
Those were among the many comments from Anthopoulos and manager Brian Snitker during a season-review video call with Atlanta reporters Friday, two days after the Braves were eliminated at San Diego in two games in the first round. Since winning the 2021 World Series, the Braves have lost all three of their playoff series.
Anthopoulos fielded questions about a wide range of topics, including offseason priorities, recovery timetables for Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider, the status of pending free agent Max Fried, the coaching staff and how Orlando Arcia, Jorge Soler and Jarred Kelenic might fit next season.
Asked what the #Braves’ top offseason priority is, AA said “to get better,” and acknowledged he knew that would sound cliché but was the truth. They don’t have 1-2 glaring needs as they have some offseasons. Did say he expects payroll to increase again and that it won’t decrease.
— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) October 4, 2024
Here are Anthopoulos’ comments on key points, edited for brevity.
On when Acuña (June knee surgery) and Strider (April elbow surgery) might be ready:
Both of them could be Opening Day, could be middle of April, could be beginning of May, could be middle of May, could be beginning of June. I mean, that would be probably on the long end. And that’s not to raise alarm bells. You just don’t know. So I don’t want it to be, “Oh, man, they’re not ready Opening Day, they had a setback.” No, maybe the right thing if we’re giving them rest and so on, is beginning of May. Maybe the right thing is give them a little more time (until) beginning of June.
If you ask me this question in February or March, we’re going to know (a lot more). When we get to spring training, we’re going to see where they’re at. Maybe Ronald’s running around and he feels great and Opening Day is a real thing. Maybe Strider has already thrown a ton of bullpens and he feels great. But if we need another month or two just to get them back in the flow, that’ll be a fluid thing for us in the winter. I think every month will tell us more.
Could outfielder Soler be traded, since Acuña will be returning and DH Marcell Ozuna’s $16 million team option is certain to be exercised? (Soler is owed $16 million each of the next two seasons.)
We have to make the option decisions and so on, and those will get made within five days after the last out of the World Series. So we’ve always waited until that time (to announce). I’d say all of our guys with options, right now, the seasons they’ve had, they’ve all had great years. How we put the roster together and all that, it’s tough for me to sit here and say, “Hey, we would talk about trading so-and-so,” or, “This guy would be available.” So I wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to the player. But look, you get to the winter and you just don’t know what presents itself, what opportunities there are.
So even if you sit there and say, “I really want a reliever, I really want a starter, I really want this position or that position,” sometimes they’re not there in free agency, sometimes they’re not there in trade. And there are other ways to make your team better. As a general rule of thumb, I’d say we’ve had injuries every year. Having too many good players is not a bad thing. I view these guys as assets across the board. And I think as we get closer to spring training, I think that’s where it’s, “OK, what’s the plan for playing time?”
In terms of our outfield, we expect Ronald to be back — right now it’s far off. It could be Opening Day. It could be a little after. You just don’t know. We’re going to be smart about it. He’s said the same thing. But you just don’t know how he responds. Does he need days off? All those kinds of things. Maybe he comes into camp and he’s great and he gets cleared and he’s ready. We’ll just see how he responds. And as we get closer, four or five months from now, we’ll know a lot more.
Will Strider’s progress this winter play into a decision as to whether you pursue a starter? On paper, you’re returning four starters — Sale, Reynaldo López, Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach — who are formidable if healthy.
You always want to be deep in the rotation. No matter what, you’re not using just five. Grant Homes did a nice job filling in. I think at minimum he would get stretched out in spring training, just because it’s always easier to shorten them up. And even if we signed a free agent or traded for someone and we had five guys that had the spot, you still stretch (other) guys out because you just don’t know. … But I said this leading up to the postseason, and we’ve had success obviously in the postseason in 2021. And even with the two 100-win teams (in 2022, 2023), because of how strong our rotation and bullpen was (this year), I felt as good going into this postseason as any because I felt that good on the mound. Not that I didn’t like the guys we had (in the previous two years), but we were banged up then.
Like Snit said, I thought we absolutely could (have advanced). We were capable. Like, you see what’s going on now. You have teams that are winning divisions and are favorites getting eliminated. You don’t know when you get to the postseason. But I’ve said this many, many times. It’s easy to point to ’21 because that’s when we won. But in the 11 wins we needed to win the World Series, we gave up 18 runs, I think. Total. So, less than two runs a game.
And I felt so good about our options in any series (this postseason) because we were so deep. We believe everything was pointing to (Sale) being back (for an NLDS). So again, you can never have too much of it. And I (don’t) just want to sit here and tell you, ‘Hey, we’re going to add a starter, we’re going to do this.’ And then it doesn’t present itself. But we like those four names. We like the internal depth that we have. And if something presents itself, we’ll certainly do it. Obviously, Max’s name came up and so on. I’d love to have five great starters, and then the other guys as depth. That would be great for our club, I just can’t guarantee we’ll end up getting it done.
On Kelenic’s role, with Ramón Laureano not expected to have a prohibitive arbitration price:
Look, he started out well. Ramón played so well that ultimately he took the job. Ramon is a guy who got $5 million in the offseason from the Guardians, and he just got off to a rough start. But this is a really talented player that had had success before. I think Snit will be the first one to tell you that he’s playing to win. Bullpen roles change, rotation roles change, lineups, playing time. He knows his job is to win and get us to the postseason and he’s got the lineup card and he got us there. And those are tough calls you’ve got to make. But I think Jared, at the end of the day, showed some good things. Inconsistent, but it’s not just him.
Jared’s a young player, a left-handed bat. We saw great defense out of him. He’ll come into camp and compete, and we’ll see where the winter goes. But the one thing is that we’ve needed the last two years, we’ve needed a backup center fielder. So he fits the roster in so many ways because he can play all three. He can really throw. He’s been a good defender for us. He’s got some power and he’s committed to getting better.
On potentially looking to replace shortstop Arcia, who’s hit .219 with a .638 OPS in 931 plate appearances since June 22, 2023, the fourth-lowest average and second-worst OPS among MLB qualifiers in that stretch:
We’re two days after being eliminated. So we’re going to sit down and we have more time than we wanted to go through the roster. Look, Orlando did not have as good a year as the year before. I’m stating the obvious there. He was an All-Star (in 2023). Offensively, the way we were set up initially was he wasn’t counted on to be a key cog. (He was) bottom of the order — Snit’s had him there the last few years — (and expected to) play good defense. But there were a lot of moments — and again, this is a reflection of the job I did — where we had him hitting fifth at times. We didn’t have anybody else. Guys were injured, guys were hurt. So if it set up the way we should be set up, he was, even in an All-Star campaign a year ago, he was more towards the bottom of the order.
I think Orlando overall didn’t have the offensive season clearly that he did a year ago. Still thought he did some great things from a defensive standpoint. I’d say we can go through every player and look at some who had great years, average years and been below average. Defense is tied to the ERA in a lot of ways, and we led (the majors) in ERA, so it’s hard to knock that. Doesn’t mean we can’t get better. And from an offensive standpoint, that’s nine guys, it’s not one.
We were better after the trade deadline. From an offensive standpoint, our numbers were much better. But I do think that’s where getting some of these (injured) guys back can only help. And then we’ll see what else is available. So, everyone that we have on this roster right now that’s in roles, you’re not going to hear me say, “We’re making a change in this or that.” One, the first person that would ever hear that would be the player. But right now, barring any changes, the guys that we have are the guys that we have in place, and that’s Orlando and all the players. Once we get to the winter, you never know what happens.
On Anthopoulos and Snitker both saying throughout the season that this team is built to slug, and whether they might consider making moves or tweaking the approach to have a more well-rounded offense:
A year ago, we had this historic offense. Not a good year or a great year. Historic. Hadn’t been done, or only one other team had done it. It was great. So, I hate making excuses because I know at the end of the day our job is to get to the postseason and win the World Series. Snit says the same thing. He’s going to work with what he’s given and he’ll do his best. … When you take out a guy that won the MVP the year before, who’s this dynamic, game-changing player, and even Austin (Riley) at the end … and we were better offensively (late). But even with Ozzie Albies having to hit right-handed and so on, guys having down years, we’re capable of more. I think that goes without saying.
At the same time, you’re not doing your job if you’re not looking at everything. Ways to get better. Even though we led in ERA, we’re going to say our bullpen was good, our rotation was good, can we get better? Offensively, it’s the same thing, but you’re never going to hear me calling out an individual player or this or that.
We know who’s scheduled to be a free agent, and it’s a long winter. And who knows? Once we develop a plan, who knows where we end up? But we know our competition is fierce and you look to get better in all aspects. Offense, defense. The only time you’re sitting here doing these and feeling great is when you win the World Series.
On Fried fighting back emotions after his loss Wednesday, perhaps his last with the Braves, the only team he’s known as a major leaguer, and saying, “I have absolutely loved every minute of it and hope to have many more.”
I was just talking to (Braves chairman) Terry McGuirk earlier today, and we were talking about Max. I was just saying how I personally really like Max. Forget the fact that he’s a two-time All-Star, one of the best left-handed starters in the game and this and that. But the way he’s carried himself, the way he’s handled himself in the community, with us as a front office, obviously with the coaching staff — just think really highly of them and I admire him.
Obviously, he’s scheduled to be a free agent. We’d love to have him back, but 30 teams would love to have Max Fried, right? And we’ll see where that goes. But he’s sincere. So it makes sense to me that he’s always been sincere about everything here. You know, these guys that become great players, rightfully so, they become really sought after. So, we’ll see where that goes.
(Photo of Alex Anthopoulos from 2023: Brett Davis / USA Today)
