Former MLB GM gives Atlanta a "B+" for their offseason so far

While they haven't signed a lot of free agents or guaranteed eye-popping sums of money, the general consensus around baseball is that the Atlanta Braves have had a good offseason. 

The Braves have technically only signed one free agent and made two re-signings, with Reynaldo López signing a three year, $30M deal and both Pierce Johnson (2 yr, $14.5M) and Joe Jiménez (3 yr, $26M) re-signing with Atlanta to fortify what looks to be one of the league's best bullpens. 

But Atlanta's been busy on the trade front, with president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos making eight different trades that have seen the team take on dead money in exchange for multiple years of team control of outfielder Jarred Kelenic, relievers Aaron Bummer & Ray Kerr, and the contract of Chris Sale. 

And Anthopoulos's work is being praised across baseball. 

Former Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden, writing in The Athletic ($), gave Atlanta a B+ for their efforts this offseason, remarking on the job Anthopoulos has done to creatively fortify the major league roster: 

This has been the most creative and resourceful offseason of Alex Anthopoulos’ career. The Braves’ two big goals this offseason were to improve their rotation and upgrade left field, and they accomplished both in unique fashion. Their best move was probably their latest, landing Sale from the Red Sox for Grissom, a deal that should work out well for both clubs. Sale, whom the Braves extended and now control through 2026, looked much better in the second half of last season, when he logged a 3.92 ERA over nine starts. Although he’s not an ace anymore, he’s still a top starter when healthy and will fit nicely in their rotation behind Spencer Strider and Max Fried and before Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder. The Braves believe they solved their left-field issue with the trade for Kelenic, a move that made Grissom expendable. They are hoping that Kelenic, who is only 24, finally has a breakout season this year. In addition, the Braves assumed a lot of bad contracts to add prospects via trades and dumped often-injured pitchers to improve both their bullpen and farm system. This has been a frenetic, high-risk but high-reward offseason for Atlanta and Anthopoulos, one of the best front-office executives of this era. Time will tell if their brilliant strategy pays off, but it’s hard to bet against them.

Bowden mostly hits the mark with his analysis, although I'm struggling to identify the prospects Atlanta acquired via trade. 

Atlanta's main strategy this offseason has been taking on bad contracts to get talent, and he's even had success dumping much of those contracts onto other teams.0 

And as a result of those trades, the Braves have Jarred Kelenic (with five years of control), Aaron Bummer (up to three years of control, after club options), and Ray Kerr (six years of control). 

The Braves project to be mostly finished with big-ticket player acquisitions, with just filling out the 40-man roster left on the punch list for this offseason. 

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