This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA — Acquiring Chris Sale and $17 million in exchange for Vaughn Grissom in 2023 will likely forever stand as Alex Anthopoulos’ greatest offseason steal. That kind of larceny could get you 10-20 years behind bars in some states.
Anthopoulos also had great vision when he added Charlie Morton, Travis d’Arnaud, Marcell Ozuna and Josh Donaldson with offseason deals. But I’d have to say the Braves president of baseball operations is amid his finest winter since he joined the organization before the 2018 season.
Here are some random thoughts as we’re now about a month away from Braves pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training:
1. Throughout October, I was thinking Anthopoulos was ready to begin a new chapter by filling his managerial void with an external hire. My thinking was flawed; he didn’t have to go outside the organization to begin a new chapter. The more time I’ve spent with Walt Weiss, the more I’ve realized that while he’s a Brian Snitker disciple, he’s not a Brian Snitker clone. This is going to be the Walt Weiss show, and I think it’s one that both the players and fans will appreciate.
2. Along with constructing a strong roster for his new manager, Anthopoulos also formed a great coaching staff for Weiss. It’s great to know Eddie Perez will be around for some familiarity and to continue mentoring Drake Baldwin. But it’s also exciting to think about what pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and first-base coach Antoan Richardson will do as they make the move from the Mets to the Braves. Hefner is a widely heralded pitching guru, and those who know him away from the baseball world see him as Hall of Fame human being. If Richardson can get 38 steals from Juan Soto, think about how much he could help Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II pad their stolen-base totals.
3. Speaking of Acuña, I’m looking forward to seeing him back in the leadoff spot to begin the season. Further distanced from his second ACL tear in four seasons, he’s going to bid for yet another 40/40 season. The 1.012 OPS Acuña produced as a leadoff hitter during his 2023 NL MVP season is the fourth-highest mark by any player with at least 500 plate appearances in the lineup’s first spot.
4. I recently posted a story that included starting-pitching options for the Braves. Some industry insiders don’t believe Atlanta will sign any of the free-agent hurlers who received a qualifying offer because those pitchers are looking for more years than the Braves are willing to offer. As for trading for Freddy Peralta or another available arm, the questions are: Do the Braves have enough trade capital, and are they willing to spend it, considering much of their capital comes in the form of young starting pitchers?
5. I used to love when The Rock would say, “It doesn’t matter what you think.” I actually heard those words when I looked at our recent survey of MLB execs about the game’s top farm systems. I certainly don’t think the Braves’ farm is once again elite, but after last summer’s MLB Draft, I expected they would get a little more love in this poll. The only mention of Atlanta was within the honorable mention section for the “Best at finding and developing sleeper prospects.” Unfortunately, this makes you question whether the Braves have enough to make a trade for a starting pitcher.
6. Some of you are currently saying, “Why not use Sean Murphy to land a starting pitcher?” Well, it sounds like Murphy will miss the start of the season while recovering from right hip surgery. There’s hope he’ll get healthy regain the production level he had during the first half of the 2023 season. But other teams aren’t going to take a chance on him unless they could get pennies on the dollar. The Murphy-Baldwin duo could be one of the best in the game. Baldwin is a great hitter who will have to get better against opposing basestealers. His legs will also benefit, and he’ll be more productive as both a catcher and DH if he’s not asked to be behind the plate a majority of the time.
7. Over the next few weeks, we’ll learn how we might be able to watch the Braves beyond MLB.TV this season. But one thing that seems certain is that Brandon Gaudin and C.J. Nitkowski will remain the team’s primary television broadcasters.
